Actor Michael Fassbender

About Michael Fassbender

Fassbender was born the son of a German father and an Irish mother in Heidelberg and grew up in Killarney in southwestern Ireland from the age of two.

His first major role he had in 2001 in the television series Band of Brothers. For the next four years, Fassbender has starred in various English television productions, including a recurring guest role in Murphy's Law. In 2004 and 2005 he mimed the fallen angel Azazeal in the television series Hex and the following year he took over the role of Stelios in the comic book adaptation 300.

Michael Fassbender at the Cannes International Film Festival 2009

Michael Fassbender Career started in 2008, Fassbender earned his first starring role in Steve McQueen's Drama Hunger a nomination for the 2008 European Film Award for Best Actor. Even greater prominence brought him a role in Quentin Tarantino's film Inglourious Basterds. 2010 followed major and important supporting roles in films such as Jonah Hex, Jane Eyre and X-Men: First Decision.

His portrayal of a sex addict in Steve McQueen's Shame earned him numerous accolades in 2011, including the Actor Award at the 68th Venice International Film Festival, the British Independent Film Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, the London Critics' Circle Film Award and nominations for the Golden Globe Award, the BAFTA Award and the European Film Award. In 2012 he starred in David Ridley Scott's science fiction film Prometheus Dark Mark.


For his role in the British feature film 12 Years a Slave by Steve McQueen Fassbender 2014 was nominated in the category of best actor in a supporting role for the Oscar, but went to Jared Leto. This was followed by collaboration with Ridley Scott for the thriller The Counselor. In 2014 he took over the comic adaptation X-Men: Future is the past again the role of the mutant Magneto.

In 2015, Fassbender took over the role of Macbeth in the eponymous real-life adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy. In the same year he took over the title role in the biopic of Apple founder Steve Jobs and was nominated for his performance in the category Best Actor for an Oscar.

In the real version of the computer game Assassin's Creed, which came to the cinemas in December 2016, Fassbender plays the main role of Callum Lynch. 2017 was the release of Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of the novel Snowman by Jo Nesbø, in which Fassbender took over the role of Harry Hole.

His native language is English, he also speaks German, but with strong English accent. He is therefore dubbed in German-language films, mostly by Norman Matt.

Biography of Michael Fassbender

Fassbender - with e and not with i: a fine difference. Because Michael Fassbender has nothing to do with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The only things in common: the German roots and a name that is an integral part of the film business. His breakthrough in the Hollywood dream factory owes the German-Irish actor not only his German work ethic, but also his Irish ease.


Fassbender has had plenty of both from birth on the path of life. "From my father, I have this typical German work mentality, I like it all right, and I'm always meticulous in my work, and he told me: If you do something, do it neatly - or just let it be the same "The mother of my birth is probably more of a celebration gene," said Heidelberg-born Fassbender in an interview with Gala. At the age of two, the red-haired boy went to the green island in the tranquil town of Killarney. 

Since he grew up with English as a mother tongue, Michael does not speak German as well as he would like, which he regrets meanwhile. In Ireland, as a teenager, he gave free rein to his Hollywood dream, drumming up his friends to stage Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" with them in a nightclub. Had the red-haired bully at that time already suspected that he would one day even work with Tarantino, his Irish temperament would have gone well with him. And if he had known what he would expect in the film business, he might have left his German pessimism unchanged.

For after the 22-year-old had broken off the drama school to switch directly to the movie screen, he first suffered a few proper low blows. The lead role in "Pearl Harbor" went to Ben Affleck and not to him. Fortunately, in the same year he got a similar role in the US television production "Band of Brothers - We were brothers". With that the leaf began to turn slowly.