--- name: "Ulrich Mühe" canonical: "https://film.one/person/ulrich-muhe" fi1m_id: "ulrich-muhe" imdb_id: "nm0618057" tmdb_id: 8196 wikidata_id: "Q57292" roles: ["Actor"] born: "20 June 1953" died: "22 July 2007" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 79 average_as: "actor" average_over: 2 updated: "2026-09-17T17:56:58.062655+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." --- # Ulrich Mühe ## Identity Ulrich Mühe - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/ulrich-muhe - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** ulrich-muhe - **IMDb ID:** nm0618057 - **TMDB ID:** 8196 - **Wikidata ID:** Q57292 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrich_M%C3%BChe, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q57292, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0618057/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8196 Actor. Born 20 June 1953 in Grimma, Germany. Died 22 July 2007. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 20 June 1953, Grimma, Germany - **Died:** 22 July 2007 - **Active:** 1997–2006 - **Also known as:** Friedrich Hans Ulrich Mühe - **Berlin International Film Festival:** 1 Berlin prize (1 won) - **Average Fi1m score:** 79, as actor, over 2 titles - **Fi1m score by decade:** 1990s 74 (1), 2000s 84 (1) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrich_M%C3%BChe, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q57292, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0618057/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/8196 ## Streaming the US now - **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Lives of Others*](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-others.md) (84) - **HBO Max:** [*Funny Games*](https://film.one/film/funny-games.md) (74) For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country. ## Fi1m on Ulrich Mühe > Ulrich Mühe conveys inner conflict through small gestures and precise, quiet acting. We value the human weight he brings to *Funny Games*, where Michael Haneke's lessons about watching cruelty need people worth caring about. In *Funny Games* (1997), Ulrich Mühe makes Georg's suffering matter even when Michael Haneke seems more interested in what it will do to us. Alongside Susanne Lothar, he keeps our attention on the family through a painfully unequal struggle. We were frightened for them because the actors made their distress feel human and immediate. Mühe's restraint works here: it gives us somebody to care about in a film liable to interrupt that care with a lesson. His film work began in DEFA productions, with wider international notice coming through Bernhard Wicki's *Das Spinnennetz* (1989), playing the opportunistic lieutenant Theodor Lohse. Officers and doctors recur among his roles, and his small gestures suit people accustomed to keeping their thoughts to themselves. Haneke cast him as the father in *Benny's Video* (1992). By *Funny Games*, that inward concentration was helping to keep a whole family's suffering from being lost beneath the director's ideas. The partnership with Lothar matters as much as the director's demands. Together they stop our attention drifting towards admiration for the tormentors' cleverness, a considerable achievement when the struggle is so unequal. That also makes the film's shortcomings harder to ignore. Once the actors have made the family real to us, Haneke's repeated lectures about why we are watching feel unnecessary. Our reservation is with a director who keeps explaining what his actors have already made us feel. Television gave that quiet authority room for wit in *Der letzte Zeuge* (1998–2007), with Mühe as Dr Robert Kolmaar. *The Lives of Others* (2006) put that restraint to work in his performance as Stasi captain Gerd Wiesler. The small changes through which he suggests inner conflict reward close attention; there is little need for him to announce what we should notice. Begin with *Funny Games* if you can bear the cruelty; there is no comfortable way to watch this acting. ## Biography Ulrich Mühe was a German film, television and theatre actor. Born Friedrich Hans Ulrich Mühe on 20 June 1953 in Grimma, he trained as a construction worker and served as a border guard before studying acting at the Theaterhochschule 'Hans Otto' in Leipzig from 1975. He began his stage career in the late 1970s and became a leading member of the ensemble at the Deutsches Theater in East Berlin during the 1980s. Mühe appeared in numerous films and television productions, including *Benny's Video* (1992), *Schtonk!* (1992), *Funny Games* (1997) as Georg, *The Castle* (1997) and *Amen.* (2002). He was widely recognised for his performance as Gerd Wiesler in *The Lives of Others* (2006), for which he received the Deutscher Filmpreis for Best Actor and the European Film Award for Best Actor. He was also known in Germany for his long-running role in the television series *Der letzte Zeuge* (1998–2007). Active in politics, Mühe spoke against Communist rule at the Alexanderplatz demonstration in November 1989. He was married to actresses Jenny Gröllmann and Susanne Lothar. Mühe died on 22 July 2007. *Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, filmportal.de.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *The Lives of Others* (2006), Fi1m 84, as Gerd Wiesler — [page](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-others.md) - *Funny Games* (1997), Fi1m 74, as Georg — [page](https://film.one/film/funny-games.md) ## Complete filmography (67) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Jedermann Remixed* (2011), as Devil (archive footage) - *Nemesis* (2010), as Robert - *My Führer* (2007), as Prof. Adolf Israel Grünbaum - *Peer Gynt* (2006), as Der Knopfgiesser - *Das Geheimnis von St. Ambrose* (2006), as Nicolas Cramer - *The Lives of Others* (2006), as Gerd Wiesler — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/film/the-lives-of-others.md) - *Snowland* (2005), as Knövel - *Der Ausländer* (2004), Actor - *Hunger auf Leben* (2004), as Jochen Hensel - *Der Auftrag* (2004), Director - *Alles Samba* (2003), as Gerd Wegener - *Im Schatten der Macht* (2003), series, as Günther Gaus - *Hamlet_X* (2003), as Claudius Müller - *Spy Sorge* (2003), as Eugen Ott - *Amen.* (2002), as The Doctor - *Goebbels und Geduldig* (2001), as Goebbels bzw. Geduldig - *Dreimal Leben* (2001), as Henri - *Einfach raus* (1999), as Manfred Reimann - *Straight Shooter* (1999), as Markus Paufler - *Todesengel* (1999), as Dr. Leon Stein - *Siska* (1998), series, as Erich Branner - *36 Stunden Angst - Ein Vater kämpft um sein Kind* (1998), as Rudolph - *Rider of the Flames* (1998), as Jacob Gontard - *Night Time* (1998), as Eschbach - *Der letzte Zeuge* (1998), series, as Robert Kolmaar - *Funny Games* (1997), as Georg — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/funny-games.md) - *The Castle* (1997), as K - *Little Angel* (1997), as Commissioner - *Deadly Silence* (1997), as Christian Plache - *Sterben ist gesünder* (1997), as Hugo Wallner - *Nadja – Heimkehr in die Fremde* (1996), series, as Sergej - *Peanuts - Die Bank zahlt alles* (1996), as Dr. Jochen Schuster - *Nikolaikirche* (1995), as Pfarrer Ohlbaum - *Geschäfte* (1995), as Sturm - *… nächste Woche ist Frieden* (1995), as Dr. Herbert Pieritz - *Rudy, the Racing Pig* (1995), as Dr. Heinrich Gützkow - *Nadja – Heimkehr in die Fremde* (1995), as Sergej - *Rosa Roth* (1994), series, Actor - *The Blue One* (1994), as Karl 'Kalle' Kaminski - *Das tödliche Auge* (1993), as Stefan Phillis - *The Last U-Boat* (1993), as Gerber - Kommandant - *Benny's Video* (1992), as Georg, Benny's Father - *Schtonk!* (1992), as Dr. Wieland - *Jugend ohne Gott* (1991), as Lehrer - *End of Innocence* (1991), series, as Julian Green - *Der kleine Herr Friedemann* (1991), as Johannes Friedemann - *Hard Days, Hard Nights* (1990), as Flimmer - *Longing* (1990), as Sieghart - *Die Zeit ist aus den Fugen* (1990), Actor - *Nathan der Weise* (1990), as Patriarch - *Die gläserne Fackel* (1989), series, as Maximilian Steinhüter - *Spider's Web* (1989), as Theodor Lohse - *Späte Ankunft* (1989), as Raoul Fürstenau - *Imago* (1989), Actor - *Nadine, meine Liebe* (1988), as Oberleutnant Stein - *Sansibar oder Der letzte Grund* (1987), as Dr. Grote - *Die erste Reihe* (1987), as Rudolf Schwarz - *Das Buschgespenst* (1986), as Siegfried Strauch - *Die dritte Frau* (1985), Actor - *Hälfte des Lebens* (1985), as Friedrich Hölderlin - *The Woman and the Stranger* (1985), as Revolutionär - *Die Poggenpuhls* (1984), as Sohn Leutnant Leo - *Olle Henry* (1983), as Junger Mann - *Gespenster* (1983), as Osvald - *Der Mann und sein Name* (1983), as Retzlow - *Polizeiruf 110* (1971), series, as Kegel - *Scene of the Crime* (1970), series, as Peter Fuchs, Friedel Hebbel ## Gallery - ![Ulrich Mühe](https://film.one/media/person/87358/gallery-8b6e10b61d05.jpg) Ulrich Mühe — Edmond Frederik, some rework done by jha, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/UlrichMuhe-20051205.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![This file was uploaded with Commonist.](https://film.one/media/person/87358/gallery-d775aff824a3.jpg) This file was uploaded with Commonist. — Thomas Schmidt (netAction), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d2/Boulevard-der-stars-IMG_1476x.JPG/1280px-Boulevard-der-stars-IMG_1476x.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Grave of German actor Ulrich Mühe at cemetery in Walbeck. (2011)](https://film.one/media/person/87358/gallery-89948a216eef.jpg) Grave of German actor Ulrich Mühe at cemetery in Walbeck. (2011) — Times, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Grab_Ulrich_M%C3%BChe_Walbeck.jpg/1280px-Grab_Ulrich_M%C3%BChe_Walbeck.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Sommerhaus von Ulrich Mühe in Walbeck (Landkreis Börde, Sachsen-Anhalt) (2015)](https://film.one/media/person/87358/gallery-8026807b4b1e.jpg) Sommerhaus von Ulrich Mühe in Walbeck (Landkreis Börde, Sachsen-Anhalt) (2015) — Dr. Benedikt Vallendar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/Sommerhaus_Ulrich_M%C3%BChe_Walbeck.JPG/1280px-Sommerhaus_Ulrich_M%C3%BChe_Walbeck.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Ulrich Mühe](https://film.one/media/person/87358/gallery-5eaca60cb053.jpg) Ulrich Mühe — Image via TMDB - ![Ulrich Mühe](https://film.one/media/person/87358/gallery-67de41de904f.jpg) Ulrich Mühe — Image via TMDB - ![Ulrich Mühe](https://film.one/media/person/87358/gallery-4a59a07e5615.jpg) Ulrich Mühe — Image via TMDB - ![Ulrich Mühe](https://film.one/media/person/87358/gallery-c249e4c18e62.jpg) Ulrich Mühe — Image via TMDB ## Awards ### Berlin International Film Festival — 1 won - 2000: Berliner Bär (won) ### Other awards — 2 won - European Film Award for Best Actor 2006: European Film Award for Best Actor (won), for *The Lives of Others* - Bavarian TV Awards 2005: Bavarian TV Awards (won) *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/ulrich-muhe