Christian Berkel | |
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Berkel at the Women's World Award 2009
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Born |
Berlin, Germany |
28 October 1957
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1977–present |
Partner(s) | Andrea Sawatzki (2 children) |
Website | Studlar |
Christian Berkel (born 28 October 1957) is a German actor, internationally most known for Downfall and Valkyrie.
Berkel was born in Berlin, Germany. His father had been a military doctor in World War II. His mother came from a Jewish German family.
From the age of 14 he lived in Paris where he took drama lessons with Jean-Louis Barrault and Pierre Berlin. He then trained at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin and appeared on stage in Augsburg, Düsseldorf, Munich, Vienna and at the Schiller Theatre, Berlin.
He has appeared in many German television productions and secured a major role in the Academy Award-nominated film Downfall as Dr. Ernst-Günther Schenck. He has followed this with significant roles in the Paul Verhoeven-directed Dutch movie Black Book and the big-budget American movies Flightplan, Valkyrie (in which he portrayed Colonel Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim) and Quentin Tarantino's Academy Award-nominated Inglourious Basterds. In addition to his native German, Berkel speaks fluent English and French.