Personal life

Brühl was born in Barcelona, Spain. His father was the German TV director Hanno Brühl, who was born in São Paulo, Brazil. His Spanish mother was a teacher. He also has a brother and a sister, Oliver and Miriam. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Cologne, Germany, where he grew up and attended the Dreikönigsgymnasium. Brought up in a fully multilingual home, he speaks fluent German, Catalan, English, Portuguese, Spanish and French.

In 2006, Brühl separated from his long-time girlfriend and later fiancée, actress Jessica Schwarz, whom he had met on the set of the 2001 film Nichts bereuen.

Career

Brühl began acting at a young age and made his acting debut in 1995 as street kid Benji in the soap opera Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love). His international breakthrough role came in 2003 as Alex Kerner in the Golden Globe-nominated film Good Bye, Lenin!, which reached an estimated six million cinema-goers worldwide. In 2003, Brühl won the European Film Academy award trophies for Best Actor (Critics/Audience Awards) for the role. Brühl made his English-speaking film debut in the 2004 Ladies in Lavender, starring alongside English acting legends Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. The same year, he won the People's Choice trophy for Best Actor for the film Love in Thoughts while at the same time, he was nominated for Best Actor (critics) for The Edukators. Brühl featured as Lieutenant Horstmayer, a central character in the 2005 film Joyeux Noël, a trilingual World War One film based on the experiences of French, German and Scottish soldiers during the Christmas truce of 1914. The film shows Brühl's linguistic ability as he ably communicates in German, French and English throughout.

In 2006, he was invited to be part of the short film and Cinéfondation juries in the Cannes Film Festival. In June 2006, he made a cameo appearance in Two Days in Paris, a romantic comedy film which was directed by French actress Julie Delpy. In September 2006 his Cannes-nominated film Salvador (Puig Antich) premiered in Spain. In the film he played Salvador Puig Antich, a Catalan anarchist executed during the Franco era. In 2007 he appeared in a small role in the film The Bourne Ultimatum. He was in Krabat, based on a popular German children's story, which premiered in German cinemas in October 2008.

He was introduced to mainstream U.S. audiences in the role of Frederik Zoller, a German war hero in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, starring Brad Pitt, which premiered at Cannes 2009. He, and his co-stars won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. In 2009, he also starred in Julie Delpy's third directorial film The Countess.

In May 2009 Brühl decided to become active in a different field of filmmaking by launching the production company Fouronfilm together with Film1. Brühl starred in the 2010 British-Russian production In Transit where he played a young Nazi soldier opposite John Malkovich. He also co-starred with Clive Owen in the 2011 horror thriller Intruders, which was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo.

In 2013, he co-starred in The Fifth Estate, a film based on the founding of WikiLeaks. Brühl played Daniel Domscheit-Berg, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange. In the same year, Brühl portrayed former Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda in the Ron Howard biographical film Rush. The film was a commercial and critical success, and for his role he received multiple award nominations including the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, Critic's Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor, Screen Actors Guild Award and the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

In 2015, he starred in Colonia, a thriller by Academy Award-winner Florian Gallenberger. The film was shot October to December 2014 in South America, Germany and Luxembourg. His co-stars are Emma Watson and Michael Nyqvist, and the film was produced by Academy Award-nominee Benjamin Herrmann. Brühl then played Helmut Zemo in Captain America: Civil War, released in spring 2016.

Awards

• Bavarian Film Awards (2002) - Best Young Actor for Das Weisse Rauschen and Nichts Bereuen
• German Film Awards (2002) - Best Actor (Film Award in Gold) for Das Weisse Rauschen, Vaya con Dios and Nichts Bereuen
• Bambi Awards (2003) - Best Ensemble, shared with Katrin Sass and Florian Lukas for Good Bye Lenin!
• European Film Awards (2003) - Best Actor (Critics Award) for Good Bye Lenin!
• European Film Awards (2003) - Best Actor (Audience Award) for Good Bye Lenin!
• German Film Awards (2003) - Best Actor (Film Award in Gold) for Good Bye Lenin!
• German Film Awards (2003) - Best Actor (Audience Award) for Good Bye Lenin!
• Shooting Stars Award (2003) - at the Berlin International Film Festival
• German Film Critics Association Awards (2003) - Best Actor for Das Weisse Rauschen and Vaya con Dios
• Berlin Film Festival (2003) - European Film Shooting Star by European Film Promotion
• European Film Awards (2004) - Best Actor (Audience Award) for Love in Thoughts
• Barcelona Film Awards (2006) - Best Actor (Critics Award) for Salvador (Puig Antich)
• Seattle International Film Festival (2007) - Best Actor (Audience Award) for Salvador (Puig Antich)
• European Film Awards (2004) - Best Actor (Critics Award) for The Edukators

Nominations

• Goya Awards (2007) - Best Actor (Academy Award) for Salvador (Puig Antich))
• Spanish Actors Union (2007) - Best Actor for Salvador (Puig Antich)
• Cinema Writers Circle Awards (2007) - Best Actor for Salvador (Puig Antich)
• Fotogramas de Plata Awards (2007) - Best Actor for Salvador (Puig Antich)
• Butaca Awards (2007) - Best Actor for Salvador (Puig Antich)
• GQ (2007) - Man of the Year Award
• Golden Globe Awards (2014) - Best Supporting Actor for Rush

Filmography

Film roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes and awards
1999	Schlaraffenland	Czech boy
2000	No More School (Schule)	Markus
2000	Deeply	Jay
2001	No Regrets	Daniel	Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Actor German Film Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role New Faces Award for Best Actor
2001	The White Sound	Lukas	Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Actor German Film Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role German Film Critics Award for Best Actor
2001	Honolulu	Marek
2002	Vaya con Dios	Arbo	Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Actor German Film Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role German Film Critics Award for Best Actor
2002	Elephant Heart	Marko	German Film Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
2003	Good Bye Lenin!	Alexander Kerner	Bambi Award for Best Ensemble European Film Award for Best Actor European Film Audience Award for Best Actor German Film Awards for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role'
2004	Love in Thoughts	Paul	European Film Audience Award for Best Actor
2004	Ladies in Lavender	Andrea Marowski
2004	Farland	Frank
2004	The Edukators (Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei)	Jan	Nominated - European Film Award for Best Actor
2005	Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noël)	Horstmayer
2006	Cargo	Chris
2006	Salvador (Puig Antich)	Salvador Puig Antich	Barcelona Film Award for Best Actor Seattle International Film Festival, Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actor Nominated - Goya Award for Best Actor Nominated - Butaca Award for Best Film Actor Nominated - Cinema Writers Circle from Spain Award for Best Actor Nominated - Fotogramas de plata Award for Best Film Actor Nominated - Spanish Actors Union Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
2006	A Friend of Mine (Ein Freund von mir)	Karl
2007	2 Days in Paris	Lukas
2007	The Bourne Ultimatum	Martin Kreutz
2008	In Tranzit	Klaus
2008	Krabat	Tonda
2008	A Bit of Chocolate (Un poco de chocolate)	Marcos
2009	John Rabe	Dr. Georg Rosen
2009	Las madres de Elna	Amaro
2009	The Countess	Istvan Thurzo
2009	Dinosaurier	Tobias Hardmann
2009	Inglourious Basterds	Fredrick Zoller	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble Acting Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Acting San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble
2009	Lila, Lila	David Kern	Nominated - Lima International Film Festival, Audience Award for Best Actor
2010	King's Road (Kóngavegur 7)	Rupert
2010	The Coming Days (Die kommenden Tage)	Hans Krämer
2011	Eva	Álex Garel	Nominated - Goya Award for Best Actor Nominated - Cinema Writers Circle from Spain Award for Best Actor Nominated - Gaudí Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
2011	Lessons of a Dream (Der ganz große Traum)	Konrad Koch
2011	2 Days in New York	The Oak Fairy
2011	All Together (Et si on vivait tous ensemble?)	Dirk
2011	Intruders	Father Antonio
2012	Winning Streak (The Pelayos)	Iván Pelayo
2012	7 Days in Havana	Spanish Businessman
2013	Rush	Niki Lauda	Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated - Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Empire Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated - Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
2013	The Fifth Estate	Daniel Domscheit-Berg
2013	A Most Wanted Man	Max
2014	Ich und Kaminski	Sebastian Zöllner
2015	The Face of an Angel	Thomas
2015	Woman in Gold	Hubertus Czernin
2015	Colonia	Daniel
2015	Burnt	Tony Balerdi
2016	Alone in Berlin	Escherich
2016	Captain America: Civil War	Helmut Zemo
2016	The Zookeeper's Wife		Filming

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[ Source: Wikipedia ]