# August Diehl

August Diehl (German pronunciation:; born 4 January 1976) is a German actor, primarily known to international audiences for playing Gestapo major Dieter Hellstrom in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Michael "Mike" Krause, Evelyn Salt's husband, in the movie Salt. He is also known for his leading roles in the films The Counterfeiters (2007), The Young Karl Marx (2017), and Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life (2019).

## Life and career

Diehl was born in West Berlin. His father is actor Hans Diehl, his mother is a costume designer, and his brother is a composer. His family was frequently moving around. Diehl spent his childhood in Auvergne, France, and moved back to West Germany when he was nine years old. The family lived in Hamburg, Vienna, and Düsseldorf.
Growing up in a family of artists, at the age of 18, he played Franz Mohr in a school theatre production of Die Räuber by Friedrich Schiller. After passing the Abitur exams, Diehl studied acting at the renowned Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch in Berlin.
In 2000, he was named one of European film's Shooting Stars by the European Film Promotion.
In 2009, Diehl played Gestapo major Dieter Hellstrom in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.
In 2024, he appeared in the fantasy-drama The Master and Margarita, based on the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, playing a devil-like character called Woland. And in the historical drama Bonhoeffer.
His upcoming projects are The Disappearance, in which he portrays Josef Mengele, and the action film Control.
In 2025, Diehl will appear in Lucile Hadžihalilović's fantasy-drama The Ice Tower.

## Personal life

Diehl was married to actress Julia Malik, but the marriage ended amicably in 2016. He has two children with Malik: a daughter born in May 2009 and a son born in 2012. Diehl plays the guitar and speaks German, Spanish, French, and English.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1998 | 23 | Karl Koch | |
| 1999 | Entering Reality | Leon | Short |
| 1999 | Die Braut [de] | Fritz von Stein | |
| 1999 | Poppen | Alex | Short |
| 2000 | Cold Is the Evening Breeze | Hugo Wimmer (young) | |
| 2000 | Der Atemkünstler | — | Writer |
| 2001 | Love the Hard Way | Jeff | |
| 2002 | Tattoo | Marc Schrader | |
| 2002 | Haider lebt – 1. April 2021 | A.M. Kaiser | |
| 2003 | Anatomy 2 | Benjamin 'Benny' Sachs | |
| 2003 | Distant Lights | Philip | |
| 2003 | The Birch-Tree Meadow | Oskar | |
| 2004 | Love in Thoughts | Günther Scheller | |
| 2004 | The Ninth Day | Untersturmführer Gebhardt | |
| 2005 | Mouth to Mouth | Tiger | |
| 2005 | Wattläufer | Robert | Short |
| 2006 | Slumming | Sebastian | |
| 2006 | I Am the Other Woman [de] | Robert Fabry | |
| 2006 | Nothing But Ghosts [de] | Felix | |
| 2007 | The Counterfeiters | Burger | |
| 2007 | Lichtblick | Perpetrator | Short |
| 2007 | Head Under Water [de] | Martin Wegner | |
| 2008 | Dr. Alemán [de] | Marc | |
| 2008 | Mr. Kuka's Advice | Lothar | |
| 2008 | A Woman in Berlin | Gerd | |
| 2008 | Buddenbrooks | Christian Buddenbrook | |
| 2009 | Inglourious Basterds | Major Dieter Hellstrom | |
| 2010 | Salt | Mike Krause | |
| 2010 | The Coming Days | Konstantin Richter | |
| 2011 | If Not Us, Who? | Bernward Vesper | |
| 2012 | Confession of a Child of the Century | Desgenais | |
| 2012 | Shores of Hope [de] | Andreas Hornung | |
| 2012 | The Adventures of Huck Finn [de] | Pap Finn | |
| 2013 | Layla Fourie | Eugene Pienaar | |
| 2013 | Night Train to Lisbon | Young Jorge O'Kelly | |
| 2013 | The Husband | Karl 'Rusty' Rost | |
| 2013 | Frau Ella | Klaus | |
| 2015 | Dirk Ohm – Illusjonisten som forsvant | Dirk Ohm | |
| 2015 | En mai, fais ce qu'il te plait | Hans | |
| 2016 | Dark Inclusion | Gabi Ulmann | |
| 2016 | Allied | Hobar | |
| 2017 | The Young Karl Marx | Karl Marx | |
| 2017 | Midnight Confession | Kurt | Short |
| 2018 | Kursk | Anton Markov | |
| 2018 | L'Empereur de Paris | Nathanaël | |
| 2018 | The Bird Catcher | Herman | |
| 2019 | A Hidden Life | Franz Jägerstätter | |
| 2019 | The Last Vermeer | Alex De Klerks | |
| 2021 | The King's Man | Vladimir Lenin | |
| 2021 | Plan A | Max | |
| 2022 | Munich – The Edge of War | SS-Hauptsturmführer Franz Sauer | |
| 2022 | The Perfumier | | |
| 2023 | Sidonie in Japan | Antoine | |
| 2024 | The Master and Margarita | Woland | |
| 2024 | Bonhoeffer | Martin Niemöller | |
| 2025 | The Ice Tower | | Post-production |
| TBA | The Disappearance | Josef Mengele | |
| TBA | Control | | Filming |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2005 | Feuer in der Nacht | Lukas Stein | Television film |
| 2005 | Intrigue and Love [de] | Ferdinand von Walter | Television film |
| 2016 | Close to the Enemy | Dieter Koehler | Miniseries; 7 episodes |
| 2018 | Parfum | Moritz de Vries | Series; 6 episodes |
| 2019 | Bauhaus – A New Era | Walter Gropius | Series |
| 2022 | Documentary Now! | Dieter Daimler | Series; 2 episodes |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Location |
| 1998 | Don Carlos | | Maxim Gorki Theater |
| 1998–1999 | Cleansed | Robin | Hamburg Kammerspiele |
| 1999 | Life Is a Dream | | Theater Dortmund |
| 2000 | The Seagull | | Burgtheater |
| 2001 | Roberto Zucco | Roberto Zucco | Burgtheater |
| 2001–2003 | The Jew of Malta | | Burgtheater |
| 2003 | Oedipus at Colonus | Polyneikes | Burgtheater |
| 2003–2005 | Don Carlos | Don Carlos | Deutsches Schauspielhaus |
| 2006–2007 | Zur schönen Aussicht | | Deutsches Schauspielhaus |
| 2008–2010 | A Moon for the Misbegotten | Tyrone | Nationaltheater Luxemburg |
| 2008–2010 | A Moon for the Misbegotten | Tyrone | Ruhrfestspiele |
| 2008–2010 | A Moon for the Misbegotten | Tyrone | Renaissance Theater |
| 2009 | Major Barbara | Adolphus Cusins | Schauspielhaus Zürich |
| 2012–2015 | The Prince of Homburg | | Burgtheater |
| 2012–2015 | The Prince of Homburg | | Salzburg Festival |
| 2013–2016 | Hamlet | Hamlet | Burgtheater |
| 2013–2017 | Das Geisterhaus | Esteban Trueba | Burgtheater |
| 2015–2018 | Diese Geschichte von Ihnen | Baxter | Burgtheater |
| 2018–2019 | Long Day's Journey Into Night | Edmund | Burgtheater |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 1999 | German Film Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | 23 | Won |
| 1999 | Bavarian Film Awards | Best Young Actor | 23 | Won |
| 2000 | Berlin International Film Festival | Shooting Stars | — | Won |
| 2005 | German Film Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | The Ninth Day | Nominated |
| 2005 | German Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actor | Love in Thoughts | Won |
| 2007 | Bambi Awards | Best Actor | Nothing But Ghosts | Nominated |
| 2010 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Inglourious Basterds | Won |
| 2011 | German Film Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role | If Not Us, Who? | Nominated |
| 2011 | German Film Critics Association Awards | Best Actor | The Coming Days | Nominated |
| 2012 | Nestroy Theatre Prize | Best Actor | The Prince of Homburg | Nominated |
| 2013 | German Screen Actors Awards | Best Leading Actor | Shores of Hope [de] | Nominated |
| 2014 | Jupiter Awards | Best German Actor | Frau Ella | Nominated |
| 2014 | Nestroy Theatre Prize | Best Actor | Hamlet | Won |
| 2016 | Nestroy Theatre Prize | Best Actor | Diese Geschichte von Ihnen | Nominated |
| 2025 | Russian Guild of Film Critics | Best Supporting Actor | The Master and Margarita | Won |