---
name: "Frederick Lau"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/frederick-lau"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "17 August 1989"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T12:37:12.838834+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Frederick Lau

Actor. Born 17 August 1989 in Berlin, Germany.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 17 August 1989, Berlin, Germany
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Lau, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q70775, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1035643/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/49767

## Coming up

- *The Perfect Holiday* (2026-10-22), as Simon

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Victoria*](https://film.one/film/victoria.md) (76)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Frederick Lau

> Frederick Lau plays Berlin's rough young men from the inside, soft where the type is usually hard, and he is at his best when he lets someone else lead. *Victoria* (2015) is the proof, and he has not yet had a part to match it.

Sonne, in *Victoria* (2015), is one of four men turned away from a Berlin club who talk a Spanish stranger into a night out. He brags, he steals beer from a kiosk, he drinks on a rooftop and falls over, and none of it is threatening. Lau plays him soft and tired, a man who has been out too long and knows it, and the reason Laia Costa's Victoria stays with him is that he looks as worn out as she does. It is not the showiest part in the film. Franz Rogowski's Boxer has the stillness, and the eye keeps going to him. Lau's job is to be the one she could plausibly leave with, and he does it without asking for credit.

He has been at this since he was ten, when he answered a newspaper advertisement for a children's television role, and by his mid-twenties he had appeared in more than fifty productions. Dennis Gansel's *The Wave* (2008), in which he played Tim, was the film that got him noticed. *A Coffee in Berlin* (2012) put him, as Ronny, in a well-liked ensemble. Then Sebastian Schipper's single take made him a lead, and since then he has moved between arthouse drama, comedy and television: Vince in *4 Blocks* (2017), set in Neukölln, and Kipinski in *The Captain* (2018).

What he does is physical rather than verbal. He can turn from hard to gentle in a moment and back again, and directors keep casting him as the sharp-edged outsider from Berlin street life rather than anyone ordinary. He does not seem to mind. "I don't find normality particularly stimulating," he said in 2015, and the parts bear him out. We went into *Victoria* braced for a stunt and were restless by the forty-minute mark, while the men drank and bragged and the improvised talk ran thin. What kept us from giving up on Sonne was how little Lau pushed. In scenes built to be improvised, most actors fill every silence; he stood back and let Costa lead, and that is why she can carry the film.

The complaint made about him since, and we have some sympathy with it, is that he has spent too much of the time on mainstream comedies when the bolder work suited him better. His strengths are in pressure: the long take, the crowded scene, the group of men who have to seem like they have known each other for years by the second minute. Berlin keeps offering him its rough corners and he keeps taking them. We would like to see a director hand him the whole night rather than a quarter of it.

## Biography

Frederick Lau is a German actor. Born on 17 August 1989 in Berlin, he began acting as a child and has appeared in more than 50 film and television roles since 2000.

He is known for his performances as Tim in *The Wave* (2008) and as Sonne in *Victoria* (2015). Lau received the German Film Award for both roles, as best supporting actor and best leading actor respectively. He has also won a Grimme Award and other television honours.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, filmportal.de.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Victoria* (2015), Fi1m 76, as Sonne — [page](https://film.one/film/victoria.md)

## Complete filmography (114)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Perfect Holiday* (2026), as Simon
- *23 000 Lives* (2026), as Sören
- *Miss Sophie - Same Procedure as Every Year* (2025), series, as Mr. Winterbottom
- *Schwarze Schafe - Die Serie* (2025), series, Acting
- *#BlackSheep* (2025), as Fritz von Plettenburg
- *Brick* (2025), as Marvin
- *Crooks* (2024), series, as Charly Markovic
- *Chantal in Fairyland* (2024), as Artolf
- *TESTO* (2024), series, as Benjamin 'Stulle' Steiner
- *One for the Road* (2023), as Mark
- *It's Burning* (2023), Producer
- *Fisch im Fell* (2023), as Markus
- *German Genius* (2023), series, as Frederick Lau
- *Der weiße Kobold* (2023), as Freddy
- *Asbest* (2023), series, as Holger
- *Cloud Under the Roof* (2022), as Paul
- *Commitment Phobia* (2021), as Michael
- *In Berlin wächst kein Orangenbaum* (2020), as Mike
- *Rising High* (2020), as Gerry Falkland
- *Nightlife* (2020), as Renzo
- *Charlotte Link - The Decision* (2020), as Jerome Deville
- *Man from Beirut* (2019), Acting
- *The Perfect Secret* (2019), as Simon
- *Close to the Horizon* (2019), as Dogan
- *Sweethearts* (2019), as Harry Leine
- *Kanun* (2018), as Freund
- *Wuff* (2018), as Oli Simon
- *Gutland* (2018), as Jens Fauser
- *Playmaker* (2018), as Ivo
- *The Captain* (2018), as Kipinski
- *My Brother Simple* (2017), as Ben
- *La Deutsche Vita* (2017), as Adrian
- *Antimarteria* (2017), as Manager Mike
- *4 Blocks* (2017), series, as Vince
- *Tempel* (2016), series, as Puschi
- *Heart of Stone* (2016), as Peter Munk
- *Text for You* (2016), as David
- *Seitenwechsel* (2016), as Leonard Ritter
- *How Men Talk About Women* (2016), as Martini
- *Scrappin'* (2016), as Letscho Talhammer
- *Blockbustaz* (2016), series, as Philip
- *The Huntingtans: Chewing Gum & Love Affairs* (2016), as George Huntingtan Seymore
- *Mordkommission Berlin 1* (2015), as Conrad Ruppert
- *Prisoner* (2015), Acting
- *Outside the Box* (2015), as Paul
- *Victoria* (2015), as Sonne — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/victoria.md)
- *Starfighter* (2015), as Richie Weichert
- *Punk Berlin 1982* (2015), as Gries
- *Dreamgirls* (2015), as Peter Müller
- *3 Türken und ein Baby* (2015), as Matthias
- *Nachspielzeit* (2015), as Roman
- *The King's Surrender* (2014), as Jacek
- *Open the Wall* (2014), as Jens Rambold
- *Coming In* (2014), as Didi
- *Ein todsicherer Plan* (2014), as Sascha Schmidt
- *Not My Day* (2014), as Plauze
- *Nichts für Feiglinge* (2014), as Philip Diercksen
- *Back on Track* (2013), as Tobias
- *UMMAH - Unter Freunden* (2013), as Daniel
- *Life Is Not for Cowards* (2013), as Alex
- *A Coffee in Berlin* (2012), as Ronnie
- *Kreutzer kommt ... ins Krankenhaus* (2012), as Lothar Ressmann
- *Turkish for Beginners* (2012), as Frieder
- *Hotel Desire* (2011), as Doorman
- *Stankowskis Millions* (2011), as Frank Kramer
- *Picco* (2011), as Marc
- *Go West - Freiheit um jeden Preis* (2011), series, as Alex Baumgarten
- *The Sinking of the Laconia* (2011), series, as Fiedler
- *Klaus* (2011), as Nachtvogel
- *Neue Vahr Süd* (2010), as Frank Lehmann
- *DIE SNOBS – Sie können auch ohne Dich* (2010), series, as Wurstjunge
- *What You Don't See* (2009), as David
- *Der Lehrer* (2009), series, as Picko
- *Ein Dorf schweigt* (2009), as Heinz Zedlitz
- *The Countess* (2009), as Janós
- *Eugens Welt* (2008), series, as Eugen
- *Die Entdeckung der Currywurst* (2008), as Jürgen Brücker
- *Doctor's Diary* (2008), series, as Jonas
- *Ihr Auftrag, Pater Castell* (2008), series, as Justus von Rothenburg
- *The Wave* (2008), as Tim
- *Head Under Water* (2007), as Rico Bartsch
- *An die Grenze* (2007), as Knut
- *Liebling, wir haben geerbt* (2007), as Paul Held
- *Wie verführ' ich meinen Ehemann* (2007), as Jonas Henning
- *Hamburg Dockland* (2007), series, as Mike
- *Der Kriminalist* (2006), series, as Dennis
- *Kommissar Stolberg* (2006), series, as Sebastian Stern
- *Neger, Neger, Schornsteinfeger!* (2006), series, as Fiete Petersen
- *Die Mauer – Berlin '61* (2006), as Paul Kuhlke
- *Unsere Zehn Gebote* (2006), series, as Hendrik
- *The Call of the Toad* (2005), as Hitlerjugend
- *Sterne leuchten auch am Tag* (2004), as Max
- *Rock Crystal* (2004), as Marc
- *Der verzauberte Otter* (2004), as Malte
- *Second Hand Child* (2004), as Tobias Baumann
- *Bibi Blocksberg and the Secret of Blue Owls* (2004), as David
- *SOKO Köln* (2003), series, as Florian Völkel
- *Nachtschicht* (2003), series, as Angelo Amtmann
- *The Flying Classroom* (2003), as Matz Selbmann
- *Der Tod ist kein Beinbruch* (2002), series, as Sven Senner
- *Der Brief des Kosmonauten* (2002), as Heinrich Wormsbecher
- *Kleeblatt grüßt Kaktus* (2002), as Clemens Schreiber
- *Drei Stern Rot* (2002), as Schrubber
- *Jonathan's Liebe* (2001), as Frederick
- *Wie angelt man sich einen Müllmann* (2001), as Jojo
- *Dr. Sommerfeld - Neues vom Bülowbogen* (1997), series, as Sven Förster
- *Wilsberg* (1995), series, as Ludger Schmitz
- *Roller Coaster* (1992), series, as Christian
- *Polizeiruf 110* (1971), series, as Keller (jung)
- *Scene of the Crime* (1970), series, as Stefan Döring, Tom, Dennis Weber, Kevin Stemmler
- *Oskarreif*, as Soldat
- *Alles kann, nichts muss*, as Oli
- *Das perfekte Weihnachten*, as Simon
- *Roccos Reise*, Rocco, Director, Producer

## Gallery

- ![Frederick Lau](https://film.one/media/person/696229/gallery-a94e09bad1f1.jpg) Frederick Lau — Martin Kraft, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/MJK_07943_Frederick_Lau_%28Berlinale_2018%29_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Filmcrew von Victoria auf der Berlinale mit Festivaldirektor Dieter Kosslick (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/696229/gallery-ad71958a7c5f.jpg) Filmcrew von Victoria auf der Berlinale mit Festivaldirektor Dieter Kosslick (2015) — Sebaso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cc/20150207_-_Victoria_Crew_auf_der_Berlinale_by_sebaso.jpg/1280px-20150207_-_Victoria_Crew_auf_der_Berlinale_by_sebaso.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Frederick Lau 2016 bei der Premiere zum Kinofilm "Pets" in Berlin](https://film.one/media/person/696229/gallery-5a2784861e4d.jpg) Frederick Lau 2016 bei der Premiere zum Kinofilm "Pets" in Berlin — Michael Johannhanwahr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Frederick_Lau.jpg/1280px-Frederick_Lau.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Grimme-Preisträger Frederick Lau bei der Verleihung 2011](https://film.one/media/person/696229/gallery-ff48ff1f8492.jpg) Grimme-Preisträger Frederick Lau bei der Verleihung 2011 — JCS, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Grimme-Preis_2011_-_Frederick_Lau_1.JPG/1280px-Grimme-Preis_2011_-_Frederick_Lau_1.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Frederick Lau](https://film.one/media/person/696229/gallery-3f89616d5ac5.jpg) Frederick Lau — Image via TMDB
- ![Frederick Lau](https://film.one/media/person/696229/gallery-99793fece142.jpg) Frederick Lau — Image via TMDB
- ![Frederick Lau](https://film.one/media/person/696229/gallery-8cbf80157808.jpg) Frederick Lau — Image via TMDB
- ![Grimme-Preisträger Frederick Lau bei der Verleihung 2011](https://film.one/media/person/696229/gallery-deea053dbfe1.jpg) Grimme-Preisträger Frederick Lau bei der Verleihung 2011 — JCS, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/16/Grimme-Preis_2011_-_Frederick_Lau_2.JPG/1280px-Grimme-Preis_2011_-_Frederick_Lau_2.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Grimme-Preisträger Frederick Lau bei der Verleihung 2011](https://film.one/media/person/696229/gallery-a4640d979b75.jpg) Grimme-Preisträger Frederick Lau bei der Verleihung 2011 — JCS, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Grimme-Preis_2011_-_Frederick_Lau_3.JPG/1280px-Grimme-Preis_2011_-_Frederick_Lau_3.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Other awards — 1 won, 1 nominated

- European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film 2015: European Film Award – People's Choice Award for Best European Film (nominated), for *Victoria*
- Bavarian TV Awards 2011: Bavarian TV Awards (won), for *Neue Vahr Süd*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/frederick-lau