During his school years, Held was a solo singer of the
Regensburger Domspatzen, and played football for
TSV 1860 München, winning five youth championships. He finished his acting training at the
Otto Falckenberg School of the Performing Arts in Munich, and then joined the
Munich Kammerspiele. Further engagements at the
Staatsschauspiel Hannover, the
Freien Volksbühne Berlin, the
Theater Basel, and the
Salzburg Festival followed. In 1993, Held was cast by director
Klaus Emmerich in
Morlock in his first
television film role. Since then he has appeared in numerous cinema and TV productions, including
Steven Spielberg's ''
Schindler's List'',
Marc Rothemund's
Sophie Scholl – The Last Days, and
Oliver Hirschbiegel's
Downfall. In the
Sat.1 series
Der Bulle von Tölz with
Ottfried Fischer, he played a
Social Democratic Party of Germany Bundestag member, who mostly has to look after his opponents in the "Bavarian Unity Party". In 2007, he starred alongside
Iris Berben as the greedy villain Heinrich von Strahlberg in the two-part TV film
Afrika, mon amour. In 2008, he played Alois Kugler, the opponent of Brandner Kaspar, in
the film of the same name, directed by
Joseph Vilsmaier. In 2009, he played the politically tactical abbot Kuno in the
Margarethe von Trottas film
Vision alongside
Barbara Sukowa,
Heino Ferch, and
Hannah Herzsprung, and in the same year, he was seen in
Sönke Wortmann's
Pope Joan as the Frankish Emperor
Lothar I. In 2010, he played the Attorney General Dr. Sasse alongside
Ulrich Tukur in
Dieter Wedel's two-part TV film ''
. Since 2010, he has starred in the crime series Stralsund
as the head commissioner Karl Hidde. Since 2014, he has played the lead role of head commissioner Ludwig Schaller in the crime series München Mord''. Held's father was actor José Held, who died in 1974. From December 2005, Held was married to German actress Patricia Gräfin Fugger von Babenhausen (1961–2014). == Selected filmography ==