| Andreas Wisniewski | |
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Wisniewski with his son at a Zen Buddhist ceremony, January 5th 2005 |
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| Born | July 3, 1959 Berlin, Germany |
Andreas Wisniewski (born July 3, 1959) is a German actor and former dancer.
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Wisniewski was born in Berlin, Germany, to a Polish father and a German mother and spent the early part of his life dancing before turning to acting. Wisniewski made his big-screen debut in Gothic (1986), a film about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, in which Wisniewski plays the role of Fletcher.
Probably his biggest film came the following year in 1987 Bond film The Living Daylights. The 6 ft 4 ½ inch (194 cm) Wisniewski portrays lethal hitman Necros, who over the course of the film impersonates a Cockney milkman, an American jogger, an Austrian balloon salesman, and a doctor. His next mainstream role was as one of Hans Gruber's (Alan Rickman) henchmen, Tony, in the 1988 blockbuster Die Hard. The scene of Tony's body in the elevator with the phrase "Now I Have A Machine Gun. Ho-Ho-Ho" on his shirt proves to be one of the most famous shots from the film.
Wisniewski disappeared from the big screen only to reappear in the TV shows Superboy, Mann & Machine, and Northern Exposure where he played Arthur, the bear. He reappeared on the big screen in the 1995 science fiction film Death Machine playing Weyland, and again in 1996 in a non-speaking role as Max's companion in another box office smash, Mission: Impossible.
Wisniewski soon starred in a string of German films, after which he reappeared to English audiences in an episode of the TV series Lock, Stock...The Series based on the English gangster film by Guy Ritchie, where he played mullet-wearing Heinrich who accidentally commits suicide by shooting himself in the head playing a film game. Two years later he was in an episode of the ITV hit series Ultimate Force alongside popular soap opera star Ross Kemp playing Russian terrorist Glasnovic. Wisniewski hit the screens (although his face is never seen) in the UK again in 2008 after a six-year break when he co-starred in Mark Tonderai's cat-and-mouse thriller Hush.
Wisniewski has also appeared in two music videos. He was in the video Venus, sung by the girl group Bananarama, and also appeared as a soldier in the background of Elton John's video Nikita, where can be seen as Elton John's Rolls Royce pulls up to the security gate.
In 2001 Wisniewski turned his hand to directing, making the short film Inspiration, starring English actors Danny Webb and Christine Adams. An Andreas Wisniewski is credited as a part in the bio-pic Surviving Picasso alongside Anthony Hopkins, but this Andreas Wisniewski is a different actor. Wisniewski has kept a low profile since this time to spend time with his family and children and to concentrate on Buddhism.
He recently made a rare British TV appearance in ITV's police drama "The Bill". He appeared on 10 July 2008 in the episode Gun Runner: Pay and Spray, in which he played a short one-minute role as a Russian criminal 'Dimitri' purchasing guns and ammunition.
Wisniewski was married to a Brazilian super model with children, including a son. He is a practising Zen Buddhist,[1] and runs Buddhist meditation classes at The Life Centre in Notting Hill.