Thomas Kretschmann was born in East Germany. Before becoming an actor he was a swimmer. He has acted in several popular American movies, such as Resident Evil: Apocalypse, The Pianist, U-571, In Enemy Hands, etc. He now lives in Los Angeles with his girlfriend Lena and their three children, Nicolas, Stella and Sascha.


Received the Max Ophüls Prize for best young actor in 1991. Has played a Nazi officer in eight different, completely unrelated films: Stalingrad (1993), U-571 (2000), The Pianist (2002), In Enemy Hands (2004), Der Untergang (2004), Head in the Clouds (2004),Eichmann (2007) and Valkyrie (2008). He has three children: one son, Nicolas, one daughter, Stella and another child, with his girlfriend Lena. He played a Nazi in The Pianist (2002), and, in Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II (2005) (TV), he played Pope John Paul II, who (as the movie shows) fought against and tried to protect people from the Nazis. Modeled in Hugo Boss perfume advertisement.