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Ronald Zehrfeld, born 1977 in East Berlin, started to study German studies, literature, linguistics, and political science in Berlin, but then changed to acting and started to attend drama school at Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch in Berlin. He then performed at Berliner Ensemble, at Deutsches Theater Berlin, and at Hamburg's St. Pauli Theater.
In 2005, Zehrfeld made his movie debut in a leading role in Dominik Graf's film "Der Rote Kakadu" ("The Red Cockatoo"). Besides his theatre career, Zehrfeld has since been seen in several TV productions, including the ambitious drama "Die russische Geliebte" alongside Iris Berben. After his leading role on the movie screen in the relationship drama "In jeder Sekunde" ("At Any Second", 2008), Zehrfeld played the leading role in the comedic pirate movie "Zwölf Meter ohne Kopf" ("Pirates of the Baltic Sea"): In the film directed by Sven Taddicken, Zehrfeld portrayed the famous pirate Klaus Störtebeker.
In 2010, he starred as an idealist police detective in Dominik Graf's acclaimed miniseries "Im Angesicht des Verbrechens" ("In Face of the Crime"). He again teamed up with Graf for the "Polizeiruf 110" entry "Cassandras Warnung" (2011) and the thriller "Das unsichtbare Mädchen" (2011). Around that time, Zehrfeld also appeared in supporting roles in "Die Unsichtbare" ("Cracks in the Shell", 2011) and "Die Stunde des Wolfes" (2011). He then starred opposite Nina Hoss in Christian Petzold's unanimously applauded drama "Barbara", which won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 2012 Berlin IFF. After a lead role in the feature film "Wir wollten aufs Meer" ("Shores of Hope", 2012) and a memorable turn in the second season of the TV series "Weissensee" (2013), Zehrfeld played a policeman with a fondness for animal costumes in the 2013 release "Finsterworld".
In 2014, Zehrfeld demonstrated his dramatic range in highly different films: He played a slick journalist who charms an amnesic woman in the tragicomedy "Vergiss mein Ich" ("Lose My Self"), a friend of poet Friedrich Schiller in the period drama "Die geliebten Schwestern" ("Beloved Sisters"), a German soldier on duty in Afghanistan in "Zwischen Welten" ("Inbetween Worlds"), and a tenant who becomes involved in a mysterious case in the children's film "Rico, Oskar und die Tieferschatten". Moreover, Zehrfeld excelled in the role of a German who falsely thinks his Jewish wife was murdered by the Nazis in Christian Petzold's post-WWII drama "Phoenix".
After his turn as a righteous police officer in "Wir waren Könige" ("The Kings Surrender"), Zehrfeld starred in the TV drama "Mord in Eberswalde" ("Murder in Eberswalde"), which won the 2014 Grimme Award in the category "Fiction".
The next year, he returned for the sequel "Rico, Oskar und das Herzgebreche" ("Rico, Oskar and the Broken Hearted") and one year later also for "Rico, Oskar und der Diebstahlstein" ("Rico, Oskar and the Mysterious Stone"), and played a young state attorney in Lars Kraume's "Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer" ("The People vs. Fritz Bauer"). The latter part garnered him awards for Best Supporting Actor at the German Film Awards and the Deutsche Schauspielerpreis.
After a leading role in the Israeli drama "The Burglar", Zehrfeld had memorable turns in "Zielfahnder: Flucht in die Karpaten" (2016, TV), "Sag mir nichts" ("Do Not Tell Me", 2016, TV) and the series "4 Blocks" (2017). Moreover, he continued his run as the titular hero of the TV show "Dengler".
Zehrfeld reunited with director Lars Kraume for "Das schweigende Klassenzimmer" ("The Silent Revolution"), which premiered at the 2018 Berlin IFF.
He received much critical praise for his leading role in the relationship drama "Bist du glücklich" (2018, TV), alongside Laura Tonke. Also in 2018 he belonged to the ensemble of the Grimme award-winning thriller series "Hackerville". Zehrfeld again collaborated with director Philipp Leinemann ("Wir waren Könige") for the political thriller "Das Ende der Wahrheit" ("Blame Game"), which was released in May 2019, and the "Polizeiruf 110" episode "Mörderische Dorfgemeinschaft" (2019).
Alongside Felix Kramer, Zehrfeld played one of the two lead roles in the highly acclaimed and Grimme Award-nominated comedy series "Warten auf'n Bus" (2020-2021), about two unemployed people in their late forties who kill time at the terminus of an intercity bus line in the countryside while philosophizing about life. He had other series roles as a Germanic warrior in the first three episodes of the Netflix-Series "Barbaren" ("Barbarians", 2020) and as the owner of a security company in the "Tatort" episode "Der feine Geist" (2021).
On the big screen, Zehrfeld appeared in a supporting role in the village milieu study "Alle reden übers Wetter" ("Talking About the Weather", 2022) and in a leading role as Max Frisch in Margarethe von Trotta's "Ingeborg Bachmann - Reise in die Wüste ("Ingeborg Bachmann - Journey into the Desert"), which premiered in competition at the 2023 Berlinale.