Thure Riefenstein

Biography/Film/Theatre

Riefenstein graduated 1989 as an actor in Germany, worked for five years on stage in repertory and Berlin Broadway theaters (see below) and continued studying acting and film in New York and Los Angeles. He since has been working internationally for cinema, television and theater in the United States, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Sweden, Serbia, Morocco and Turkey.

Important features in leading parts are the US-Canadian feature “Sophie” (director: Leif Bristow) with John Rhys-Davies and Deborah Kara Unger. In the “Golden Czech Lion Award” winning WW2 drama “Dark Blue World”, he played for director and Academy Award Winner Jan Sverák and in the action thriller “Hostile Takeover” he worked with director Carl Schenkel. In the US-German feature “Baltic Storm” (Dir.: Reuben Leder) he took a leading part aside Greta Scacchi, Jürgen Prochnow, and Donald Sutherland. In 2012 he worked with Academy Award Winner Steven Soderbergh in "Behind the Candelabra" and played with Michael Douglas, Matt Damon and Dan Aykroyd.

Mr. Riefensteins acclaimed TV-work includes the French period movie “Julie, chevalier de Maupin” (Dir.: Charlotte Brändström), where he starred with Marisa Berenson, Pierre Arditi and Gottfried John and which achieved an 'International Emmy Award' nomination for best foreign film. The TV production series Kommissarin Lucas, (Detective Lukas) with Thure Riefenstein as the male leading detective, achieved the highly acclaimed German “Adolf Grimme Award” nomination” for ‘Best Film’. In the Film “Boseckendorf, the night a village vanished” he was nominated as “Best Lead Male Actor” (Bambi Audience Award 2009 & Quotenmeter Award 2010) and was also semi finalist for the International Emmy Award 2010 in the same category as Best Lead Male Actor. He guest starred in the US-Series "Leverage" (TNT) with Academy Award Winner Timothy Hutton and also in The Brink (HBO) where he played with Academy Award Winner Tim Robbins.

Mr. Riefenstein starred in the international action drama mini-series “Crusaders” (Dir.: Dominique Othenin-Girard) with Armin Mueller-Stahl and Franco Nero, the successful feature comedy “666: In Bed with the Devil” (Dir.: Rainer Matsutani), the Canadian film “Criminal Instinct” (Dir.: Brad Turner) with Victor Garber or in the science fiction feature “Ainoa” (Dir.: Marko Kalantari).

Riefenstein is also a trained theater actor and has been seen in theater-plays such as Shakespeares "Pericles", Bertolt Brechts "Life of Galileo", Walter Jenss "The Downfall", Ariane Mnouchkines "Mephisto" and also in musicals such as "Linie 1" or the revue “The Blue Angel” where he played with Ute Lemper at the Berlin Broadway theater Theater des Westens and the Hamburger Schauspielhaus". The legendary show was directed by European theater icons Peter Zadek and Jérôme Savary. Riefenstein also worked with Bertolt Brechts former assistant Peter Palitzsch on "Pericles" at the Berliner Ensemble and with Vlad Mugur Carlo Goldoni's "The Liar".

He lived in London to practice in fringe theatre and in New York to work with Kristin Linklater. His American debut was in the New Yorker production of Jean Genet’s “The Maids” for the Berkshire Theatre Festival. In Los Angeles he studied acting at the ACI based on Lee Strasberg's and Sandford Meisner’s working techniques and worked with several coaches such as Doug Warhit, Sam Christensen, Bruce Davison and others.

Riefenstein also works as director, producer and writer.

He is married Patricia Luger and has a son Paris (b. 2005).

Filmography (excerpts)

Director/Writer/Producer (excerpts)