Jannik Schümann (; born 22 July, 1992) is a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
actor. He received three
Jupiter Awards for Best Actor, for his role of Danny in ''
Close to the Horizon'' (2020), ''9 Days Awake'' (2021), and the role of
Franz Joseph I.
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until h ...
in ''Sisi'' (2022).
He is also known for his role in ''
The Aftermath'' (2019),
''Center of My World'' (2016), ''
The Diplomat
''The Diplomat'' is an international online news magazine covering politics, society, and culture in the Indo-Pacific region. It is based in Washington, D.C.
It was originally an Australian bi-monthly print magazine, founded by Minh Bui Jones ...
'' (2016–2023), ''
Monster Hunter
is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fantasy-themed action role-playing video games that started with the game '' Monster Hunter'' for the PlayStation 2, released in 2004. Titles have been released across a variety of platform ...
'' (2020), ''
Tribes of Europa
''Tribes of Europa'' is a German sci-fi television series created by Philip Koch that premiered on Netflix on 19 February 2021.
Synopsis
The story is set in 2074, 43 years after a mysterious global technological failure caused nations to slip ...
'' (2021), or ''
Charité at War'' (2019).
Early Life
Schümann was born in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
, where he grew up with two older brothers in the rural quarter
Kirchwerder
Kirchwerder () is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany, in the borough of Bergedorf. It is located on the southeast border of Hamburg at the Elbe river.
Geography
Kirchwerder is a part of the Vierlande and is located at the Elbe river. Therefore it is hi ...
in the
Bergedorf
Bergedorf () is the largest of the seven boroughs of Hamburg, Germany, named after Bergedorf quarter within this borough. In 2020 the population of the borough was 130,994.
History
The city of Bergedorf received town privileges in 1275, then ...
borough.
As a child, Schümann took an interest in dancing and playing the piano, which earned him the role of young
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
in the German premiere of the Little Mozart musical at the
Neuer Flora theater in Hamburg when he was 9 years old.
After the performance, a
talent agent
A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, and other professionals in various entertainment or s ...
approached him at a gas station while he was buying a chocolate bar, and handed him her business card. Schümann signed a contract with her and enrolled in acting classes at the
New Talent Schauspielschule.
Career
Schümann made his screen debut at the age of 11 when he made an appearance in an episode of the
medical drama
A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the chara ...
TV series
''The Air Rescue Team''. At the age of 12, he lent his voice to the main character of the German
radio drama
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...
adaptation of ''
Oscar and the Lady in Pink'', a novel by
Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (born 28 March 1960) is a Franco–Belgian playwright, short story writer and novelist, as well as a film director. His plays have been staged in over fifty countries all over the world.
Life
Early years
Eric-Emmanuel ...
. When he was 15, he was cast in the two-part film ''Das Glück am anderen Ende der Welt''. Throughout his teenage years, he appeared in TV series, films, theater, radio dramas, and also
dubbed characters in
cartoon films.
Schümann rose to prominence in 2011 at the age of 17 in a supporting role in
''Homevideo'', a
cyberbullying
Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers, as the digital ...
drama, where he portrayed Henry who cyberbullies a classmate, the main character portrayed by
Jonas Nay, into committing suicide. The film received critical acclaim, winning numerous awards including the
Deutscher Fernsehpreis
The Deutscher Fernsehpreis (''German Television Award'') is an annual German award for television programming, created in 1999 by German television channels Das Erste, ZDF, RTL and Sat.1. It was created to be an equivalent to the Emmy Awards, th ...
for Best TV film. Schümann's performance earned him the New Faces Award nomination for Best Young Actor. In the following year, he was cast in a supporting role in ''
Barbara
Barbara may refer to:
People
* Barbara (given name)
* Barbara (painter) (1915–2002), pseudonym of Olga Biglieri, Italian futurist painter
* Barbara (singer) (1930–1997), French singer
* Barbara Popović (born 2000), also known mononymously as ...
'' as well as in
''Mittlere Reife'', where he portrayed a young drug dealer, for which he was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Hessischer Fernsehpreis 2012, along with the
ensemble cast
In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17
Structure
In contrast t ...
.
In 2013, Schümann starred as the manipulative teenager Alev El Quamar in ''
Gaming Instinct
''Gaming Instinct'' (german: Spieltrieb) is a 2004 novel by the German writer Juli Zeh. The story is set in a private high school in Bonn, where an intellectual precocious girl and a classmate play a sexual prank on a teacher.
Reception
''Die Zeit ...
'', a drama film adaptation of
Juli Zeh
Juli Zeh (, Julia Barbara Finck, née Zeh; born 30 June 1974 in Bonn) is a German writer and former judge.
Biography
Her first book was ''Adler und Engel'' (translated into English as ''Eagles and Angels'' by Christine Slenczka), which won the ...
's novel of the same name. In 2015, he was cast in the leading role of a
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
teenager in ''Call Me Helen''. In 2016, he starred as the love interest of
Louis Hofmann
Louis Hofmann (born 3 June 1997) is a German actor. He first gained attention as the lead in the 2011 German film ' and won the Bodil Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a teenage German prisoner of war in the 2015 Danish film '' Lan ...
in
''Center of My World'', a gay coming-of-age drama dubbed by
''The Hollywood Reporter'' as "a beguiling teen romance", while described by
''The Guardian'' as "genuinely cute". The film received a 100% rating by film critics on
''Roten Tomatoes'', as well as numerous international awards and nominations. It is an adaptation of
Andreas Steinhöfel
Andreas Steinhöfel (; born 14 January 1962) is a German author for children and young adult books, and a translator.
Biography
Andreas Steinhöfel grew up with two brothers in the Middle Hesse small town Biedenkopf, and did his A Levels the ...
’s award-winning eponymous
young adult
A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
.
In 2017, Schümann was cast as the lead in the critically acclaimed
dystopian
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
drama
''Jugend ohne Gott'', opposite of
Jannis Niewöhner
Jannis Niewöhner () (born 30 March 1992) is a German actor known for his role in the ''Timeless'' trilogy of films: ''Ruby Red'', ''Sapphire Blue'', and ''Emerald Green'', based on a book series
A book series is a sequence of books having cert ...
. In the same year, he was cast as Albrecht von Schlacht in the comedy
''High Society''. In 2019, he appeared alongside
Keira Knightley
Keira Christina Righton (; née Knightley, born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in both independent films and blockbusters, particularly period dramas, she has received several accolades, including nominations for ...
in the British historical drama
''The Aftermath'', as well as in the second season of drama series
''Charité'', distributed by
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
. The story is set in the hospital
Charité
The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine) is one of Europe's largest university hospitals, affiliated with Humboldt University and Free University Berlin. With numerous Collaborative Research Ce ...
in Berlin during
the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Schümann portrays Otto, the main character's brother, a homosexual student of medicine who opposes the
Nazi regime
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. After serving his military duty, he returns from war to work in the hospital, where he falls in love with Martin. They keep their affair a secret in fear of Martin being sent to a
concentration camp
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...
over
Paragraph 175
Paragraph 175 (known formally a§175 StGB also known as Section 175 in English language, English) was a provision of the Strafgesetzbuch, German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It Criminalization of homosexuality, made homosex ...
, a German law that made
homosexual acts a crime.
In 2019, the romantic drama ''Close to the Horizon'' was released, with Schümann in the leading role. He portrayed model and kickboxer Danny Taylor, a survivor of severe
child sexual abuse
Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...
who was infected with
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immu ...
by his father. The film is an adaptation of Jessica Koch's best-selling book about her real life relationship with Danny Taylor. The film follows Jessica, played by
Luna Wedler
Luna Wedler (born 26 October 1999) is a Swiss actress. She gained popularity by starring in the 2020 Netflix series '' Biohackers''.
Early life
Wedler grew up alongside two siblings in Zürich's District 6.
She studied contemporary dance bet ...
, trying to navigate a relationship with a severe
childhood trauma
Childhood trauma is often described as serious adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Children may go through a range of experiences that classify as psychological trauma; these might include neglect, abandonment, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, a ...
survivor who is HIV positive in a time when there was no effective
antiretroviral medication
Antiviral drugs are a class of medication used for treating viral infections. Most antivirals target specific viruses, while a broad-spectrum antiviral is effective against a wide range of viruses. Unlike most antibiotics, antiviral drugs do no ...
to prevent the
HIV infection
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...
from developing into an
AIDS diagnosis. Schümann's performance earned him his first
Jupiter Award for Best Actor.
In the following year, Schümann appeared in
''Monster Hunter'', starring
Mila Jovovich, and landed the leading role in ''9 Days Awake'', a drama film about Eric, a
crystal meth
Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...
addict, battling drug addiction since he was 14. Schümann's portrayal of a drug addict earned him his second
Jupiter Award for Best Actor.
As of 2021, he portrays
Franz Joseph I.
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until h ...
in the award-winning miniseries ''Sisi''. The role earned Schümann his third
Jupiter Award for Best Actor.
Activism and other ventures
On 26 December 2020, Schümann published a photo on Instagram with his partner Felix Kruck, a move interpreted by the international media outlets as his public
coming out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out ...
as gay. In 2021, Schümann criticized the coming out narrative and explained that he had never made a secret of his
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
, stating that he only published the photo of his partner "as a signal of support for the
LGBTQ
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is ...
community. In February 2021, he was one of 185 actors who signed the #ActOut Manifesto, an initiative by
queer German actors to achieve visibility and diversity in film and theater.
On the
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
The International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, is an international memorial day on 27 January that commemorates the victims of the Holocaust, which resulted in the murder of on ...
on January 27th, 2023, he gave a speech in the
German Parliament
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the German Federalism, federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representat ...
officially commemorating the LGBTQ victims of the
Nazi regime
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
for the first time in the country's history.
Personal Life
Schümann is studying
English Studies
English studies (usually called simply English) is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries; it is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which ...
and
Media Studies at
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established ...
.
His father and two brothers are bricklayers. He lives with his partner Felix Kruck in
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
.
Filmography
Awards
* 2012: Nomination for the New Faces Award for ''Homevideo'' (Best young actor)
* 2012: Hessischer Fernsehpreis special award of the jury for ''Mittlere Reife'' (together with Isabel Bongard,
Sonja Gerhardt,
Vincent Redetzki,
Anton Rubtsov
Anton may refer to: People
*Anton (given name), including a list of people with the given name
*Anton (surname)
Places
*Anton Municipality, Bulgaria
**Anton, Sofia Province, a village
*Antón District, Panama
**Antón, a town and capital of th ...
)
* 2016: Askania Award (Shooting-Star-Award)
*2020: Jupiter Award – Best National Actor
*2020: GQ Care Award – Best Look
*2021: Jupiter Award – Best National Actor
*2022: Jupiter Award – Best National Actor
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schumann, Jannik
1992 births
Living people
German gay actors
German LGBT rights activists
German male child actors
German male film actors
German male television actors
German male voice actors
Male actors from Hamburg
21st-century German male actors