Theatre Koch has played many different roles on stage. He acted in
Peer Gynt and Leonce in
Leonce and Lena at the municipal theatre of
Darmstadt. At the
Schiller Theatre in
Berlin he played the character Roller in
Schiller's The Robbers and Orest in
Goethe's
Iphigenie auf Tauris. He also took over the role of Lord Goring in
Oscar Wilde's
An Ideal Husband in the
Bochum Playhouse, under the direction of Armin Holz.
Film and television Koch had his first TV appearance in 1980 in the 77th episode of the series
Derrick, followed by an episode in the popular crime series
Tatort in 1986. He acted in numerous thrillers like
Der Mann mit der Maske,
Die brennende Schnecke, and in 1997 in
Heinrich Breloer's two-piece '''', in which he portrayed the role of
Andreas Baader. For the title role in '''' and for his performance as the writer
Klaus Mann in Heinrich Breloer's docudrama
The Manns – A Novel of the Century, in 2002 he won the
Adolf Grimme Award. He also received the Bavarian TV Award for the same movie. His first international productions included the historical drama series
Napoleon, in which he appeared alongside
Gérard Depardieu,
John Malkovich, and
Isabella Rossellini. He also portrayed the youthful lover of
Catherine Deneuve, Rodolphe Löwenstein, in
Marie und Freud. Koch has portrayed other historically significant personalities, including
Rudolf Höss in
Costa-Gavras' adaptation
Amen (Der Stellvertreter). He appeared in
The Tunnel, a 2001 made-for-television German film about the idea of going underground by digging a tunnel shortly after the construction of the
Berlin Wall in 1961, and in
Peter Keglevic’s historical drama
Two Days of Hope about the uprising on 17 June 1953. Koch appeared in
Stauffenberg (2004, by
Jo Baier and winner of the German Film Award). He played
Albert Speer in Heinrich Breoler's mini-series
Speer und Er in 2004 – his third collaboration with the director following
Death Game and
The Manns – A Novel of the Century, receiving the
German TV Award for his performance. Koch appeared in
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's drama
The Lives of Others in 2006 as one of the leading roles. He portrayed the playwright Georg Dreyman, who lived in
East Germany with his lover, a dissident who was spied on and monitored. The movie received an
Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007 as well as several other major prizes. Koch himself was nominated several times for his work in the film, receiving the
Globo d'oro for Best European Actor,
The Quadriga, and the
Bambi Award.
Paul Verhoeven's movie
Black Book (Zwartboek) was also shot in 2006. Koch played a Nazi officer in occupied Holland who falls in love with a Jewish member of the resistance (
Carice van Houten). After shooting the movie '''' in 2007/2008, Koch appeared on camera for the international production of
Jack London's classic psychological adventure novel
Sea Wolf, where Koch portrayed a lone despot of both brutal cruelty and longing romance. The shooting of this two-parter based on
Nigel Williams’ script and under
Mike Barker’s direction took place in
Halifax, Canada. The mini-series won the
Directors Guild of Canada Award and Koch was nominated in 2010 for an
Emmy Award for his role as Wolf Larsen. The shooting of the movie
Manipulation (adapted from the novel
Das Verhör des Harry Wind) took place in 2008, with Koch and
Klaus Maria Brandauer playing leading roles. In 2010, Koch was the male title role in the English independent tragicomedy
Albatross under the direction of
Niall MacCormick. He played the role of Prof. Bressler in the movie
Unknown (with
Liam Neeson and
Diane Kruger) under the direction of
Jaume Collet-Serra. In the summer of 2010, he took a guest role alongside
Eva Green and
Joseph Fiennes in the Irish RT Film TV series
Camelot, followed by the UFA production
Bella Block –
Stich ins Herz - under the direction of Stephan Wagner, in which Koch played the role of Max Klöckner. As a host of the ZDF production
Terra X, Koch presented the Cologne Cathedral, the Neuschwanstein Castle, and the Dresden Frauenkirche. In 2011, Koch appeared in the Czech production
The Shadow of the Horse (Ve Stinu), in which Koch played the leading role of the investigator Zenk, whose mission is to win through one personal rival and through the regime of communist
Prague in the 50s. In the German production adapted from
Bernhard Schlink's novel
The Weekend in 2012, Koch portrays an amnestied RAF terrorist (Jens Kessler), who has a reunion with his old mates. In the same year, Koch began shooting the Greek-Russian drama film
God Loves Caviar based upon the true story of
Ioannis Varvakis, played by Koch, a former pirate who moved up to being a Greek caviar merchant and eventual benefactor from
Psara. The international cast also included
Catherine Deneuve as
Catherine the Great of Russia and
John Cleese as Officer McCormick. Furthermore, Koch played the title role in
Suspension of Disbelief, a thriller by
Mike Figgis, which was followed by part 5 of the
Die Hard movies, with Koch as
Bruce Willis' antagonist. In 2013,
Ridley Scott (director and producer) began working on
The Vatican, a pilot episode for a
Showtime series about intrigues concerning the Pope and mysteries and secrets within the Catholic Church. Koch played the role of the
Vatican's secretary Cardinal Marco Malerba, who is one of the true potentates of the inner circle. In the Austrian production ''
Koch portrayed Alfred Nobel in 2014, and in the French production Au nom de ma fille'', based on a true story, Koch played Dieter Krombach, a German doctor who is accused of murdering his stepdaughter by her biological French father (played by
Daniel Auteuil). The case had spanned 30 years and has caused considerable publicity because of the issues of French-German relations and vigilante justice it raised. In 2014, Koch was also part of
Steven Spielberg's historical dramatic thriller
Bridge of Spies about the negotiations of the release of spies between the East and West. Lawyer James B. Donovan (
Tom Hanks) is thrown into the centre of the
Cold War and East German lawyer Wolfgang Vogel (Koch) is a key figure in the process. The film premiered at the
New York Film Festival and was nominated for the 2016 Academy Award for Best Picture. The biographical romantic drama film
The Danish Girl by Academy Award winner
Tom Hooper (''The King's Speech'') is about one of the first known recipients of
sex reassignment surgery. Koch portrays
Kurt Warnekros, a doctor at the Dresden Municipal Women's Clinic, who was one of the first to carry out such operations. The cast furthermore includes
Eddie Redmayne and
Alicia Vikander. Subsequently, Koch filmed
Fog in August (by director Kai Wessel), the first feature film to address the Nazis' euthanasia program and the hospital's staunch Nazi chief physician Werner Veithausen's (played by Koch) way of dealing with the issue. Eventually, in 2015, Koch began shooting the fifth season of the Showtime series
Homeland about bipolar CIA Officer Carrie Mathison (
Claire Danes). After leaving the CIA, Carrie now works for German billionaire Otto Düring (Koch), a philanthropist who uses the money his family made through affiliation with the Nazis to help struggling people around the world, including in volatile regions of the Middle East. Düring hires her to be his head of security in Berlin. In 2016, he collaborated again with director
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck for the feature film
Never Look Away, produced by
Wiedemann & Berg and
Walt Disney. The subject of the drama is the life of an artist, loosely based on the biography of
Gerhard Richter. Koch stars alongside
Tom Schilling,
Paula Beer,
Saskia Rosendahl,
Oliver Masucci and
Ina Weisse.
Never Look Away was submitted as the German entry for the
2019 Academy Awards and was ultimately nominated by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the categories of "Best Foreign Language Film" and "Best Cinematography". Koch also won the
Bambi award for "Best Actor National" in
Never Look Away in 2018. In 2020, Koch starred in the German-Canadian television series
The Defeated by
Måns Mårlind. In the thriller series
Your Honor (German title
Euer Ehren), a German-Austrian adaptation of the Israeli series
Kvodo, which aired in April 2022, Koch embodies a incorruptible judge who violates his moral principles and breaks with law and order driven by the infinite love for his son and the concern for his son's life. In 2023 he appeared in the role of Claus von Amsberg, the prince consort of Queen Beatrix, for the Dutch series Máxima
Máxima_(TV_series). Koch is a member of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the
Oscar. In addition to his acting work, he also does symphonic-scenic readings, including
Paradise with violinist
Daniel Hope,
Dream Story with the Hubert Nuss Jazz Quartet and
The Kreutzer Sonata after
Leo Tolstoy, which Koch dramaturgically adapted and conceived as a stage play with piano and violin.
Audiobooks Koch has frequently served as an interpreter of literary and musical-literary
audiobooks and live performances of them. Projects have included
Schumann – Scenes of a marriage (with
Martina Gedeck) about the exchange of letters between
Clara and
Robert Schumann, and accompanied by Argentinean bandoneon virtuoso Roberto Russo Koch has also presented excerpts from
The Player by
Dostoyevsky. The premiere of a play reading of
Rhapsody: A Dream Novel by
Arthur Schnitzler – accompanied by compositions especially for jazz – took place at the Literature and Poetry Festival in Bad Homburg in 2011. In 2012, he produced the audiobook
Koch is reading Heuss about speeches and letters by
Theodor Heuss, in collaboration with Cherbuliez Productions. Koch twice lent his voice to the audiobook edition of
Brigitte – Strong Voices. In 2007, he recorded the novel
A perfect friend (by
Martin Suter), followed by the crime story
On the twelfth day (Wolfgang Schorlau) in 2014. ==Personal life==