Ten fun facts about Armin Mueller-Stahl

Fact 1
His mother, Editta, was from an upper class family and became a university professor in Leipzig.

Fact 2
Mueller-Stahl was a concert violinist while he was a teenager.

Fact 3
He enrolled at an East Berlin acting school in 1952.

Fact 4
Mueller-Stahl was a film and stage actor in East Germany, performing such films as Her Third and Jacob the Liar.

Fact 5
For that country's TV, he played the main character of the popular series Das unsichtbare Visier from 1973–1979, a spy thriller program.

Fact 6
He subsequently took strong character roles in Kafka by Steven Soderbergh and Night on Earth by Jim Jarmusch (both 1991).

Fact 7
He is also remembered for his role as the Soviet general in charge of the occupied United States in the ABC television miniseries Amerika (1987).

Fact 8
Mueller-Stahl won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival for his performance in Utz. He received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Shine (1996).

Fact 9
Emigrating in 1980 to West Germany, he found regular work in films.

Fact 10
Mueller-Stahl made his American film debut as Jessica Lange's father in Music Box (1989).