Stefan Kurt, born October 22, 1959, in Bern (Switzerland), attended Bern"s Konservatorium für Musik und Theater (today: Hochschule der Künste). In 1985, he became a cast member of Hamburg"s Thalia Theater and stayed until 1993. At Thalia Theater, Kurt worked with top-class directors such as Robert Wilson and Jürgen Flimm. Kurt played the part of Silvio in Flimm"s production of "The Servant of Two Masters", a performance that won him the famous Boy gobert award. In 1993, Kurt made his movie debut in the "Gehirnwäsche" episode of the ARD crime film series "Tatort".

Since then, Kurt appeared in leading and supporting roles in numerous TV productions, among them Vivian Naefe"s "Eine ungehorsame Frau", Dieter Wedel"s sophisticated multi-part crime series "Der Schattenmann", that features Kurt as an undercover cop, or the highly praised post-war drama "Gegen Ende der Nacht" ("Daybreak") by Oliver Storz that features Kurt as an officer of the US military intelligence service. Kurt won the 1997 and the 1999 Grimme award for his respective performances in the last two films.

Since his debut on the cinema screen in Peter Liechti"s "Marthas Garten" ("Martha"s Garden"), Kurt has returned to the cinema on several occasions – in the beginning most often in key supporting roles, for instance in the successful comedy "Frau2 sucht Happy End" ("Female2 seeks Happy End", 2001), in Chris Kraus" award-winning drama "Vier Minuten" ("Four Minutes", 2006), that features Kurt as a warden and caused a stir with critics and moviegoers alike, or as architect Albert Speer in Dani Levy"s Hitler satire "Mein Führer" ("Mein Führer: The Truly Truest Truth About Adolf Hitler"). In 2007, Kurt played his first leading role in a movie in the comedy "Bis zum Ellenbogen" directed by Justus von Dohnanyi.
Following leading roles in ambitious TV dramas like Andreas Kleinert"s "Hurenkinder" and "Haus und Kind" and a significant supporting part in Christoph Schaub"s feature film "Giulias Verschwinden", Kurt starred in the comedy "Mensch Kotschie": In it, he plays a successful architect who approaches his 50th birthday and suffers from a severe midlife crisis.