Zehrfeld made his film debut in 2005 with a lead role in
Dominik Graf's
The Red Cockatoo. He starred in the comedic pirate movie
12 Paces Without a Head directed by Sven Taddicken where he played the role of the pirate
Klaus Störtebeker. In 2010, he played a major role as an idealistic Berlin police detective in Dominik Graf's elaborate and critically acclaimed television ten-part series
Im Angesicht des Verbrechens. In 2011 he works with Graf again in the crime drama "Cassandra's Warning" (2011) from the series
Polizeiruf 110, this time in an unfamiliar role as a murderous villain, and in the TV crime drama
The Invisible Girl. He also takes supporting role in Matthias Glasner's TV mystery thriller
The Hour of the Wolf (2011). In 2012 he starred in
Christian Petzold's
Barbara, which won
Silver Bear for Best Director at the
62nd Berlin International Film Festival. The film was selected as the German entry for the
Best Foreign Language Oscar at the
85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. In 2014 Zehrfeld appeared in several movies. In Dominik Graf's historical film
Beloved Sisters he played Wilhelm von Wolzogen, a college friend of the main character Friedrich Schiller, it was selected as the German entry for the
Best Foreign Language Film at the
87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated. In the war drama
Inbetween Worlds he appears as a German soldier in Afghanistan, who falls into a crisis of conscience. The children's film '''' shows him as a new resident of an apartment building in which there are mysterious happenings. He also starred in Christian Petzold's postwar drama
Phoenix alongside
Nina Hoss; the movie received universal acclaim from critics. Zehrfeld won the 2016
German Film Award in the category Best Supporting Actor for his role in
Lars Kraume's history-thriller film
The People vs. Fritz Bauer. ==Selected filmography==