Spanish-German actor and filmmaker Daniel Brühl began acting as a child. At the age of eight, he was doing radio plays and as a teenager, he started working in a dubbing studio. He landed a small part in the TV film ‘Svens Geheimnis’ when he was 15. In 1995, he portrayed the street kid Benji in the soap opera ‘Verbotene Liebe’ (Forbidden Love). In the ensuing years, he appeared in many TV series.
Daniel Brühl made his film debut in 1999, appearing as Checo in ‘Paradise Mall’ (Schlaraffenland). The same year, he voiced Kom in the German version of the film ‘Le château des singes.’ He bagged his first main film role as Markus Baasweiler in ‘No More School’ in 2000 and was cast as Jay in ‘Deeply’ the same year.
In 2001, Daniel Brühl played the schizophrenic Lukas in Hans Weingartner's critically acclaimed movie ‘Das Weisse Rauschen’ (The White Sound). The same year, he appeared as Daniel in ‘Nichts Bereuen’ (No Regrets). He starred as Arbo in ‘Vaya con Dios’ and as boxer Marko Stemper in ‘Elefantenherz’ (Elephant Heart) in 2002. He won the German Film Award for Best Actor and the Bavarian Film Award for Best New Actor for his performance in ‘Das Weisse Rauschen,’ ‘Nichts Bereuen,’ and ‘Vaya con Dios'.
Daniel Brühl played Alex Kerner in Wolfgang Becker's German tragicomedy ‘Good Bye, Lenin!’ in 2003. This marked his international breakthrough role. He won the European Film Award for Best Actor for the role. He appeared as the anti-capitalist activist Jan in the film ‘The Edukators’ (Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei) in 2004. The film became an international success. The same year, he made his English-speaking film debut in the film ‘Ladies in Lavender,’ starring alongside English actresses Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. He played Lieutenant Horstmayer of the German 93rd Infantry Regiment in the 2005 war drama film ‘Joyeux Noël'.
In 2006, Daniel Brühl starred as Chris in the thriller ‘Cargo’ and Karl in the comedy-drama film ‘A Friend of Mine.’ He played a young Nazi soldier named Klaus in the British-Russian production ‘In Transit’ in 2008. He starred as the German lawyer and diplomat Dr. Georg Rosen in the German-Chinese-French biographical film ‘John Rabe’ in 2009. He played Fredrick Zoller, a German war hero in Quentin Tarantino's film ‘Inglourious Basterds’ the same year. The movie premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival to widespread acclaim and won multiple awards.
In 2011, Daniel Brühl played the role of a cybernetics engineer Álex Garel in ‘Eva,’ a science fiction film set in the year 2041. The following year, he acted in the romantic comedy film ‘2 Days in New York,’ the horror thriller ‘Intruders,’ and the comedy-drama movie ‘Winning Streak.’ In 2013, he played former Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda in the Ron Howard biographical film ‘Rush.’ He received multiple award nominations for this role, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Critic's Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor.
In the espionage thriller film ‘A Most Wanted Man’ in 2014, he portrayed Maximilian alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rachel McAdams. The same year, he acted in the psychological thriller ‘The Face of an Angel’ as Thomas. He played convicted murderer Jens Söring in the German documentary film ‘Killing for Love’ in 2016. The same year, he appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie ‘Captain America: Civil War.’ In 2017, he played Nazi zoologist Lutz Heck in Niki Caro's World War II film ‘The Zookeeper's Wife,’ which tells the story of a couple who saved hundreds of Jews.
Daniel Brühl played the title role of Dr. Laszlo Kreizler in ‘The Alienist,’ a period crime drama series, from 2018 to 2020. In 2021, he became a director with his dark comedy film ‘Next Door’ (Nebenan). The film premiered in the Berlinale Competition section at the Berlin International Film Festival.