Alexander Scheer (born 1 June 1976 in East Berlin) is a German actor and musician. He has won several national awards for his performances in film and theater, including one German Film Award for "Best Actor in a Leading Role" and one Bavarian Film Award for "Best Actor", both in the year 2019.

Alexander Scheer
Born (1976-06-01) 1 June 1976 (age 48)
Occupations
  • Actor
  • musician
Years active1999–present
PartnerEsther Perbandt [de] (former)

Biography

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Scheer studied at Georg-Friedrich-Händel-Gymnasium [de] in Berlin with main focus on music. In addition to the singing, he played piano and drums in different bands. He left school after the 11th grade and then took up various occupations.[1] He also performed in commercials during this period and turned their own amateur films with his friends. The film series "American Showdown" by André Jagusch, when Scheer stood in front of the camera, became a small festival hit and was shown, for example, at the Werkstatt der Jungen Filmszene [de] (Workshop of the young film scene) and at the Open Air Filmfest Weiterstadt [de] (Weiterstadt Open Air Film Festival). During a casting, he was discovered by the director Leander Haussmann, who cast him in his 1999 film Sonnenallee. After the shooting, Scheer and Haußmann followed to the Schauspiel Bochum theater. There he played among other things in various plays such as Much Ado About Nothing, Leonce and Lena, and The Tempest.

As a result, he worked with the directors like Christoph Marthaler, Frank Castorf, and Stefan Pucher [de], played in theaters such as "Berlin Alexanderplatz", "the idiot" at the Volksbühne Berlin, and "The Seagull" at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. For his acting performances, he was awarded the Ulrich-Wildgruber-Preis [de] (the Ulrich Wildgruber prize). For the personification of the English Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean in Frank Castorf's production of the same name in 2009, Scheer was voted Actor of the Year by the theater magazine Theater heute. In addition to his theater engagements, he was also in the national and international productions such as Viktor Vogel – Commercial Man, Eight Miles High, Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution, and Carlos (miniseries) which its full 5½-hour version was shown out of competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

To prepare for the portrayal of Keith Richards in the film Eight Miles High, Scheer founded the band The Rockboys which played concerts for one summer. In 2007 he joined Jan Opoczynski as guitarist in his band Der Internationale Wettbewerb [de]. In the following year, he became the front man of the Viennese band Gruppe Pegel. In 2009 he toured Europe as a percussionist with The Whitest Boy Alive. In 2012 he appeared as Mephistopheles in the Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's tragedy play Faust, Part One.

Scheer played a total of 16 years under the direction of Frank Castorf at the Volksbühne Berlin. The decision of the secretary for cultural affairs of Berlin, Tim Renner, caused Castorf's contract as director not to be extended and Scheer was critical of it. He then asked Tim Renner not to enter the theater again, and when Scheer met Renner there in 2018 after a film screening, he poured a glass of beer over his head.[2]

 
Scheer at the 2019 German Film Awards

In the Andreas Dresen's 2018 biographical film Gundermann about the East German songwriter, rock musician, and skilled excavator operator Gerhard Gundermann, Scheer played the title role and sang all the songs himself.[3] For this role, he was awarded German Film Award (Deutscher Filmpreis) the most important cinema awards in Germany and the most highly endowed German cultural awards, for the Best Actor in a Leading Role in 2019.

In the television series Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo [de], he embodied the British musician David Bowie.

Scheer was in a long-term relationship with the fashion designer Esther Perbandt [de].[4]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1999 Sonnenallee Micha Ehrenreich
2001 Viktor Vogel – Commercial Man Viktor Vogel
Getting My Brother Laid Manu
2006 Lulu Walter Schwarz TV film
Burning Heart Kurt TV film
2007 Eight Miles High Keith Richards
2008 Meine fremde Tochter Markus Bergkamp TV film
Tangerine [de] Tom
2009 12 Paces Without a Head Herman Lange
2010 At Ellen's Age [de] Bennett
Carlos Johannes Weinrich Film and TV miniseries
2011 Schief gewickelt [de] Vincent TV film
When Santa Fell to Earth [de] Niklas Julebukk Christmas film
2012 Eine Hand wäscht die andere [de] Jakob Kronibus TV film
2013 West Hans Pischke
2014 Fiddlesticks [de] GKF-Manager
2015 Punk Berlin 1982 [de] Blixa Bargeld
2016 Scrappin' [de] Rambo Weiler
Lou Andreas-Salomé, The Audacity to be Free [de] Friedrich Nietzsche
Goodbye Berlin Judge
2017 Schnitzel geht immer [de] Klaus Ullmann film
The Young Karl Marx Wilhelm Weitling
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales Young Edward Teague
2018 54 Hours [de] Dieter Degowski film
Gundermann Gerhard Gundermann
Wach [de]
2019 The Aftermath Siegfried Leitmann
2020 Enfant Terrible Andy Warhol
2021 Blood Red Sky Eightball
2022 Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush Bernhard Docke
Das Wunder von Kapstadt [de] Christiaan Barnard TV film
2023 Blood & Gold Obersturmbannführer von Starnfeld

Television series

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Year Title Role Notes
1999 Tatort Michael Grabowski episode Tödliches Labyrinth [de]
2003–2005 Berlin, Berlin Lenny 60 episodes
2004 SK Kölsch Beck episode Schmock
2005 The Eagle: A Crime Odyssey Betjenten episodes 9 and 10 (Kronos)
2009 Stralsund [de] Wolf Broder episode Mörderische Verfolgung [de]
2012 Nachtschicht [de] Marvin Weber episode Geld regiert die Welt [de]
2014 Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei Leonid Tessla season 18, episode No. 261 Revolution
Letzte Spur Berlin [de] Sir episode Machtspiele
Tatort Donny episode Im Schmerz geboren [de]
2015 Tatort Matthias Harries episode Niedere Instinkte [de]
Kommissar Marthaler [de] Jörg Gessner episode Ein allzu schönes Mädchen [de]
Blochin [de] Kirill Korolyov episode Das letzte Kapitel
2016 Nachtschicht [de] Marvin Weber episode Ladies First [de]
Morgen hör ich auf Hauptkommissar Schnabelbach 3 episodes
2020 Sløborn Nikolai Wagner 14 episodes
Hausen [de] Kater 8 episodes
2021 Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo [de] David Bowie 2 episodes

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ Ulf Lippitz, Christiane Peitz (20 August 2018). "Ich will das Biest reiten". Der Tagesspiegel Online. ISSN 1865-2263.
  2. ^ ""Ich will das Biest reiten"". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  3. ^ Bock, Caroline. "Alexander Scheer spielt Gundermann". MAZ – Märkische Allgemeine (in German). Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 6 July 2021.
  4. ^ Claire Beermann, Johannes Dudziak (19 February 2019), "Alexander Scheer: "Du spielst den Text nicht, der Text spielt dich"", Die Zeit (in German), Hamburg, ISSN 0044-2070, retrieved 14 December 2019
  5. ^ "Günter Rohrbach Filmpreis 2018 verliehen | filmportal.de". www.filmportal.de. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  6. ^ muenchen.de. "muenchen.de – Das offizielle Stadtportal für München". muenchen.de (in German). Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Kunstpreis Berlin 2019". www.adk.de (in German). Retrieved 8 July 2021.
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