Udo Samel

The German actor and director Udo Samel completed his acting studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Frankfurt. Following his first engagements in Darmstadt and Düsseldorf, he was a member of the ensemble of the Schaubühne Berlin from 1978 to 1992, appearing there in productions by Luc Bondy, Andrea Breth, Peter Stein, Andrzej Wajda and Robert Wilson. Guest engagements took him to venues including the Schauspiel Frankfurt, the Residenztheater in Munich and the Theater in der Josefstadt. From 2004 to 2015 he was an ensemble member of the Vienna Burgtheater. His recent performances have included Polonius (Hamlet) at the Burgtheater and Cornelius Gurlitt (Entartete Kunst) at the Theater in der Josefstadt.

He has also had numerous engagements at leading opera houses and concert halls, including at the Berlin State Opera in Marc Neikrug’s Through Roses and Nicola Sani’s Falcone, the Berlin Konzerthaus in Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder, the Zurich Opera House in the world premiere of Herbert Willi’s Schlafes Bruder and the Vienna State Opera in Johannes Maria Staud’s Die Weiden.

Since his feature film debut in Messer im Kopf (Knife in the Head) alongside Bruno Ganz, he has appeared in many television and big-screen films. He received several awards for his portrayal of Franz Schubert (Mit meinen heißen Tränen), was presented with a Bavarian Television Award in 1994 for his performance as Max Salomon (Durchreise), and was nominated for the European Film Award for Alles auf Zucker (Go for Zucker) in 2004. Among his important films are Murnberger’s Mein bester Feind (My Best Enemy), Akin’s Tschick (Goodbye, Berlin), Steiner’s Wolkenbruchs wunderliche Reise in die Arme einer Schickse (The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch) and Haneke’s Die Klavierspielerin (The Piano Teacher). He appears as Ernst Gennat in the television series Babylon Berlin.

Udo Samel made his directing debut in 1996 with Berg’s Wozzeck at the Deutsches Nationaltheater in Weimar. Since then, he has directed Don Pasquale in Bremen, the world premiere of Albert Ostermaier’s Zuckersüss & Leichenbitter at the Residenztheater, Aida and Il trittico at the Semperoper Dresden and the trilogy Die schöne Müllerin, Winterreise, Schwanengesang and Zemlinsky’s double-bill Eine florentinische Tragödie / Der Zwerg at the Frankfurt Opera.

In 2010 Udo Samel was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 2011 he received the Nestroy Theatre Prize.