Career Highlights
- Stefan studied film, theater and history in Vienna, Austria
- Stefan began his career as a director in theater, and also wrote radio plays for Austrian broadcaster ORF
- Stefan's films include THE INHERITORS, ANATOMY, and ALL THE QUEEN'S MEN
- Karl began his acting career in 1982 at the Serapionstheater, now known as Odeon, in Vienna
- Karl is best known for his role in the hit TV series KOMMISSAR REX
- Karl was casted along with Matt Le Blanc in the film ALL THE QUEEN'S MEN
Stefan Ruzowitzky
Career Overview
Academy Award-winning Austrian film director and screenwriter Stefan Ruzowitzky began his career as a director in theater in also wrote plays for Austrian radio stations. Ruzowitzky studied drama and history at the University of Vienna and early in his career directed commercials, and music videos, for clients such as ‘N Sync. In 1996 Ruzowitzky’s first feature film, Tempo, was about a group of youths living in Vienna. For this film he was awarded the Max Ophüls Preis. His next feature film, Die Siebtelbauern, came out in 1998 and was awarded Best Picture at the Rotterdam film festival as well as at the Flanders Film Festival.
In 2000 Ruzowitzky directed the successful German horror film Anatomy, and in 2003 the well received sequel Anatomy 2. In-between the two, Ruzowitzky directed his first international film All the Queen's Men, starring Matt LeBlanc and Eddie Izzard, which was received poorly by both critics and viewers. In 2007 he created The Counterfeiters, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Bear award. The Counterfeiters, nominated on behalf of Austrian cinema, won an Oscar at the Academy Awards in 2008 for best foreign language film.
Karl Markovics
Career Overview
Karl Markovics is a respected Austrian stage actor who has appeared in many theater plays and musicals. He made his stage debut in 1982 at the Serapions Theater in Vienna. He became known for performances and characterizations of intensity. In the 1990s Markovics began signing for onscreen work, mostly in Austria. He is best known for his role in the hit TV series Kommissar Rex. Prior to that, his most notable appearances have been in the highly-acclaimed Austrian black comedy Komm, süßer Tod and his role as Franz Fuchs in the 2007 TV movie Franz Fuchs - Ein Patriot.
Markovics received some crossover success when he was cast alongside Matt LeBlanc in All The Queen’s Men but really came to the forefront of public attention with his lead role in 2007s The Counterfeiters. The Counterfeiters is a bleak WWII era drama that fictionalizes Operation Bernhard, a secret plan by the Nazis to destabilize the United Kingdom by flooding its economy with forged Bank of England currency. The film centers on Markovics’ character, a Jewish counterfeiter who is coerced into assisting the Nazi operation.
Our Interview
Stefan Ruzowitzky and Karl Markovics join ThinkTalk host Nellie Yangmi to discuss their new film The Counterfeiters and to answer student questions. Jackie from George Washington asked about his purpose and intention for The Counterfeiters and Jake from George Washington asked about adapting different languages when directing.
