Sebastian Urzendowsky

Sebastian began gathering experience in front of film and TV cameras as a child. Born in Berlin, he was discovered by talent scouts at his school and at the age of eight made his debut in the TV movie Babysitter.

His first major role was in Hendrik Handloetgen’s directorial debut PAUL IS DEAD (1998) inspired by the conspiracy theory surrounding the alleged auto accident of Paul McCartney in 1966. In the following years he starred in two Tatort episodes, and appeared in Dominik Graf’s Berlin Festival entry A MAP OF THE HEART, as well as in Hans Christian Schmid’s DISTANT LIGHTS.

He crafted an impressive performance as youthful child murderer Jürgen Bartsch in the film THE CHILD I NEVER WAS. Urzendowsky made his real breakthrough with the lead role in Matthias Luthardt’s film PINGPONG, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006 in the Semaine de la Critique.

In Stefan Ruzowitzky’s World War II drama THE COUNTERFEITERS, Sebastian plays the Russian concentration camp inmate Kolya Karloff, who is forced to work in the counterfeiters’ workshop. The film was awarded an Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Film. He has also appeared in TV series THE BORGIAS (2011).