Date of Birth : Sep 8th 1962
In 1991, Kretschmann was awarded the Max Ophüls Prize for best young actor for his role in Der Mitwisser. Popular in his native country, Kretschmann did not achieve fame in Hollywood until his role as Capt. Wilm Hosenfeld in Roman Polanski’s 2002 film The Pianist. Kretschmann has since portrayed several military officers of the Third Reich period. Kretschmann played SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Fegelein, a member of Adolf Hitler’s personal entourage, in Der Untergang (Downfall) in 2004.
Perhaps alluding to his roles as a Nazi, Kretschmann also played Timothy Cain in Resident Evil: Apocalypse, as a ruthless Umbrella Major. This character was also partly inspired by Kretschmann’s character Max from the television series 24,
In the same year as Apocalypse, he appeared in the French film Immortal with Linda Hardy. The film was notable for its use of a digital backlot and interaction between Computer-generated characters and real actors.
In 2005, Kretschmann won a role in Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong, where he worked again with Adrien Brody, with whom he costarred in The Pianist.
The following year, Kretschmann began to win acclaim for his role in Butterfly: A Grimm Love Story (Rohtenburg in Germany). A psychological thriller, the movie co-stars Keri Russell and was inspired by the Armin Meiwes cannibalism case. It was scheduled for a March 2006 release in Germany, but its showing is under injunction after Meiwes successfully sued to have it banned on grounds of infringement of his Persönlichkeitsrecht (personality rights). At the 2006 Festival de Cine de Sitges, Kretschmann shared the Best Actor award for his performance in this film with his co-star Thomas Huber. Kretschmann also shared Best Actor with Huber at the 2007 Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival.