Mišel Matičević (, ; born 22 April 1970) is a German film, television, and theater actor of Croatian descent.
Early life and education Matičević was born in West Berlin to Croatian parents who were guest workers in West Germany. Following his parents' divorce, he lived with his mother in Berlin-Spandau. He was initially a trouble maker in childhood and would get in fistfights at school. He refused to join the school's theater group, feeling it was only for kids who were trying to "suck up" to the teachers. However, Matičević saw the 1983 film Danton with Gérard Depardieu and was inspired by Depardieu's performance to become an actor.
He studied acting from 1994 until 1998 at the Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg in Potsdam. While there, he performed with the Berliner Ensemble at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin and the Kleist Theater in Frankfurt Oder.
Career Since 1996, Matičević has acted in several crime series and films for German television and cinema. He was awarded the Best Actor Award at the 2000 Thessaloniki International Film Festival for his performance in Lost Killers (1999). In 2007, he played the role of the German poet and novelist Clemens Brentano in the film Das Gelübde, which depicts Brentano's encounter with the stigmatised nun Anne Catherine Emmerich.
Matičević's first international role was in the TNT miniseries The Company in 2006, a show about the CIA in which he played a fictional Hungarian poet called Arpad Zelk, a leader of the Hungarian uprising in 1956.
Personal life Since 2014, Matičević has been an ambassador for Deutschlandstiftung Integration (Germany Integration Foundation), which promotes and celebrates ethnic diversity in Germany, to support the children of guest workers. He has said: "Guest worker children have always existed and will always exist. I deliberately don't say migrants, but guest worker children, because I am also a guest worker child and have learned so much. I just do not like the term migrant. And I'm glad to be able to pass on some of my knowledge and experience."
Selected filmography
Film + Year Title Role Notes2000Lost KillersBranco2008A Year Ago in WinterAldo2009Effi BriestMajor Crampas2010In the ShadowsTrojan2011KokowäähRob Kaufmann2012My Beautiful CountryRamiz2014The King's SurrenderMendes2020Exile 2024 Scorched Earth Trojan World premiere at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival
Television + Year Title Role Notes1998TatortCarlo1 episodeWolffs Revier1999Schwarz greift ein2000–2001Die Cleveren2 episodes2001HeliCops – Einsatz über Berlin2002Das DuoBenno Polenz2 episodes2003Doppelter EinsatzInspector RexAlarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei2004Leipzig Homicide2005Mit Herz und HandschellenK3 – Kripo HamburgAbschnitt 402007TatortMilan Popov1 episodeThe CompanyArpad Zelk2010Im Angesicht des VerbrechensMisha2011TatortDr. Christoph Rubner1 episodePolizeiruf 110Ole Mahler, prosecutor1 episode2012Fast Forward2013TatortAnte Mladec, valet1 episode2013–2014Die Chefin2 episodes2014Der letzte Bulle2015Schuld nach Ferdinand von Schirach2015/2017TatortSimic/Roman Eggers2 episodes2017Babylon BerlinEdgar Kasabian2018TatortNenad Ljubic/Nikola/Mike Liebknecht2 episodesDogs of BerlinTomo Kovac2021The Billion Dollar CodeJuri Müller4 episodes2022Close to Home: Murder in the CoalfieldMaik Briegand6 episodes
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