Sebastian Koch is a German television and film actor. He is known for roles in the 2007 Academy Award-winning film The Lives of Others, in Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies, and as Otto Düring in the fifth season of the Showtime series Homeland.
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Early life and education
Sebastian Koch was born in 1962 in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany. He grew up in Stuttgart with his mother, a single parent.
He originally wanted to be a musician, but a production by artistic director Claus Peymann influenced him in the late 1970s to change careers to become an actor. From 1982 to 1985, Koch studied at the Otto Falckenberg School of the Performing Arts in Munich.
Career
Theatre
Koch has played many different roles on stage. He acted in Peer Gynt and Leonce in Leonce and Lena at the municipal theatre of Darmstadt.
At the Schiller Theatre in Berlin he played the character Roller in Schiller's The Robbers and Orest in Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris.
He also took over the role of Lord Goring in Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband in the Bochum Playhouse, under the direction of Armin Holz.
Film and television
Koch had his first TV appearance in 1980 in the 77th episode of the series Derrick, followed by an episode in the popular crime series Tatort in 1986. He acted in numerous thrillers like Der Mann mit der Maske, Die brennende Schnecke, and in 1997 in Heinrich Breloer's two-piece Death Game, in which he portrayed the role of Andreas Baader.
For the title role in Dance with the Devil and for his performance as the writer Klaus Mann in Heinrich Breloer's docudrama The Manns – A Novel of the Century, in 2002 he won the Adolf Grimme Award. He also received the Bavarian TV Award for the same movie.
His first international productions included the historical drama series Napoleon, in which he appeared alongside Gérard Depardieu, John Malkovich, and Isabella Rossellini. He also portrayed the youthful lover of Catherine Deneuve, Rodolphe Löwenstein, in Marie und Freud.
Koch has portrayed other historically significant personalities, including Rudolf Höss in Costa-Gavras' adaptation Amen (Der Stellvertreter). He appeared in The Tunnel, a 2001 made-for-television German film about the idea of going underground by digging a tunnel shortly after the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, and in Peter Keglevic’s historical drama Two Days of Hope about the uprising on 17 June 1953. Koch appeared in Stauffenberg (2004, by Jo Baier and winner of the German Film Award). He played Albert Speer in Heinrich Breoler's mini-series Speer und Er in 2004 – his third collaboration with the director following Death Game and The Manns – A Novel of the Century, receiving the German TV Award for his performance.
Koch appeared in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's drama The Lives of Others in 2006 as one of the leading roles. He portrayed the playwright Georg Dreyman, who lived in East Germany with his lover, a dissident who was spied on and monitored. The movie received an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007 as well as several other major prizes. Koch himself was nominated several times for his work in the film, receiving the Globo d'oro for Best European Actor, The Quadriga, and the Bambi Award.
Paul Verhoeven's movie Black Book (Zwartboek) was also shot in 2006. Koch played a Nazi officer in occupied Holland who falls in love with a Jewish member of the resistance (Carice van Houten).
Audiobooks
Koch has frequently served as an interpreter of literary and musical-literary audiobooks and live performances of them. Projects have included Schumann – Scenes of a marriage (with Martina Gedeck) about the exchange of letters between Clara and Robert Schumann, and accompanied by Argentinean bandoneon virtuoso Roberto Russo Koch has also presented excerpts from The Player by Dostoyevsky. The premiere of a play reading of Rhapsody: A Dream Novel by Arthur Schnitzler – accompanied by compositions especially for jazz – took place at the Literature and Poetry Festival in Bad Homburg in 2011.
In 2012, he produced the audiobook Koch is reading Heuss about speeches and letters by Theodor Heuss, in collaboration with Cherbuliez Productions.
Koch twice lent his voice to the audiobook edition of Brigitte – Strong Voices. In 2007, he recorded the novel A perfect friend (by Martin Suter), followed by the crime story On the twelfth day (Wolfgang Schorlau) in 2014.
Personal life
Koch lives in Berlin and has two children (Paulina Keller and Jacob Koch). He was in a relationship with actress Carice van Houten, whom he met on the set of the film Black Book, from 2005 to 2009.
Awards and nominations (selection)
2001 – German Television Awards nomination for best supporting actor in Der Tunnel
2002
Adolf Grimme Award for his portrayal of Richard Oetker in Dance with the Devil – The Kidnapping of Richard Oetker
Bavarian TV Award ("Blue Panther") for his portrayal of Klaus Mann in The Manns – A Novel of the Century
Adolf Grimme Award for his portrayal of Klaus Mann in The Manns – A Novel of the Century
Jupiter Award for his portrayal of Richard Oetker in Dance with the Devil – The Kidnapping of Richard Oetker
2003 – DIVA Award; nominated for "Best German Actor" at the Verleihung der Goldenen Kamera for his role in Napoleon.
2004 – Golden Gong award for Stauffenberg; German Television Awards nomination for "Best Leading Actor" in Stauffenberg.
2005 – Bavarian TV Award ("Blue Panther") for his portrayal of Albert Speer in Speer und Er; German Television Award for "Best Leading Role" in Speer und Er.
2006 – Quadriga award for The Lives of Others (shared with Ulrich Mühe and the film's director, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck); Bambi award for best actor (national).
2007 – Globo d'Oro award for "Best European Actor" (Italy)
2010 – Nomination for "Best Male Actor" for the International Emmy Award; Nomination as "Most Popular Actor" for the Austrian Romy TV award for his performance in Sea Wolf
