Rufus Beck is a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 theater, film, and voice actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

.

Besides his work on stage, on film, and on television, Beck is also a well known reader of audiobooks, having worked as the narrator of the German translations of the Harry Potter

Harry Potter

Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...

 series. He is also well known for his role in the comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 Der bewegte Mann

Der bewegte Mann

Der bewegte Mann is a 1994 German film comedy directed by Sönke Wortmann and starring Til Schweiger, Rufus Beck, Joachim Król and Katja Riemann....

, and as the narrator of Wächter der Wüste - Auch kleine Helden kommen ganz groß raus.


He is also the father of actor Jonathan Beck.

Life

After his Abitur

Abitur

Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...

 in 1976 (roughly equivalent to an associates degree) and completing his Zivildienst

Zivildienst

Zivildienst is the civilian branch of the national service systems in Austria and Switzerland. In Germany as well Zivildienst was the alternative service to military service until suspension of conscription in 2011...

 (alternative to required military service), Beck studied Islamic Studies

Islamic studies

In a Muslim context, Islamic studies can be an umbrella term for all virtually all of academia, both originally researched and as defined by the Islamization of knowledge...

, Ethnology

Ethnology

Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...

, and Philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 at the University of Heidelberg. During his studies he also performed on stage in Heidelberg

Heidelberg

-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

. He also appeared onstage at the Sauerländischen State Theater, the State Theater Tübingen, Schauspiel Frankfurt and Schauspiel Köln, and the Bayerischen Staatsschauspiel.

In 1989, Beck was named Young Actor of the Year by Theater heute. He also won that year the Young Actor Prize of the Association of the Friends of Bavarian Theater.

Beck began touring in the early 1990s and was very successful. Then in 1994, he acted in the film Der bewegte Mann, a role for which he won a Bambi

Bambi (prize)

The Bambi - Deutschlands Wichtigster Medienpreis, often simply called Bambi Awards and stylized as BAMBI, are presented annually by Hubert Burda Media to recognize excellence in international media and television "with vision and creativity who affected and inspired the German public that year",...

.

In 1998 he was nominated for a German Film Prize for his role in Jimmy the Kid.

Since 1998 his career highlights include a return to the stage as a guest in the famed Berliner Ensemble

Berliner Ensemble

The Berliner Ensemble is a German theatre company established by playwright Bertolt Brecht and his wife, Helene Weigel in January 1949 in East Berlin...

 and the role of Mephisto

Mephisto

Mephisto or Mephistopheles is one of the chief demons of German literary tradition.Mephisto or Mephistopheles may also refer to:* Mephisto , a high-speed human-powered vehicle...

 in Goethe's Faust

Faust

Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...

 at the Bad Hersfeld

Bad Hersfeld

The festival and spa town of Bad Hersfeld is the district seat of Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany, roughly 50 km southeast of Kassel....

er Festival.