Armin Mueller-Stahl facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Armin Mueller-Stahl
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Mueller-Stahl in October 2007
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| Born | 17 December 1930 |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1956–2015 |
Armin Mueller-Stahl (born December 17, 1930) is a famous German actor who retired in 2015. He starred in many German movies before becoming well-known in American films starting in the 1980s.
For his powerful acting, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the movie Shine. In 2011, he received the Honorary Golden Bear, a special award for his lifetime of work in movies.
Contents
Early Life and First Steps
Armin Mueller-Stahl was born in Tilsit, a city in a part of Germany called East Prussia. Today, that city is called Sovetsk and is in Russia. His mother, Editta, was a university professor, and his father, Alfred, was a bank teller.
While his father served in World War II, the rest of the family moved to Berlin. As a teenager, Armin was a talented concert violinist. However, he decided to follow a different path and enrolled in an acting school in East Berlin in 1952.
A Career on Stage and Screen
Success in East Germany
Mueller-Stahl quickly became a popular actor in East Germany. At the time, Germany was divided into two countries, East and West. He starred in successful films like Her Third and Jacob the Liar.
He was also the star of a hit TV show called Das unsichtbare Visier (The Invisible Visor). In this spy series, he played a character who was an East German version of James Bond. The show was made with help from the Stasi, the East German secret police.
In 1976, Mueller-Stahl's career in East Germany came to a halt. He protested when the government took away the citizenship of another artist, Wolf Biermann. Because of his protest, the government blacklisted him, which meant he was banned from getting acting jobs.
A New Start in the West
In 1980, Mueller-Stahl moved to West Germany and began acting in films there. He worked with famous directors like Rainer Werner Fassbinder on movies such as Lola and Veronika Voss.
He also appeared in internationally recognized films, including Angry Harvest and Colonel Redl. His talent was clear, and it wasn't long before Hollywood noticed him.
Hollywood and International Fame
In 1989, Mueller-Stahl made his first American movie, Music Box, where he played the father of Jessica Lange's character. His role as a Jewish immigrant in the 1990 film Avalon earned him great praise from critics.
Throughout the 1990s, he took on many interesting character roles. He won the Silver Bear for Best Actor award for his role in the 1992 film Utz. His most famous role from this time was in the 1996 movie Shine. He played the strict father of a brilliant pianist, and his performance earned him an Academy Award nomination.
He also appeared in the science-fiction movie The X-Files in 1998 and the thriller The Thirteenth Floor in 1999.
Later Roles and Awards
In the 2000s, Mueller-Stahl continued to act in major films. He played a villain in the crime movie Eastern Promises (2007), which won him a Genie Award in Canada. He also appeared in the thrillers The International (2009) and Angels & Demons (2009), where he played a high-ranking Cardinal.
In 2011, the Berlin International Film Festival honored him with the Honorary Golden Bear for his amazing contributions to cinema over many decades.
See also
In Spanish: Armin Mueller-Stahl para niños
- List of German-speaking Academy Award winners and nominees
