David Kross

Not to be confused with David Cross.

David Kross
David Kroß
Kross in 2018
Born	(1990-07-04) 4 July 1990 (age 34) Henstedt-Ulzburg, West Germany
Alma mater	London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2002–present

David Kross (born 4 July 1990) is a German actor. He began his career at a young age with a small role in the 2002 film Hilfe, ich bin ein Junge and worked sporadically, mainly focusing on his school work. In 2008, he won the starring role of Michael Berg in the film The Reader. For his part, he was nominated for various awards and went on to win the Sierra Award at the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards for Youth in Film.

Kross has since worked in both German and English speaking film roles, including War Horse, Race and Into the White.

Early life

Kross was born in Henstedt-Ulzburg, 20 miles north of Hamburg. He grew up in Bargteheide, where he attended Eckhorst High School^[1] until 2007. He has two brothers and one sister. He played basketball at the professional club TSV Bargteheide between 2004 and 2006.

Career

His career started with a small appearance in the 2002 film Hilfe, ich bin ein Junge (English: Help, I'm a Boy!).^[2] In December 2003, he joined Blaues Wölkchen, a small group from a children's theatre in Bargteheide. His first major theatrical appearance was in Hilfe, die Herdmanns kommen.^{[citation needed]}

In 2005, Kross came to the attention of Detlev Buck through his daughter, Bernadette, and he auditioned for Tough Enough (Knallhart);^[3] Buck hired Kross to play the lead,^[4] a 15-year-old boy who moves with his mother from a rich neighborhood of Berlin (Zehlendorf) to the Neukölln area, known at the time for its high number of Turkish immigrants and high crime level. Kross not only won praise at Berlinale in 2006, but also won Best Actor in Nuremberg at the 11th Filmfestival Türkei/Deutschland.^[5]

In 2006, Kross worked again with Buck in the film Hands off Mississippi [de] (Hände weg von Mississippi), playing an apprentice baker. In the fall of the same year, he started shooting a film by Marco Kreuzpaintner, Krabat (The Satanic Mill). In this version of Otfried Preußler's children's book, Kross plays the title role, one of the apprentices of magic, with co-stars Daniel Brühl and Robert Stadlober. The film was released on 19 September 2007 in movie festivals and in October 2008 in theatres.

In September 2007,^[6] The Reader began shooting in Berlin, Cologne,^[7] and Görlitz. In Stephen Daldry's adaption of the best-selling novel by Bernhard Schlink about the relationship between a teenage boy and an older woman, Kross plays the lead role of Michael Berg, opposite Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, and Bruno Ganz. He had to learn to speak English to appear in the film.^[8] The world premiere was at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York on 3 December 2008. The film was presented in the 2009 Berlinale but did not compete. In May 2009, Kross was honored for his performance in The Reader at the 62nd Cannes Festival, winning the Chopard trophy. Kross was nominated for a European Film Award as best actor.

His next work was Same Same But Different (2009), again with Buck directing. The script is based on an autobiographical article by Benjamin Prüfer.

In June 2010, it was announced that Kross had been cast in Steven Spielberg's film War Horse.^[9] Filming started in August 2010, in Dartmoor, Devon, U.K. and the film was released in December 2011.^[10]

Personal life

In 2009, Kross started a three-year course at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).^[11] His plan was to improve his acting and English skills. However, he dropped out at the end of the same year to concentrate on films. He has since lived in Berlin-Mitte. Kross has expressed no desire to move to Hollywood, preferring to stay in Germany and continue making both German and English language films.^[12]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2002	Hilfe, ich bin ein Junge	Paddy	Help, I'm a Boy!
2003	Adam & Eva	Adams Sohn	Austrian film
2006	Knallhart	Michael Polischka	Tough Enough
2007	Hände weg von Mississippi [de]	Bäckerlehrling Bröckel	Hands off Mississippi
2008	Krabat	Krabat	Adapted from a German language novel Krabat (The Satanic Mill in English) by Otfried Preußler
	The Reader	Young Michael Berg	Las Vegas Film Critics Award for Youth in Film Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer Nominated – Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated – European Film Award for Best Actor
2009	Same Same But Different	Ben	Received Variety Piazza Grande Award at the International Film Festival organised in Locarno.
2011	Promising the Moon [de][13]	Young Osvalds Kalnins
	Rio	Blu	German Voice
	War Horse[14]	Private Gunther Schröder
2012	Into the White[15]	Josef Auchtor
	Measuring the World	Eugen Gauß
2013	Michael Kohlhaas	The Preacher
2015	Boy 7	Sam
2016	Race	Carl "Luz" Long
	The General Case [de]	Joachim Hell	TV film
2017	Halal Daddy	Jasper
2018	Balloon	Günter Wetzel
2019	The Keeper	Bert Trautmann
2020	Rising High	Viktor
2021	Prey	Roman
2021	Confessions of Felix Krull [de][16]	Marquis de Venosta
2021	The King's Man[17]	Adolf Hitler	Credited as Moustached Man
2024	Kafka		Miniseries

Awards

Kross in 2009

• At the 11th Germany/Turkey Film Festival in Nuremberg, David won his first award as "Actor in a Leading Role" for his performance in Detlev Bucks Tough Enough (German: Knallhart).
• 2008 Nominated for a Chicago Film Critics Association Awards in Most Promising Performer.
• 2009 Nominated in the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards in Best Young Actor / Actress (Under 21).
• 2009 Won a Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award in Youth in Film.
• 2009 Shooting Stars Award, at the Berlin International Film Festival, annual acting awards for up-and-coming actors by European Film Promotion.
• 2009 Nominated for a European Film Award.
• 2010 Shooting Stars Award at Romy TV-Awards, together with Cristiana Capotondi.
• 2010 Audi Generation Award.
• 2012 Won the Chopard Throphy for male Revelation at the Cannes Film Festival.

References

1. Kastner, Ruth (14 February 2006). "Bargteheider erobert Berlin". Hamburger Abendblatt (in German). Archived from the original on 25 February 2006. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
2. "Help, I'm a Boy! (2002)". IMDb. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
3. "Tough Enough (2006)". IMDb. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
4. Padtberg, Carola (6 January 2010). "Teenager-Talente der 2000er". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 6 April 2019.
5. "Preise / Ödüller" (PDF). Filmfestival Türkei/Deutschland (in German and Turkish). 19 March 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2006. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
6. "Principal photography begins on The Reader in Berlin". Studio Babelsberg. 1 October 2007. Retrieved 6 April 2019.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
7. "Ein Hauch von Hollywood in Köln". Westdeutscher Rundfunk (in German). 30 March 2008. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
8. Kaminer, Ariel (5 December 2008). "Translating Love and the Unspeakable". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
9. Freer, Ian (17 June 2010). "War Horse Cast Announced". Empire. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
10. Nichols, Tristan (3 August 2010). "Steven Spielberg pictured filming new blockbuster War Horse on Dartmoor". The Herald. Archived from the original on 5 September 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
11. "Interview with Rupert Grint's Into The White costar David Kross!". World News Network. 19 February 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
12. "David Kross – Interview and videos". Oh No They Didn't!. 8 April 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
13. "Das Blaue von Himmel (2011)". IMDb. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
14. "War Horse (2011)". IMDb. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
15. "Comrade – Director's Note". Wehrmacht-Awards.com. 16 March 2011. Archived from the original on 8 March 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
16. Gebhardt, Jens. "Detlev Bucks "Felix Krull" ist abgedreht – News". GOLDENE KAMERA. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
17. Truitt, Brian. "Spoilers! How 'The King's Man' sets up a future prequel, rise of an evil historical villain". USA TODAY. Retrieved 25 December 2021.

External links

• David Kross at IMDb