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Armin Mueller-Stahl

Armin Mueller-Stahl’s career has crossed languages, borders and political divisions without losing the measured screen presence that makes him such a distinctive character actor. Born on December 17, 1930, in Tilsit, East Prussia—now Sovetsk in Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast—he was a concert violinist as a teenager before enrolling at an East Berlin acting school in 1952. Mueller-Stahl became a film and stage actor in East Germany, appearing in Her Third and Jacob the Liar. Television brought him the leading role in the spy series Das unsichtbare Visier, which ran from 1973 to 1979. After protesting the 1976 denaturalization of Wolf Biermann, Mueller-Stahl was blacklisted by the East German government. He moved to West Germany with his family in 1980 and found regular film work, including roles in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Lola and Veronika Voss, Andrzej Wajda’s A Love in Germany and the Oscar-nominated Colonel Redl. His American feature debut came in Music Box in 1989, playing the father of Jessica Lange’s character. A widely praised performance as a Jewish immigrant in Barry Levinson’s Avalon followed, opening a substantial run of American and international character roles. He appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s Kafka, Jim Jarmusch’s Night on Earth and the 1997 remake of 12 Angry Men, and won the Silver Bear for Best Actor for Utz in 1992. Mueller-Stahl received an Academy Award nomination for playing David Helfgott’s abusive father in Shine. Later roles showed his ability to bring gravity to figures of power or menace, from Conrad Strughold in The X-Files to parts in Eastern Promises, The International and Angels & Demons. His performance in Eastern Promises earned him a Genie Award for supporting actor. His work extends beyond acting: Mueller-Stahl has also been a director, screenwriter, musician, painter, writer and graphic artist. Conversation with the Beast marked his first film as director in 1996. In 2011, the Berlin International Film Festival recognized his career with an Honorary Golden Bear.