Mišel Matičević (, ; born 22 April 1970) is a German film, television, and theater actor of Croatian descent.

Early life and education

Matičević was born in

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

to Croatian parents who were guest workers in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. 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 Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (, , ; born 27 December 1948) is a French actor. An icon of French cinema, considered a world star in the same way as Alain Delon or Brigitte Bardot, he has completed over 250 films since 1967, most of which as ...

and was inspired by Depardieu's performance to become an actor. He studied acting from 1994 until 1998 at the Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. While there, he performed with the Berliner Ensemble at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin and the Kleist Theater in Frankfurt Oder.

Career

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 The Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF) is a film festival held every November in Thessaloniki, Greece. It is organized by the Thessaloniki Film Festival under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Culture. It features internationa ...

for his performance in '' Lost Killers'' (1999). In 2007, he played the role of the German poet and novelist

Clemens Brentano Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano (also Klemens; pseudonym: Clemens Maria Brentano ; ; 9 September 1778 – 28 July 1842) was a German poet and novelist, and a major figure of German Romanticism. He was the uncle, via his brother Christian, of Franz a ...

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 Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

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

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."

Selected filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maticevic, Misel 1970 births Living people German male film actors German people of Croatian descent German male television actors Male actors from Berlin 20th-century German male actors 21st-century German male actors