Moritz Bleibtreu

Moritz Bleibtreu is one of few actors to traverse from German cinema to international success, starring in many films that won worldwide acclaim, including the hits "Run Lola Run" and "The Baader Meinhof Complex." Born into a show-business family--his parents and great-aunt are all well-known actors--Bleibtreu first worked as a child on the children's television series "Neues aus Uhlenbusch," written by his mother.

He left school at 16 to study acting in Paris and New York City; he labeled his experience in Gotham as one of the worst of his life, in terms of the treatment of students. By 1992, he returned to Hamburg for its Deutsches Schauspielhaus theatre and soon secured work on television, most notably a lead role on the German youth series "Die Gang" in 1997.

Afterwards he was chosen by Tom Tykwer to appear in the crossover hit "Run Lola Run," his first major appearance on the international scene. Bleibtreu's profile rose with a number of features around the turn of the century, but it was the role of Tarek Fahd in "Das Experiment," based on the 1971 "Stanford Prison Experiment," which brought him worldwide recognition and several award nods.

Large roles increasingly came Bleibtreu's way, notably the Steven Spielberg revenge thriller "Munich." In 2008, he won two very different roles, that of the Grey Ghost in "Speed Racer" and terrorist Andreas Baader in Uli Edel's harrowing "The Baader Meinhof Complex."