Biography

Jens Harzer

Current as of August 2021

Jens Harzer was born 1972 in Wiesbaden and completed his training as an actor at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich. From 1993, he was part of Dieter Dorn’s ensemble for 16 years, at the Kammerspiele in Munich and then at the Bavarian Staatsschauspiel.

He has also appeared as a guest at venues such as the Schaubühne in Berlin, the Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, the Burgtheater in Vienna, the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, the Schauspiel in Frankfurt and at the Ruhrtriennale, working with directors such as Dieter Dorn, Peter Zadek, Herbert Achternbusch, Andrea Breth, Martin Kušej, Luc Bondy and Jürgen Gosch. Since 2009 he has been a member of the ensemble of the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, where he has worked with directors including Dimiter Gotscheff, Luk Perceval and Johan Simons.

Jens Harzer made his debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2000 in Jon Fosse’s The Name, directed by Thomas Ostermeier. From 2002 to 2004 he played the role of Death in Christian Stückl’s production of Hofmannsthal’s Jedermann. He has also appeared in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night (directed by Elmar Goerden, 2004), Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment (directed by Andrea Breth, 2008 and 2009), Peter Handke’s Immer noch Sturm (directed by Dimiter Gotscheff, 2011) and as Caliban in Deborah Warner’s 2016 production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Most recently, he appeared as the Speaker in Luigi Nono’s Il canto sospeso at the 2019 Festival, following his 2018 appearance in Johan Simons’s production of Kleist’s Penthesilea alongside Sandra Hüller for which they were both nominated for the 2018 Nestroy Prize for best actor and best actress for their portrayals of Achilles and Penthesilea. Jens Harzer was named actor of the year in 2008 and 2011 by Theater heute magazine. In 2017 he was awarded the Hessian Film Award for best actor and in 2015 the Hamburg Rolf Mares Theatre Prize for his portrayal of Count vom Strahl in Bastian Kraft’s production of Das Käthchen von Heilbronn.

Jens Harzer has worked in film with directors such as Michael Verhoeven, Hans-Christian Schmid and Bülent Akıncı, as well as most recently with Wim Wenders, Tom Tykwer and Hermine Huntgeburth. This summer, Jens Harzer appears in the fourth season of Babylon Berlin (directed by Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten, Achim von Borries). Jens Harzer was also nominated as best actor in a leading role at the 2021 German Actors Awards for his appearance in the tragi-comedy Ruhe! Hier stirbt Lothar (directed by Hermine Huntgeburth).

Following the death of Bruno Ganz, Jens Harzer is the carrier of the Iffland Ring, a lifetime award given to the ‘most significant and most worthy actor in German-speaking theatre’.

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