# David Kross
**David Kross** (born 1990) is a German actor who came to international attention playing the young Michael Berg in [Stephen Daldry](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephen-daldry)'s film adaptation of *The Reader* (2008), opposite [Kate Winslet](https://www.edgepedia.org/kate-winslet) and [Ralph Fiennes](https://www.edgepedia.org/ralph-fiennes). Filmportal.de records his birthplace as Henstedt-Ulzburg[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6), while FILMSTARTS and IMDb give Bargteheide, a town in Schleswig-Holstein near Hamburg where he grew up[2](https://www.filmstarts.de/personen/153162/biografie/). His original surname spelling, Kroß, was changed to Kross to prevent confusion about his name in Hollywood[2](https://www.filmstarts.de/personen/153162/biografie/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1990; filmportal.de lists Henstedt-Ulzburg, filmstarts.de and IMDb list Bargteheide, Germany[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6) • [2](https://www.filmstarts.de/personen/153162/biografie/) |
| First screen role | Supporting role in the family fantasy *Help, I'm A Boy!* (2002) at about age 12[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/david-kross) |
| Breakthrough | Lead as 15-year-old Michael Polischka in Detlev Buck's *Knallhart* (2006), celebrated at the 2006 Berlinale[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6) |
| International fame | Young Michael Berg in *The Reader* (2008), under Stephen Daldry, opposite Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6) |
| Major honors | Trophée Chopard (Male Revelation) at Cannes 2009; EFP Shooting Star 2009; Bavarian Film Award 2018 for *Simpel*[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1269088/awards/) • [1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6) |
| Awards record | 8 wins and 10 nominations per IMDb[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1269088/awards/) |
## Early life and training
Kross grew up in Bargteheide near Hamburg and attended the Eckhorst-Gymnasium until 2007[2](https://www.filmstarts.de/personen/153162/biografie/). He played basketball with a local sports club and joined the children's theater group *Blaues Wölkchen* in 2003, appearing on stage in pieces such as *Hilfe, die Hermanns kommen*, *Momo*, and *Die Feuerzangenbowle*[2](https://www.filmstarts.de/personen/153162/biografie/). He had already taken small screen roles as an eleven- or twelve-year-old in two films[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6).
From 2009 to 2010 he lived in London, where he began an acting course at the [London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art](https://www.edgepedia.org/london-academy-of-music-and-dramatic-art) (LAMDA) but dropped out again after a few months; he moved to Berlin in 2010[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6) • [2](https://www.filmstarts.de/personen/153162/biografie/).
## Breakthrough in Germany
**Knallhart and Krabat.** In 2005, Detlev Buck's daughter Bernadette recommended the fifteen-year-old Kross to her father for the lead in *Knallhart*, after the director had reportedly already rejected several hundred young actors[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6). As Michael Polischka, a schoolboy uprooted from the villas of Zehlendorf into the rough everyday struggle of Neukölln, Kross was enthusiastically received at the 2006 Berlinale[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6). In the autumn of 2006, filming began in Romania on Marco Kreuzpaintner's adaptation of [Otfried Preußler](https://www.edgepedia.org/otfried-preu-ler)'s *Krabat*, with Kross in the title role of the sorcerer's apprentice; the film opened in German cinemas in autumn 2008[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6). He won a Jupiter Award for Best German Actor for *Krabat* in 2010[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1269088/awards/).
## The Reader and international career
Stephen Daldry cast Kross in 2007 as the young Michael Berg in the German-American adaptation of [Bernhard Schlink](https://www.edgepedia.org/bernhard-schlink)'s novel *Der Vorleser* (*The Reader*), and Kross had to learn English before shooting began[5](https://www.imdb.com/de/name/nm1269088/). The film centers on the relationship between the 15-year-old Michael and Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet), a woman in her mid-thirties who is later revealed to have been a concentration camp guard[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-reader-2008). Kross also embodied the younger version of the character played by Ralph Fiennes[2](https://www.filmstarts.de/personen/153162/biografie/). For the role he received several honors, including the Trophée Chopard at Cannes and a European Film Award nomination[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6), as well as the OFTA Film Award for Best Youth Performance and a Critics' Choice Award nomination for Best Young Actor/Actress under 21[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1269088/awards/). In 2009 he was named an EFP Shooting Star for Germany at the [Berlin International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/berlin-international-film-festival)[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1269088/awards/). Reviewers took note: The Washington Post called the then 18-year-old the standout of the film and saw a promising future ahead of him[7](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/2008/12/26/beautifully-complex-reader/1c678ba9-e9ed-48aa-88cc-5f0209b3dc26/), and the Guardian praised his acting alongside that of Winslet and Fiennes[8](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jan/04/the-reader-review).
The success of *The Reader* brought offers from international and American productions[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6). He played a German soldier in [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg)'s war drama *War Horse* (*Gefährten*, 2011)[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6) and took a leading role opposite Florian Lukas and [Rupert Grint](https://www.edgepedia.org/rupert-grint) in *Into the White* (2012), in which crashed British and German airmen survive together in snow and ice[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6). In 2013 he appeared as a preacher in the [Heinrich von Kleist](https://www.edgepedia.org/heinrich-von-kleist) adaptation *Michael Kohlhaas* and as King Louis XIV in the French historical drama *Angélique*[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6).
## Later work
Back in Germany, Kross appeared in [Hans Steinbichler](https://www.edgepedia.org/hans-steinbichler)'s drama *Das Blaue vom Himmel* (2011), Buck's adaptation of the bestseller *Die Vermessung der Welt* (2012), and the comedy *Anleitung zum Unglücklichsein* opposite Johanna Wokalek[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6). In the sports drama *[Race](https://www.edgepedia.org/race-2016-film)* (*Zeit für Legenden*) he played the German athlete Carl 'Luz' Long in a supporting role[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6).
**Simpel and recognition.** In Markus Goller's road movie *Simpel* (2017), Kross took a cinema lead role as a man with an intellectual disability searching for his father together with his brother; for this part he received a Bavarian Film Award for Best Actor, shared with Frederick Lau[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6) • [4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1269088/awards/). He then played the title role in Marcus H. Rosenmüller's *Trautmann* (2018) and led the streaming tragicomedy *Betonrausch* (2020) as a property fraudster[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6). In 2021 two films with him in lead roles premiered, *[Confessions of Felix Krull](https://www.edgepedia.org/confessions-of-felix-krull-2021-film)* (as the Marquis de Venosta) and the survival thriller *Prey*, followed in 2022 by Leander Haußmann's *Stasikomödie*[1](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6).
His recent and upcoming credits include the 2023 film *Fabula*, the series *Kafka* (2024, as Max Brod), *Parallel Me* (2025), and *[The World Will Tremble](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-world-will-tremble)* (2025)[9](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1269088/). He is cast as [Adolf Hitler](https://www.edgepedia.org/adolf-hitler) in *The King's Man: The Traitor King* and as Georg Weismann in *Gould Lover*, directed by Andy Sommer[10](https://www.unitedagents.co.uk/david-kross/) • [11](https://www.talentrepublicagency.de/actors/david-kross). Detlev Buck remains his most frequent collaborator, with seven films together from *Knallhart* (2006) to *Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull* (2021)[2](https://www.filmstarts.de/personen/153162/biografie/).
## Recognition
Beyond the Chopard Trophy, Shooting Star, and Bavarian Film Award, Kross's honors include a Romy in 2010, described by the press material of *Die Vermessung der Welt* as the largest Austrian cultural and media prize that year, and the Deutscher Hörfilmpreis Award[12](https://www.the-match-factory.com/files/downloads-public/films/m/measuring-the-world/MTW_Pressbook.pdf). In a 2018 interview with *DIE ZEIT*, he said he had long felt overwhelmed by his early fame and that he still scrutinizes his own films for mistakes after watching them three times[13](https://www.zeit.de/arbeit/2018-09/david-kross-schauspieler-kino-film).
## References
1. [David Kross, filmportal.de](https://www.filmportal.de/person/david-kross_a5c37a3668da44c68fd83be6ad266aa6)
2. [David Kross: Biografie, FILMSTARTS.de](https://www.filmstarts.de/personen/153162/biografie/)
3. [David Kross, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/david-kross)
4. [David Kross, Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1269088/awards/)
5. [David Kross, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/de/name/nm1269088/)
6. [How your own secret shame can create all-devouring evil, Roger Ebert](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-reader-2008)
7. [Beautifully Complex 'Reader', The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/2008/12/26/beautifully-complex-reader/1c678ba9-e9ed-48aa-88cc-5f0209b3dc26/)
8. [The Reader review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jan/04/the-reader-review)
9. [David Kross, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1269088/)
10. [David Kross, United Agents](https://www.unitedagents.co.uk/david-kross/)
11. [DAVID KROSS — Talent Republic](https://www.talentrepublicagency.de/actors/david-kross)
12. [Die Vermessung der Welt pressbook, The Match Factory](https://www.the-match-factory.com/files/downloads-public/films/m/measuring-the-world/MTW_Pressbook.pdf)
13. [David Kross: "Ich ärgere mich wahnsinnig, wenn ich ein Casting nicht bekomme", DIE ZEIT](https://www.zeit.de/arbeit/2018-09/david-kross-schauspieler-kino-film)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › German actors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 20, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 20, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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