Olaf Krätke

Biography

Olaf Krätke was the youngest of three children. His father (actor) and mother (actress) worked at the Dortmunder Schauspielhaus. His career as actor began modestly in a small role in the play “Pinocchio” at the Dortmunder Schauspielhaus in 1965. He joined the drama program of his father and one of his colleagues. Krätke grew up in Dortmund and went then to Bavaria, when his father retired from stage and after the death of his mother. The very intensive private drama program ended with the death of his father in 1984. His first professional stage appearance was as police Inspector in the 1979 independent production “H – Ein Fixer gerät in die Mühlen der Justiz”. Between 1976 and 1979 he done a training as professional photographer, as his father wished. His film career began with the main role as “The stiff man” in the surrealistic short “The Banquet” in 1983, which he also directed. Between 1983 and 1985 he directed three shorts, one feature film and two full length documentaries for a British film production company. Till 2003 he appeared only on stage. In 2004 Krätke returned back on television in some doc-dramas and an episode of the ZDF series “Wilsberg – Schuld und Sühne” and also on screen in the feature films “Streetwise” and “Adam Meets Eve”. After some small roles in series like “Freunde für immer” (directed by Sönke Wortmann), he got his first main role in 2005 as Dr. Klaus Bernreiter in the thriller “Rollentausch”. Scince than he become more and more popular and in several feature films like “Blutsbande”, “GG 19”, “Er schon wieder” and “Zimmer im Spiegel” (with Konstantin Wecker) and on television in successful series like “Um Himmels Willen” as Dr. Paul Hofer, or “Salvator Singspiel am Nockherberg” (“Trauminsel Nockherberg” 2006, “Staatszirkus Nockherberg” 2007) and the tv – comedy “Gwendolyn” (Bayerisches Fernsehen). In 2006 he gave his debut in his first international feature film production “Schlimmer geht’s nimmer”, a comedy which was shoot in Austria (Styria) and Trieste (Italy). On September 2007 he played the role of Dr. Schmidt, the head of the medical institute IXAM, in the Hollywood production “Testing Life”, which was directed by Carolin von Petzholdt.