News

Tom Mikulla started his classical theater education at the Hochschule Leipzig. During his years at drama school he was already offered several film roles and by the time he finished his studies he had been cast in the TV series Fahrschule Kampmann as well as in Und Tschüss! Sadly, the latter was the only production so far that granted him the opportunity to create a character with a Saxon accent. Tom Mikulla loves his home town of Dresden but states (in a clear standard German accent): “It is very difficult for productions to place a Saxon-speaking character on a show because for the audience he or she will most often come across as the stereotypical goofball”. It is definitely not the goofball type that Tom Mikulla usually gets cast for in TV series like Motorrad Cop, Medicopter, or Rosenheim Cops, but instead, he plays roles like policemen, pilots, detectives, guys that have their heart in the right place. Nevertheless, Tom Mikulla also loves to play the slick and two-faced desperado type of guy and manages to portray both kinds of roles in a perfectly convincing way.

In spring 2013, Tom Mikulla performed on the stage of Dresden’s Societaetstheater in a new play called Sprechende Männer (dir.: Thomas Stecher), which portrays two stereotypical men having a not-so-typical conversation on ways of life in our society. All those who want to learn more about what men really feel should see the next performance on September 22nd.

Born in 1978 in the town of Munich, Leo Reisinger was raised outside of the city receiving piano lessons and going through vocational education to eventually become a carpenter. It was by “a happy chance” as Leo puts it that he came across acting and then decided to change paths to take yet more training, this time though to become an actor. So he finished his studies at the Neue Muenchner Schauspielschule Ali Wunsch Koenig and was offered his first role by iconic director Franz X. Bogner. The two turned out to be a natural team having the same idiom of a local southern-Bavarian accent that is spoken in the countryside around Munich. More work followed by way of collaboration with directors as well known as Max Faerberboeck, Sibylle Tafel, Johannes Fabrick, and Marvin Kren. In 2014, Leo played the lead in the Student Academy Award winning film “Border Patrol” helmed by Peter Baumann.  Since 2018, Leo Reisinger is the eponymous character of Toni in the ARD network primetime series “Toni, Maennlich, Hebamme”.  Apart from acting, Leo plays in and composes songs for his own rock band and on top of that is the head writer for two in-development TV series.  Not to forget are Leo’s English speaking skills that he got to perfect during a one-year stay in Australia.

It happened during his high school graduation party that Herbert Schäfer parodied a drunken principal which definitely made him gain the favor of his fellow students and also rendered grades a matter of secondary importance.  Everyone who witnessed the scene knew that Herbert Schäfer was to become an actor.  He also convinced the Otto Falckenberg Drama School audition panel of his skills and subsequently received the best of acting training that there is in Germany.  Upon performing his absolutely convincing graduation monologues he became a fixed member with the ensemble at the theater in Ulm, Germany where for four years he got to play classics by Schiller, Goethe, Lessing, Kleist, and Brecht.  Following a 3 year intermission and a couple of forays into summer theater, he joined another fixed ensemble, this time at the Theater Freiburg.  This was a time in which plays  started to be interpreted in a more modern and unconventional way.  At that time he also got to know Amélie Niermeyer.  She helped Herbert Schäfer take a big leap forward as an actor and they collaborated in a number of plays at the Schauspielhaus Duesseldorf.  Risa Kes who was one of the very first and finest casting directors, introduced him to director Rainer Kaufmann which paved Herbert Schäfer’s way to work in film.  Thanks to his impressively sonorous voice he is also a well-established narrator for radio features, radio plays, audio books as well as for TV documentaries on the French-German TV network ARTE.  As for truly convincing lead roles, Herbert Schäfer is currently performing in Superstar sucht Deutschland at the Kammerspiele Landshut, Germany and in Benefiz at the Metropol Theater München.  His last lead performance in a film for the big screen was opposite Ulrike Tscharre in Ian Dilthey’s Eines Tages . . .. Herbert Schäfer is a thoroughbred actor!

It’s been about 20 years now during which Gilbert von Sohlern has been working as a first-class actor on stage as well as for small and big screen productions helmed only by the finest of directors whose hearts Gilbert von Sohlern convincingly won over right at the start of his career when he played in FLORIAN (dir.: Bernd Fischerauer).  His leading role in the TV film KEIN PLATZ FÜR IDIOTEN (dir: Gedeon Kovacs) garnered him a nomination at the Adolf Grimme Prize.  This was followed by collaboration with noted directors Jo Baier and Joseph Vilsmaier.  What better start could one wish for?  By now, Gilbert von Sohlern is indisputably a part of the core group of the most popular figures in hit series that have run for years on German TV:  his interpretation of series regulars like Monsignore Muehlich on PFARRER BRAUN or police officer Robert Dobner on MONACO 110 have undoubtedly added their share for both ensembles to receive their due prestige.  This is owed to the authenticity of his performances, be it as a doctor, a priest, or a police officer.  He convinces through earnest dilligence underlaid by subtle and dry humor which makes the viewer grin.  Having said this, he can even make us guffaw whenever he has that Frankonian mischief in his eyes.  Upon learning that he was raised an aristocrat at the Goessweinstein Castle, one does understand why.  We wish for Gilbert von Sohlern to come across those directors who fully appreciate that wonderful and artless prowess of his and accordingly give him the leeway he needs to further evolve.

As a kid, Steffen Wink dreamt of becoming an inventor like Gyro Gearloose.  He consequently enrolled at an engineering school to receive vocational training there.  His German teacher  -assigning an analysis of the play Andorra by Max Frisch- prompted a change of direction for Steffen Wink.  Steffen delved deeply into the play entirely relating to the character of “Andri”. This experience  ultimately caused the change in his professional trajectory.  Determined to become an actor, he first acted for a year in school plays at the Kammerspiele Frankfurt along with other young ambitious students.  He then applied successfully for acting school in Berlin for a study period of eight semesters.  The director at the Residenztheater München, Eberhard Witt, offered him a contract of two years after graduation from acting school.  During that time at the Resi, he collaborated with the likes of Leander Haußmann and Amélie Niermeyer.  He cites feeling uncomfortable in closed and dark rooms and also not being able to see the light of day there as easily comprehensible reasons for leaving the theater as a workplace.   Besides, only a fool would have turned down offers to play leading roles in Maja or Coming In and also working for Doris Dörrie in Bin ich schön? and opposite Fatih Akin in Black Souls. His most prominent roles so far were the recurring sidekick Schrader opposite Götz George in the long-lived TV series Schimanski and in the TV mini-series called Les Miserables opposite John Malkovich and Gérard Depardieu.   For a number of years it was well-known director Oskar Roehler who had wanted to collaborate with Steffen Wink and finally, in 2011, they got around to doing so in the big screener Die Quellen des Lebens.

Daron Yates was born in Munich. His father was from New Zealand and his mother is half German and half Armenian. Early on he was fascinated by the idea of becoming an actor and performed in countless school plays. At age 7 though, he discovered another passion, playing soccer. The sport defined most of his teenage years all the way to nearly becoming a pro. But after having earned his high school diploma and after having completed civil service he sold his car and headed out to New Zealand in order to learn about his ancestral roots. After having worked at a night club in Sydney, Australia for 6 months he went on to travel across New Zealand for an additional 6 months. During that time he lived with family, resumed playing soccer and even got a lucrative offer from a New Zealand soccer club. Daron declined and instead decided to return to Germany in order to pursue an acting career. Back in Munich, he took private acting classes and after having successfully auditioned at the renowned Theaterakademie August Everding from 2010 till 2014 he has been receiving professional acting training there and got his Diploma. While being enrolled as a student at Everding, he has already performed in several plays at Metropol Theater and at Prinzregententheater’s Akademietheater studio stage. Daron Yates is a live wire and beaming with energy; working with him means being infused with positive vibes. With his great talent and an alterable appearance, plus an excellent artistic education, paired with an ability to speak several foreign languages, Daron is definitely going to make a remarkable impression on the world of acting.

Christian Heiner Wolf spent his childhood and youth in Dresden and Munich and also stayed in Missouri, U.S.A. for a year and a half during his teenage years. It was during his time in the Midwest that he acquired a flawless General American accent which nowadays enables him to act in both German and English language productions. An accidental encounter with a theater director led to an audition for Goethe’s play Torquato Tasso. The day after the audition Christian Heiner Wolf was offered to play the leading role -his first role ever, at the renowned Munich off-venue Gasteig Theater. After this experience he knew that he was inescapably going to become a professional actor. Subsequently, while studying Geography and Economics at the Munich Technische Universität, he began taking acting lessons with some of the most distinguished teachers in the profession. With the university diploma under his belt, he started performing in various off-theater stage productions and kept on doing so for over 6 years. In 2003, met several students (Boris Kunz, Oliver Mohr, and Felice Götze among many others) of different well-known film schools in Germany and was cast in numerous short and debut films. Boris Kunz’ debut Drei Stunden, in which Christian Heiner Wolf played the role of David opposite Claudia Eisinger and Nicholas Reinke, ran in movie theaters in 2013. In 2005 he was awarded the Golden Mask at the 1st International Film Acting Festival in Cologne for his intense portrayal of a rapist in the short film Lucid Lost. So far his biggest success on the big screen was playing one of the leads in Olaf Saumer’s debut Suicide Club which was decorated with several prizes at national and international film festivals, of which the Interfilmpreis at the 31st Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis should be mentioned above all.  What ties most of Christian Heiner Wolf’s roles together is his comedic talent combined with the courage to look into the abyss of his characters’ minds.