Smudo (née Michael Bernd Schmidt) was born in Offenbach on March 6, 1968. As a founding member of the seminal hip hop group "Die Fantastischen Vier", he gained nationwide prominence in the 1990s. To this day, the group is one of Germany's most popular and critically acclaimed music acts. As a voice talent, Smudo provided the German dubbing for the character Grautvornix in "Asterix und die Wikinger" (2006) and also for one of the penguins in the animation trilogy "Madagascar" (2005, 2008, 2012).

On screen, he appeared in the box office hit "Vorstadtkrokodile" and its two sequels. He also had a cameo in the popular fantasy film "Das Haus Anubis – Pfad der 7 Sünden", before taking on his first leading role as a ruthless French fries manufacturer who threatens to take over a family-owned snack shack in Tina von Traben's comedy "Pommes Essen".