Lars Eidinger

Lars Eidinger
Eidinger in 2024
Born	1975 or 1976 (age 48–49) Berlin, West Germany
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2002–present
Spouse	Ulrike Eidinger
Children	1

Lars Eidinger (German: [laʁs ˈaɪ̯dɪŋɐ] ^ⓘ; born 1975 or 1976) is a German actor and rapper, based in Berlin. He has appeared in German and international film and television productions, including the 2020 film My Little Sister, the German series Babylon Berlin (2017–2022), the 2023 American miniseries All the Light We Cannot See, and the 2024 film Dying.

Lars Eidinger was born in 1975 or 1976^[1] to an engineer and a nurse, and grew up with his older brother in Berlin's Marienfelde district.^[2]

He is a graduate of the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he studied alongside Fritzi Haberlandt, Nina Hoss,^[3] Devid Striesow, and Mark Waschke.^[4]

Eidinger started his career at Deutsches Theater in 1997. He became a salaried member of the Schaubühne ensemble in 1999 in Berlin,^[5][1] with leading roles in Thomas Ostermeier productions such as Hamlet and Richard III.^[6] He said that a significant moment in his career came while performing in a production of Troilus and Cressida directed by James Macdonald in 2005, when Macdonald told him to focus on "the words, just the words". It was not until he was rehearsing the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy for a production of Hamlet in 2008 that the meaning sunk in.^[5] The role of Hamlet is his favourite one, and in 2015 he estimated that over six years, he had played the role 250 times.^[7]

Eidinger has performed on stage in Australia several times: at the 2006 Adelaide Festival in a Schaubühne production of Nora (director Ostermeier's transformation of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House); in 2010, in Schaubühne's production of Hamlet for the Sydney Festival; and again to Adelaide in 2017.^[1]

In 2016, Ostermeier's Schaubühne production of Richard III was staged at the Edinburgh Festival, with Eidinger's performance described as "a mesmerising Richard – played like a seductive rock star gone to seed" by British theatre critic Lyn Gardner.^[8] Richard III, performed in German with English surtitles and occasional English expressions, was one of the opening acts at the 2017 Adelaide Festival,^[9] and played at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in New York City in 2017.^[5]

He played Hamlet again in the Schaubühne production that toured to New York in 2022,^[5] in a short season at BAM.^[10]

Eidinger appeared in several German TV series and films before coming to international notice.^[1] He acted in his first feature film, Everyone Else in 2007.^[7]

In 2014 he became known internationally for his role in Clouds of Sils Maria opposite Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart.^[7] Since then he has acted in many international productions, including Tim Burton's Dumbo (2019); Claire Denis's sci-fi horror film High Life; and the 2020 Swiss drama film My Little Sister as a famous actor suffering from cancer, opposite Nina Hoss. He is also known for the hit German neo-noir series Babylon Berlin (2017–2022).^[1] He worked with French filmmaker Olivier Assayas on Personal Shopper (2016), and the 2022 mini-series Irma Vep.^[1]

In 2022, he featured in Noah Baumbach's White Noise.^[1] In 2023 he starred in the Emmy-nominated American miniseries All the Light We Cannot See.^[1]

He plays the lead role in the 2024 film Dying, directed by Matthias Glasner, which premiered at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February and went on to screen at the Sydney Film Festival and then the Adelaide Film Festival in October.^[1]

As of October 2024^[update] he is working on an upcoming film by Noah Baumbach.^[1]

Eidinger has been a musician and DJ as long as he has been an actor. In 1998, he released a trip-hop EP, I'll Break Ya Legg.^[11][5] In the early 2000s, when DJing at parties, he got a reputation for revealing his buttocks, in a gesture he said he got from the punk scene, which is "meant less as an affront and more as an expres­sion of freedom, anarchy, and cock­i­ness". However, after being photographed by a Bild reporter who published it on the front page of the newspaper, he stopped doing it. Around 2004, he started running what he called "autistic discos" in Berlin, playing eclectic pop^[11]

He has played sets as DJ many times at the Viennale, including in 24 October 2024, along with DJ Rumi from Baires and filmmaker Arash T. Riahi. His sets often last several hours, combining "eclectic pop, rap, 80s, breakbeat, industrial bass, and techno".^[12]

In February 2016, Eidinger was a member of the jury for the main competition section of the 66th Berlin International Film Festival, chaired by Meryl Streep.^[13]

Eidinger was one of the first people to sign the Open Letter to the German Position on Russo-Ukrainian War in late April 2022, which demanded that Germany not support Ukraine with arms, in order to "prevent a third world war".^[14][15]

He enjoys doing photography, also directs plays, including an adaptation of Peer Gynt co-created with German artist John Bock.^[5]

Eidinger is married to opera singer Ulrike Eidinger. The couple has a daughter and lives in Berlin's Charlottenburg district.^[16][5]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lars Eidinger.

• Lars Eidinger at IMDb
• Lars Eidinger on Discogs