Sebastian Koch

Sebastian Koch (born 31 May 1962) is a German actor. Koch was born in Karlsruhe, Germany, and grew up in Stuttgart. His mother raised him alone, and he spent some time in the children's home where she worked. From 1982 to 1985 Koch studied at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich, and performed during this time with the Theater der Jugend (Youth Theatre). After appearing at the municipal theatres of Ulm and Darmstadt, Koch started appearing in Berlin theatres in 1990. There he acted in works including Schiller's The Robbers, Goethe's Iphigenie auf Tauris, and Dirty Dishes by Nick Whitby. Besides numerous film and TV roles, Koch also made frequent cameos in popular German crime series during this time. Following his acclaimed portrayal of Andreas Baader in Heinrich Breloer's docudrama Todesspiel, he appeared in many full-length television dramas. His breakthrough roles came in 2001 with the portrayal of the kidnapped Richard Oetker (son of industrialist Rudolf August Oetker) in Dance with the Devil – The Kidnapping of Richard Oetker, and of the writer Klaus Mann in Heinrich Breloer's docudrama The Manns – A Novel of the Century. Koch received the Adolf Grimme Award for both roles, and is the only actor to have won the award for two different productions in one year.