Stipe Erçeg, born October 30, 1974, in Split, Croatia, came to Tübingen in 1978 where he grew up. In 1996, Erçeg started to study acting at the European Theatre Institute Berlin and graduated four years later. During this time, he already made his stage debut at Berlin's Studiobühne Hanns Eisler in 1998. After several short films and the medium-length film "Der Typ" ("The Man") that won an award at the Berlinale, Erçeg made his feature-length debut in 2003 with a leading role in the drama "Yugotrip" – and won the Max Ophuels prize as "Best new actor" for his portrayal of a resorted Bosnian war criminal. In the same year, Erçeg made his final breakthrough in the internationally successful, multiple award-winning film "Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei" ("The Edukators"), where he played an idealistic "anti-consumption terrorist" alongside Daniel Brühl and Julia Jentsch.

During the following years, Erçeg established a reputation as one of the most talented actors of recent German cinema, always rising to top form when he portrayed damaged, emotionally torn or at least pretty weird characters: For instance, in the episodic film "Stadt als Beute" ("Berlin Stories", 2005), where he played a street hustler, in the TV drama "Kahlschlag" (2006), the sequel to "Der Typ", in the TV film "Ein spätes Mädchen" (2007), or in the RAF drama "Der Baader Meinhof Komplex" ("The Baader Meinhof Complex"), where he portrayed the RAF terrorist Holger "Starbuck" Meins.

Other impressive performances followed: He played the cool ex of a bride-to-be in Friederike Jehn's drama "Weitertanzen" (2008), the brother of a tragically incapacitated cyclist in Matthias Emcke's "Phantomschmerz" (2009) and a wannabe bank robber in Markus Welter's "Im Sog der Nacht" (2009). In 2010, Erçeg proved that he is also game to play a highly comical role: In the kid adventure romp "Tiger Team", he is hilarious as the never-do-well son of a female super villain.

Since then, Stipe Erçeg has starred in two films which each won an award at the Max Ophüls Preis: He was a jaded human trafficker in "Der Albaner", directed by Johannes Naber, and played the role of Croatian sharpshooter in the short "DVA" by Mickey Nedimovic. Moreover, he appeared as a ruthless killer in the international co-production "Unknown Identity" (2011) and starred in the acclaimed apocalyptic thriller "Hell" by Tim Fehlbaum. He then joined the cast of "Die vierte Macht", which starred Moritz Bleibtreu and Max Riemelt.

In the thriller "Schilf – Alles, was denkbar ist, existiert" (2012), Stipe Erçeg plays the supportive friend of a physics professor whose son is kidnapped under mysterious circumstances.