Ulrich Matthes

Ulrich Matthes (born 9 May 1959) is a German actor. He is best known for having played Joseph Goebbels in the 2004 film Downfall.

Life and work Matthes was born in West Berlin and educated at the Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster. He studied acting in the early 1980s in Berlin under Else Bongers. In the 2004 movie Downfall he plays Joseph Goebbels. In the 2004 movie The Ninth Day, he plays Fr. Henri Kremer, a Catholic priest imprisoned at Dachau. He is also the standard German voice for Kenneth Branagh along with Martin Umbach.

In 2019, Matthes served on the jury that chose Pauline Curnier Jardin as winner of the Preis der Nationalgalerie.

Awards 1985: Förderpreis für Literatur der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf in Northrhine-Westphalia 1999: Bavarian Film Award – Best Actor for performance in Rider of the Flames 2003: Deutscher Hörbuchpreis 2007: Theaterpreis Berlin 2008: Deutscher Theaterpreis Der Faust 2015: Goldene Kamera – Best German Actor for performances in the Tatort episode Im Schmerz geboren (“Born in pain”) and in Bornholmer Straße (“Bornholm street”) 2015: Grimme-Preis – Best Actor for performance in Tatort: Im Schmerz geboren 2015: German Television Academy Award – Best Actor for performance in Bornholmer Straße 2016: Lielais Kristaps – Best Actor for performance in Pelnu Sanatorija (Exiled) 2022 Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

Film

1969: An einem Tag im September (Short) – Max 1970: Die Wesenacks (TV film) – Fränzchen 1973: Artur, Peter und der Eskimo (TV film) – Peter 1989: Henry V – Henry V (German version) 1992: Herr Ober! – TV game show host 1994: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein – Victor Frankenstein (German version) 1995: Ein falscher Schritt (TV film) – Georg Klein 1995: Der Mörder und sein Kind (TV film) – Rainer Dreyer 1995: Nikolaikirche (TV film) – Alexander ‘Sascha’ Bacher 1995: Othello – Iago (German version) 1996: Hamlet – Prince Hamlet (German version) 1997: (TV film) – Jan-Carl Raspe 1997: Winter Sleepers – Rene 1998: Abgehauen (TV film) – Eberhard E. 1998: Rider of the Flames – Baron Isaac von Sinclair 1999: Aimée & Jaguar – Eckert (SS) 1999: Framed (Short) – Beck 2000: The Coq Is Dead (TV film) – Kommissar Steiner 2002: Mörderherz (TV film) – Dr. Graf 2004: – Peter 2004: The Ninth Day – Abbé Henri Kremer 2004: Downfall – Joseph Goebbels 2006: Wer war Kafka? (Documentary) (voice) 2006: – Dr. Leonhard 2008: – Robert von der Mühlen 2010: (TV film) – Hauptmann 2011: Cracks in the Shell – Ben Kästner 2011: Calm at Sea (TV film) – Ernst Jünger 2012: A Little Suicide (Short) – The Cockroach (voice) 2012: Kunduz: The Incident at Hadji Ghafur – Grewe 2013: The Notebook – Apa 2014: (TV film) – Hartmut Kummer 2016: Pelnu Sanitorija (Exiled) (Latvian film) – Ulrihs 2016: Geschichte einer Liebe – Freya – Helmuth James von Moltke 2016: Die Vierte Gewalt (TV film) – Publisher 2017: (TV film) – Matteo Kälin 2017: Krieg (TV film) – Arnold 2017: Die Puppenspieler (TV film) – Rodrigo Borgia 2019: A Hidden Life – Lorenz Schwaninger 2021: The Story of My Wife – the psychiatrist 2022: Munich - The Edge of War – Adolf Hitler

Television 1995: Wolffs Revier: Sommersprossen – Danzer 1987–1997: Derrick (4 episodes) – Harald Breuer / Robert Lohmann / Holger Küster / Ulrich Huberti 1997: The Old Fox: Der Tod der Eltern – Andreas Gobel 1997–1999: Polizeiruf 110 (2 episodes) – Psychologe / Tanjas Partner 2000: Ein Fall für zwei: Blutiges Pfand – Michael Strobel 2008: The Bill: Proof of Life – Victor Hauptmann (crossover story with Leipzig Homicide) 2011: Tatort: – Günther Kremer 2014: Tatort: – Richard Harloff 2019: Sarah Kohr: Das verschwundene Mädchen – Artem Lasarew 2020: Das Boot

Personal life In February 2021, Matthes came out as gay.

In April 2023, Matthes was one of the 22 guests at the ceremony in which former Chancellor Angela Merkel was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit for special achievement by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Schloss Bellevue in Berlin.