Robert Herzl (born 1976 in Vienna) is an Austrian actor, screenwriter, film producer and film director.
Life and career Robert Herzl was born in Vienna in 1976. He is the son of the music theatre director and opera manager Robert Herzl (*1940). In 1997, he completed training as a graphic designer at the Höhere Graphische Bundes-Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt in Vienna. From 1998 to 2002, he studied acting at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna.
As an actor, Herzl worked at theatres in Austria, Germany and Switzerland before increasingly turning to film. In 2003, he appeared at the Altonaer Theater in Hamburg in a stage adaptation of Bonnie and Clyde; Die Welt mentioned his performance in a review of the production. In 2005, he played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew at the Sommernachtskomödie Rosenburg. In 2012, he appeared at Bühne Baden in the operetta Die Dubarry as Count Dubarry.
Herzl also works as a voice actor, presenter and compère. In 2025, he was a guest of the Black Forest Film Festival in Freiburg and Emmendingen.
Through his work as a theatre director, Herzl developed an interest in film production, and in the late 2000s began to realise his own film projects. In 2009, he directed the short film Böses im Wasser, followed by Der verlorene Atem in 2013. In a profile published in 2026, cultural journalist Peter Blok described Herzl's professional path as a development from acting toward writing, producing and directing for film.
Herzl made his feature-film debut as director and screenwriter with the horror comedy Bernadette will töten in 2025. On the Swiss-Austrian-Polish co-production, he co-directed with Oliver Paulus and was also involved as screenwriter and producer. In a 2026 profile, Herzl said that his writing is strongly informed by characters and roles; for him, every character has to be conceived in such a way that he would want to play the part himself.
Selected filmography Director 2009: Böses im Wasser (short film) 2013: Der verlorene Atem (short film) 2025: Bernadette will töten
Screenwriter 2025: Bernadette will töten
Producer 2025: Bernadette will töten
Actor 2001: Bride of the Wind 2025: Bernadette will töten
Selected theatre work Director 2016/2018: Der Liebeswalzer (Oper@Tee, Vienna) 2023: Alice in Wonderland (KUMST Strasshof)
Actor 2003: Bonnie & Clyde, Altonaer Theater Hamburg 2005: The Taming of the Shrew, Sommernachtskomödie Rosenburg 2012: Die Dubarry, Bühne Baden, as Count Dubarry
External links Robert Herzl at Swiss Films
References