Ulrich Noethen is one of the leading German character actors in film and television. After studying acting at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, theater engagements took him to Freiburg, Cologne and Berlin, among other places. He worked with directors such as Frank Castorf, Hans Neuenfels and Thomas Langhoff and left a lasting impression with his roles in productions such as “Hamlet”, “Faust”, “The Wild Duck” and “A Midsummer Night's Dream”.
He became known to a wider cinema audience through his portrayal of the a cappella singer Harry Frommermann in the successful film Comedian Harmonists. For this role, he was awarded the Bavarian and German Film Prize in the category of “Best Male Lead” in 1998. In the years that followed, he appeared in numerous cinema and television films, including “Gripsholm” (2000), “Der Untergang” (2004), “Die Unsichtbare” (2010), “Hannah Arendt” (2012), “Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank” (2016), as Fritz Bauer in “Die Akte General” (2016), as Prof. Ferdinand Sauerbruch in the second season of the television series “Charité” (2019), in “Louis van Beethoven” (2019), the “Wendland” series (since 2022) and “Ungeschminkt” (2023).
He has received numerous awards, including the Bavarian Film Award (1998), the German Television Award (2006), the Golden Camera (2006), the Grimme Award (2009 and 2010), and the German Acting Award (2012), most recently the German Academy for Television Award (2022).
Ulrich Noethen is also a renowned audiobook speaker. He received the German Audiobook Award in 2017 for his reading of the novel “Nackter Mann, der brennt” by Friedrich Ani. He works with the Delian Quartet, the Boulanger Trio and the GrauSchumacher Piano Duo, as well as with conductors such as Manfred Honeck, Justin Doyle, Wolfgang Katschner, Václac Luks, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Simon Rattle and Thomas Hengelbrock.