August Zirner is an American-Austrian actor, who starred in over 60 film productions. He is one of the most popular actors in Germany.

Biography

Zirner was born as son of Austrian Jewish immigrants in the United States in Urbana, Illinois

Urbana, Illinois

Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,250. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area....

. His father had fled from the Nazis. In 1976 he studied drama at the Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Vienna before he made his debut as an actor at the Volkstheater in Vienna. After that he was engaged in Hanover, Wiesbaden and at the Munich Kammerspiele. His breakthrough into film was in "The Promise" in 1994.

He has appeared in numerous films and television films, e. g. in Cafe Europa (1990) by Franz Xaver Bogner, The Voyager (1991) by Volker Schlondorff, Stadtgespräch (1995) by Rainer Kaufmann, Winterkind (1997) by Margarethe von Trotta, Die Apothekerin (1997) by Rainer Kaufmann and The Counterfeiters by Stefan Ruzowitzky, which was awarded with the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2008. For the film Fury, he got the 2006 Adolf Grimme Award.
In 2009 Zirner played the transverse flute together with the Spardosen-Trio and the Theatre Program Diagnose: Jazz. In May 2011 Zirner acts in Blind Date, a film by Theo van Gogh at the Schauspielhaus Graz, a production of Bernadette Sonnenbichler.

Zirner is married to actress Katalin Zsigmondy and one of his four children is the actor John Zirner. Although he has lived in Europe since 1973, August Zirner has retained his U.S. citizenship.

Commitment

August Zirner supports the Austrian Service Abroad

Austrian Service Abroad

Austrian Service Abroad is a non-profit initiative and was founded in 1998 by Andreas Maislinger and Andreas Hörtnagl. Since 2001 Michael Prochazka is part of the managing committee.-General Information:...

 as an advisor for the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service

Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service

The Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service is an alternative to Austria's compulsory national military service / alternative service founded in 1992. Since 1998 it is part of the Austrian Service Abroad...

.

Awards

2006 - "Special Recognition" by the German Academy of Performing Arts on the Film Festival Baden-Baden for the production team of Wut.

Filmography

• 1984: Tapetenwechsel, Regie: Gabriela Zerhau
• 1989: Geld
• 1990: Café Europa
• 1991: Von Gewalt keine Rede, Regie: Theodor Kotulla
• 1991: Homo Faber – The Voyager
• 1994: Du bringst mich noch um, Regie: Wolfram Paulus
• 1995: Das Versprechen, Regie: Margarethe von Trotta – The Promise
• 1995: Stadtgespräch
• 1996: Hannah, Regie: Reinhard Schwabenitzky
• 1997: Der Wald, nach einem Roman von Werner Kopacka
• 1997: Die Apothekerin
• 1998: Suzie Washington, Regie: Florian Flicker
• 1999: Pünktchen und Anton
• 2001: Bella Martha – Mostly Martha
• 2001: Das Sams
• 2001: Taking Sides – Der Fall Furtwängler, Regie: István Szabó – Taking Sides
• 2002: Der Stellvertreter, Regie: Constantin Costa-Gavras
• 2002: Joe & Max
• 2002: Gebürtig
• 2003: Novaks Ultimatum
• 2003: Trenck – Zwei Herzen gegen die Krone, TV, Regie: Gernot Roll
• 2004: Die Kirschenkönigin, Fernsehfilm von Rainer Kaufmann
• 2004: Liebe nach dem Tod
• 2005: Speer und Er – Speer und Er
• 2005: A Sound of Thunder – A Sound of Thunder
• 2005: Ein Haus in Irland –Tara Road
• 2005: Wut
• 2005: Mutig in die neuen Zeiten, TV, Regie: Harald Sicheritz
• 2006: Helen, Ted und Fred, TV, Regie: Sherry Horman
• 2007: Die Fälscher – The Counterfeiters
• 2007: Herr Bello
• 2007: Meine böse Freundin
• 2007: Contergan – Eine einzige Tablette
• 2008: Selbstgespräche
• 2008: Ein starker Abgang
• 2009: Ein Dorf sieht Mord
• 2009: Berlin 36 – Berlin 36
• 2009: So ein Schlamassel
• 2009: Schlaflos
• 2009: Meine Familie bringt mich um
• 2009: Dr. Hope – Eine Frau gibt nicht auf
• 2010: Klimawechsel (TV)
• 2010: Ein Praktikant fürs Leben
• 2011: Der Kardinal (Franz König)