Sebastian Koch, born May 31, 1962, in Karlsruhe, started his acting career at Munich"s Otto Falckenberg drama school that he attended from 1982 to 1985. Following drama school, Koch performed at theatres in Ulm and Darmstadt and became a cast member of the well-known Schillertheater in Berlin in 1990.

From the beginning of the 1990s on, Koch also started to appear in international movie and TV productions, such as the episodic movie "Flirt", directed by the American auteur filmmaker Hal Hartley. Koch made his breakthrough performance with the portray of RAF terrorist Andreas Bader in Heinrich Breloer"s highly praised TV movie "Todesspiel". Koch then assured his name as a character actor with parts in Rolf Schübel"s "Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod – Gloomy Sunday" ("Gloomy Sunday") and Roland Suso Richter"s two-part TV movie "Der Tunnel" ("The Tunnel").

In 2002, Koch became the first actor in 30 years to win two Grimme prizes: one for his part as kidnappee Richard Oetker in "Tanz mit dem Teufel" (Dance With The Devil"), and one for his portrayal of novelist Klaus Mann in Heinrich Breloer"s award-winning "Die Manns – Ein Jahrhundertroman". Cinema goers saw Koch in the successful new adaptation of the children"s book classic "Das fliegende Klassenzimmer" ("The Flying Classroom") or in the thriller "Tödlicher Umweg" ("Deadly Diversion").

In 2006, Koch made his international breakthrough in a leading role in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck"s award-winning drama "Das Leben der Anderen" ("The Lives of Others"). Koch convinced movie goers with his intense and complex portrayal of a GDR artist whose life is systematically destroyed by the Stasi. Shortly after "The Lives of Others", Koch also proved his comic talent in the (human) leading role of the family comedy "Rennschwein Rüdi Rüssel 2" ("Rudy - The Return of the Racing Pig"). But in Paul Verhoeven"s international production "Black Book", Koch returned to a far more serious topic. In this drastic Nazi drama, Koch stars as a morally ambivalent Wehrmacht officer.