Sylvester Groth (born 31 March 1958) is a German theater, television, and film actor. He is best known to international audiences from his appearances in Hollywood movies including Inglourious Basterds and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Furthermore, he has appeared in the Netflix series Sense8, Fargo, and Dark.
Biography Groth is the youngest of five siblings from Jerichow (Bezirk Magdeburg) in the former German Democratic Republic, where he also spent his childhood. His family is from Upper Silesia. Groth's father died while he was still young, and his mother married a second time. When he was 14 years old, the family moved to Leipzig. In 1986, he escaped from East Germany to West Germany.
He studied acting and singing at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. This was followed by engagements in Schwerin, Dresden, and Berlin, where he worked as a guest actor at the Deutsches Theater and from 1986 to 1989 at the Schaubühne. He also worked at the Residenz Theater, the Munich Kammerspiele, the Berliner Ensemble, the Burgtheater in Vienna, and the Salzburg Festival.
In addition to an extensive theater career, Groth has also acted in numerous television productions and feature films. His first major film role was in 1983 in the East German film The Turning Point, based on a novel by Hermann Kant. In 1986, he appeared in Johannes Schaaf's adaptation of Michael Ende's story Momo. In 1992, he acted in the war drama Stalingrad and in 2006 he took on the role of Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels in Dani Levy's My Führer – The Really Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler.
Groth is known to English-language audiences for appearing in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film, Inglourious Basterds, in which he again portrayed Goebbels.Inglourious Basterds credits More recently, he held a leading role in the Netflix series Dark as Clausen, a police investigator, as well as appearing in the first episode of the third season of Fargo.
In January 2013, the Film Museum in Potsdam honoured Groth with a retrospective. On 1 December 2017, he received an award from the DEFA Foundation for his outstanding achievements in German film.
Selected filmography
Film
+ Year Title Role Notes1983The Turning PointMark Niebuhr1986The House on the RiverHeinz Hüsgen1986MomoAgent BLW/553 X1992The Last U-BoatFunker Maschke1993StalingradOtto2003The Third WaveDauphin2006NevermorePfarrer Ekdahl2007My Führer – The Really Truest Truth about Adolf HitlerJoseph Goebbels2008The ReaderProsecutorBuddenbrooksKesselmayer2009HildeBoleslaw BarlogInglourious BasterdsJoseph Goebbels2010Aghet – Ein VölkermordMartin NiepageDocumentary2015Naked Among WolvesHelmut KrämerThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.Uncle Rudi2017In Times of Fading LightKurt Umnitzer2019Berlin, I Love YouFrosch2022The 355Jonas Muller
Television + Year Title Role Notes1990Rote ErdeFritz Rewandowski2003Tatort: Stiller TodJustus Fürmann, public prosecutor2004Mein Leben & Ich4 episodes2005Tatort: Rache-EngelChief of police2007Rosa RothMichael Katzmann2007, 2013Der Kriminalist2 episodes2010KDD – KriminaldauerdienstRichard Plötz1 episode2011Tatort: Das DorfMedical examiner2012, 2014The Old Fox2 episodes2012Tatort: Die schöne Mona ist totChristian Seitz2010Generation WarSturmbannführer/Standartenführer Hiemer2 episodesTatort: Schwarzer AfghaneNorbert MüllerTatort: Wer das Schweigen brichtRainer Vaske2013–2015Polizeiruf 110Jochen Drexler4 parts2015Sense8Sergei Bogdanow4 episodesDeutschland 83Walter Schweppenstette8 episodes2016NSU German History X: Walter Ahler2017Tatort: Wacht am RheinDieter GottschalkFargoColonel Horst Lagerfeld1 episode2018Deutschland 86Walter Schweppenstette10 episodes2019DarkClausenCriminal: GermanyDetective Chief Inspector Karl Schultz3 episodes2020Deutschland 89Walter Schweppenstette8 episodes
Awards and honours Heinrich Greif Prize for The Turning Point (1984) Television and film award from the German Academy of Performing Arts for Romeo (2001) Grimme-Preis for Romeo (2002) Deutscher Kritikerpreis for the portrayal of Joseph Goebbels in My Führer – The Really Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler (2007) DEFA Foundation Prize for outstanding achievements in German film (2017)
References
External links