Played by Sebastian Koch
Charming German Billionaire Otto Düring is a philanthropist who uses the money his family made through affiliation with the Nazis to help struggling people around the world, including in volatile regions of the Middle East. He hires Carrie Mathison to be his head of security in Berlin.
Charming German Billionaire Otto Düring is a philanthropist who uses the money his family made through affiliation with the Nazis to help struggling people around the world, including in volatile regions of the Middle East. He hires Carrie Mathison to be his head of security in Berlin.
Sebastian Koch was born in Karlsruhe, Germany and spent his early years in Stuttgart, in southwestern Germany.
He originally aspired to be a musician, but then decided that acting was to be his vocation and, subsequently, attended the renowned Otto Falckenberg School of Acting in Munich.
Mr. Koch won the Bavarian Television Prize for Heinrich Breloer's miniseries THE MANNS, in which he starred as Klaus Mann opposite Armin Mueller-Stahl as Thomas Mann. THE MANNS also won, among other honors, the International Emmy® Award for Best TV Movie/Miniseries. He also starred under Mr. Breloer's direction in the acclaimed miniseries TODESSPIEL and SPEER UND ER [Speer and Hitler], winning both the German Television Award and the Bavarian Television Prize for Best Actor for his portrayal of Albert Speer in the latter production.
He came to international attention for playing opposite Catherine Deneuve in the miniseries PRINCESSE MARIE, directed by Benoît Jacquot; and for starring with Gérard Depardieu, John Malkovich, and Christian Clavier in the miniseries NAPOLÉON, directed by Yves Simoneau, as well as for Costa-Gavras in AMEN.
In 2006 he notably starred with Ulrich Mühe and Martina Gedeck in writer/director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's THE LIVES OF OTHERS, one of the most acclaimed films of recent years. The feature's many global accolades included the Academy Award®, the César Award, and the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Mr. Koch was awarded the Italian Foreign Press' Globo d' Oro Award for Best European Actor, among other honors. The success of this movie, especially, set him free to now choose the roles that he considers worth playing.
Among his other projects exploring personalities and themes of Germany's history, he starred as Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg in Jo Baier's telefilm OPERATION VALKYRIE, which won the German Television Award for Best TV Movie or Miniseries; and played opposite Carice van Houten in Paul Verhoeven's Holland-set Resistance tale BLACK BOOK. Koch furthermore received an International Emmy Award nomination for portraying Jack London's character Wolf Larsen in the miniseries SEA WOLF, directed by Mike Barker.
His film work has of late taken him all over the world, with starring roles in Jaume Collet-Serra's UNKNOWN, opposite Liam Neeson; David Ondrícek's In THE SHADOW (a.k.a. The Shadow Of The Horse); Niall MacCormick's ALBATROSS, with Felicity Jones and Jessica Brown Findlay; John Moore's A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD, opposite Bruce Willis; Iannis Smaragdis' GOD LOVES CAVIAR; Götz Spielmann's OKTOBER NOVEMBER; Mike Figgis' SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF; Tom Hooper's upcoming American biographical drama film THE DANISH GIRL with Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe; Steven Spielberg's upcoming BRIDGE OF SPIES with Tom Hanks; and Kai Wessel's FOG IN AUGUST, the first feature film to address the Nazis' euthanasia program, starring Sebastian Koch as the hospital's staunch Nazi chief physician Werner Veithausen.