Mišel Matičević (German: [miˈʃɛl maˈtiːtʃɛvɪtʃ], Croatian: [miʃêl matǐːtʃevitɕ]; born 22 April 1970) is a German film, television, and theater actor of Croatian descent.[1][2]

Mišel Matičević
Mišel Matičević wearing a black shirt and suit, holding a trophy and looking directly at camera
Matičević in 2011
Born (1970-04-22) 22 April 1970 (age 54)
West Berlin, West Germany
OccupationActor

Early life and education

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Matičević was born in West Berlin to Croatian parents who were guest workers in West Germany. Following his parents' divorce, he lived with his mother in Berlin-Spandau. He was initially a trouble maker in childhood and would get in fistfights at school. He refused to join the school's theater group, feeling it was only for kids who were trying to "suck up" to the teachers. However, Matičević saw the 1983 film Danton with Gérard Depardieu and was inspired by Depardieu's performance to become an actor.[2]

He studied acting from 1994 until 1998 at the Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg in Potsdam. While there, he performed with the Berliner Ensemble at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin and the Kleist Theater in Frankfurt Oder.[2]

Career

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Since 1996, Matičević has acted in several crime series and films for German television and cinema. He was awarded the Best Actor Award at the 2000 Thessaloniki International Film Festival for his performance in Lost Killers (1999).[2] In 2007, he played the role of the German poet and novelist Clemens Brentano in the film Das Gelübde, which depicts Brentano's encounter with the stigmatised nun Anne Catherine Emmerich.

Matičević's first international role was in the TNT miniseries The Company in 2006, a show about the CIA in which he played a fictional Hungarian poet called Arpad Zelk, a leader of the Hungarian uprising in 1956.

Personal life

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Since 2014, Matičević has been an ambassador for Deutschlandstiftung Integration (Germany Integration Foundation), which promotes and celebrates ethnic diversity in Germany, to support the children of guest workers. He has said: "Guest worker children have always existed and will always exist. I deliberately don't say migrants, but guest worker children, because I am also a guest worker child and have learned so much. I just do not like the term migrant. And I'm glad to be able to pass on some of my knowledge and experience."[3]

Selected filmography

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Film

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List of film appearances, with year, title, and role shown
Year Title Role Notes
2000 Lost Killers Branco
2008 A Year Ago in Winter Aldo
2009 Effi Briest Major Crampas
2010 In the Shadows Trojan
2011 Kokowääh Rob Kaufmann
2012 My Beautiful Country Ramiz
2014 The King's Surrender Mendes
2020 Exile
2024 Scorched Earth Trojan World premiere at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival[4]

Television

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List of television appearances, with year, title, and role shown
Year Title Role Notes
1998 Tatort Carlo 1 episode
Wolffs Revier
1999 Schwarz greift ein
2000–2001 Die Cleveren 2 episodes
2001 HeliCops – Einsatz über Berlin
2002 Das Duo Benno Polenz 2 episodes
2003 Doppelter Einsatz
Inspector Rex
Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei
2004 Leipzig Homicide
2005 Mit Herz und Handschellen
K3 – Kripo Hamburg
Abschnitt 40
2007 Tatort Milan Popov 1 episode
The Company Arpad Zelk
2010 Im Angesicht des Verbrechens Misha
2011 Tatort Dr. Christoph Rubner 1 episode
Polizeiruf 110 Ole Mahler, prosecutor 1 episode
2012 Fast Forward
2013 Tatort Ante Mladec, valet 1 episode
2013–2014 Die Chefin 2 episodes
2014 Der letzte Bulle
2015 Schuld nach Ferdinand von Schirach
2015/2017 Tatort Simic/Roman Eggers 2 episodes
2017 Babylon Berlin Edgar Kasabian
2018 Tatort Nenad Ljubic/Nikola/Mike Liebknecht 2 episodes
Dogs of Berlin Tomo Kovac
2021 The Billion Dollar Code Juri Müller 4 episodes

References

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  1. ^ "Misel Maticevic: Bei "Bambi" hat er geweint". GALA (in German). 11 February 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d "Our guest on 05.04.2009 Mišel Matičević, Actor" (in German). Deutsche Welle. 5 April 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  3. ^ "Joggen ist für mich eine Art Meditation". FOCUS Online (in German). 17 June 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  4. ^ Goodfellow, Melanie (17 January 2024). "Berlinale Unveils Full Panorama, Forum & Generation Line-Ups with New Films by Nathan Silver, Levan Akin, André Téchiné & Bruce LaBruce". Deadline. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
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