Devid Striesow

Devid Striesow studied at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. From 1999 onward, he played at Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg and the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, among others. In Düsseldorf, he began collaborating with director Jürgen Gosch, taking on roles in Gosch’s “Käthchen von Heilbronn”, “Prinz Friedrich von Homburg”, “Hamlet” and as Vlas in Maxim Gorky's “Sommergäste”. In 2004, he was awarded the Alfred Kerr Prize for his portrayal of Vlas and received the “Best Young Actor” award from the magazine “Theater heute”. In 2005, he played Lady Macbeth in Gosch’s “Macbeth”, which was voted production of the year and invited to the Berlin Theatertreffen in 2006. Most recently, Striesow played at Schauspielhaus Hamburg in “Wer hat Angst vor Virginia Woolf” (director: Karin Beier, 2018) and “Ivanov” (director: Karin Beier, 2020).

Striesow made his cinema debut in 2000 in Rainer Kaufmann’s film drama „Kalt ist der Abendhauch“. Since then, he has appeared in numerous film roles and received a nomination for the German Film Award for his portrayal of an unsuccessful small businessman in Hans-Christian Schmid’s film “Lichter”. At the Berlinale 2007, he appeared in Christian Petzold’s “Yella“ as well as in Stefan Ruzowitzky’s “Die Fälscher”. 

In 2007, Striesow won the German Film Award in the category “Best Male Supporting Role” for his portrayal of SS officer Friedrich Herzog in “Die Fälscher”. In 2008, “Die Fälscher” won the Academy Award for ”Best Foreign Language Film”. In 2015, “Ich bin dann mal weg” (director: Julia von Heinz) was released, for which Striesow was awarded the Bambi for “Best National Actor” for his portrayal of Hape Kerkeling. These honours were followed by further nominations and awards for various films.
Further appearances in film and series productions include Tom Tykwer’s “Drei” (2010), Burhan Qurbani’s “Wir sind jung. Wir sindstark” (2013) the ZDF crime series “Bella Block” (as Jan Martensen, 2005 - 2012), and the crime series “Tatort” (as Chief Inspector Jens Stellbrink, 2013 – 2019). Recent cinema films include “Nahschuss” (director: Franziska Stünkel, 2021), “Das Begräbnis” (director: Jan Georg Schütte, 2022), and “Für immer Eltern” (director: Florian Schwarz, 2021) for television.

The collaboration between Thorsten Lensing and Devid Striesow began in the run-up to Lensing’s “Schneewittchen” production in 2005 with “Devid Striesow Reads Robert Walser”. They continued their work together with “Onkel Wanja” (2008), “Der Kirschgarten” (2011), “Karamasow” (2014) and “Unendlicher Spaß” (“Infinite Jest”, 2018).