August Zirner

August Zirner (born 7 January 1956) is an American-Austrian actor, who starred in over 60 film productions. He is one of the most popular actors in Germany.[1]

Contents

Biography

Zirner was born as son of Austrian Jewish immigrants in the United States in Urbana, Illinois. His father had fled from the Nazis.[2] In 1976 he studied drama at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Vienna before he made his debut as an actor at the Volkstheater in Vienna. After that he was engaged in Hanover, Wiesbaden and at the Munich Kammerspiele. His breakthrough into film was in "The Promise" in 1994.[1]

He has appeared in numerous films and television films, e. g. in Cafe Europa (1990) by Franz Xaver Bogner, The Voyager (1991) by Volker Schlondorff,[3] Stadtgespräch (1995) by Rainer Kaufmann, Winterkind (1997) by Margarethe von Trotta, Die Apothekerin (1997) by Rainer Kaufmann and The Counterfeiters by Stefan Ruzowitzky, which was awarded with the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2008. For the film Fury, he got the 2006 Adolf Grimme Award.[4] In 2009 Zirner played the transverse flute together with the Spardosen-Trio and the Theatre Program Diagnose: Jazz. In May 2011 Zirner acts in Blind Date, a film by Theo van Gogh at the Schauspielhaus Graz, a production of Bernadette Sonnenbichler.

Zirner is married to actress Katalin Zsigmondy and one of his four children is the actor John Zirner.[5] Although he has lived in Europe since 1973, August Zirner has retained his U.S. citizenship.[1][5]

Commitment

August Zirner supports the Austrian Service Abroad as an advisor for the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service.

Awards

2006 - "Special Recognition" by the German Academy of Performing Arts on the Film Festival Baden-Baden for the production team of Wut.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ a b c [1]"Interview mit August Zirner: "Eigentlich bin ich ein Komiker" Stern.de, August 4, 2008. Retrieved April 6, 2011
  2. ^ a b [2]"August Zirner wollte mit Senta Berger drehen" (Interview with Zirner), Movieplot, April 8, 2009. Retrieved April 6, 2011
  3. ^ [3] Canby, Vincent, "Voyager(1991): Review/film; a variation on the Oedipus theme," The New York Times, January 31, 1992. Retrieved April 6, 2011
  4. ^ [4]"Fünf Adolf-Grimme-Preise für Colonia Media-Produktion "Wut"Presseportal.de, March 14, 2007. Retrieved April 6, 2011
  5. ^ a b [5]"http://www.gq-magazin.de/star-portraits/august-zirner/0/1738.html]Star portrait: August Zirner." GQ-magazin.de, retrieved April 6, 2011
  6. ^ [6] Kehr, Dave "Broken 'Promise" Berlin Wall saga fails to deliver on its premise," The New York Times, September 8, 1995. Retrieved April 6, 2011
  7. ^ [7] Mitchell, Elvis "Mostly Martha (2001): Film review; A single-minded cook who wakes up to life. Retrieved April 6, 2011
  8. ^ [McIntyre, Sarah "The Counterfeiters," RTE Ten: The Entertainment Network, October 11, 2007. Retrieved April 6, 2011