Elsholtz was born in
Pritzwalk to actors
Peter Elsholtz and Karin Vielmetter and he was the younger brother of actress Edith Elsholtz. Due to the connections his father had in the acting industry, Elsholtz began training as an actor with Marlise Ludwig in Berlin, where he would later act on stage. He eventually found a talent for dubbing and directing voices since 1964 and he quickly built up a reputation as one of the most powerful voice dubbers in Germany. Among the actors he dubbed included
Tom Hanks,
Bill Murray,
Jeff Goldblum,
Kevin Kline and
Eric Idle. Elsholtz dubbed Hanks in his award-winning performances, which includes
Philadelphia and
Forrest Gump. His other roles include
Steve Guttenberg and
Matt McCoy's roles in the
Police Academy films. He also dubbed
Joseph Marcell's role as Geoffrey Butler in
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air (from which he also served as a dialogue director) and
Sam Hui as King Kong in
Aces Go Places. He dubbed many of Eric Idle's roles in many of the
Monty Python films. In Elsholtz's animated dub roles, he provided the German voice of
Manny in the
Ice Age films (excluding the
fifth film, as he died before the German dub production was complete) and
Hades in the 1997 Disney film
Hercules and the subsequent
television series as well as Lord Macintosh in
Brave, Tom Hanks' characters in
The Polar Express and
Danger Mouse. As a voice director, Elsholtz had directed the German voice dubs of many foreign films and television shows. These include
The Godfather Saga,
The Empire Strikes Back,
Return of the Jedi,
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and many more. His career was an actor was rare, but he had on-screen appearances on
Escape from East Berlin. He also served as a commentator and announcer for commercials and radio shows such as
Verona Pooth's
Sat.1 variety show. From 2001 until 2003, he provided the German commentary for the
Wer wird Millionär? video games. == Death ==