Thomas Kretschmann

Born: 8 September 1962
Where: Dessau, Germany

The one-time Olympic swimmer has impressed with a variety of military roles including the "good German" in The Pianist and Captain Englehorn in King Kong.

He grew up in the city of Dessau in the former East Germany (where he trained to be an Olympic swimmer) but headed to West Berlin when he was 19 to escape communism.

(during his month-long winter trek via Hungary and Austria he lost part of his finger to frostbite).

After a variety of bar jobs he began acting at 25 as a member of Berlin's Schiller Ensemble - the German equivalent of the Royal Shakespeare Company

In 1991, he made his feature debut in Der Mitwisser, landing the prestigious Max-Ophulus prize as best new actor.

However, it was in 1993's gruelling Stalingrad - about the German siege of the Russian city during WWII - that he attracted international attention.

He subsequently appeared in a welter of European movies, including La Reine Margot and The Stendhal Syndrome - before making his home in Los Angeles.

In 2000, he appeared in the submarine thriller U-571 and went on to play Damaskinos in the vampire thriller Blade II.

Director Roman Polanski cast him as Captain Wilm Hosenfeld - "the good German" - opposite an Oscar-winning Adrien Brody in 2002's The Pianist.

Subsequent appearances ranged from the action comedy The Karate Dog to the sci-fi thriller Resident Evil: Apocalypse and the historical biopic Downfall.

He also featured in the real-time American TV thriller 24 alongside Kiefer Sutherland.

In 2005, Peter Jackson cast him as Captain Englehorn in his £130m remake of the 1933 classic King Kong.