Biography:

Matthias Freihof was born in Plauen on November 25, 1961. While in school, he took singing classes and played in community theaters. From 1983 to 1987, he studied acting at the Staatliche Schauspielschule in East Berlin and played in several Rolf Winkelgrund productions at the Maxim Gorki Theater there.

Although primarily known as a film actor, after his graduation Freihof joined the Kleist Theater in Frankfurt/Oder from 1987 to 1989. In the intervening years, he has played at a range of theaters, including Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Komödie Dresden and Volksbühne, Renaissance Theater and Kleines Theater in Berlin. Since 2007, he has also worked as a theater director in Düsseldorf, Essen and Berlin.

A wide international audience knows Freihof from his leading role in Heiner Carow’s film Coming Out, the only East German feature film about being gay in the GDR, in which he plays a young teacher searching for his true sexuality. The film won the Silver Bear and Teddy Award at the 1990 Berlin International Film Festival and has screened around the world continuously since then.

Over the course of his career, Freihof has worked with well-known film directors, including Doris Dörrie, Dirk Kummer, Hark Bohm and Kenneth Branagh. He also performed in Zurück auf Los!, a gay tragicomedy directed by Pierre Sanoussi-Bliss that addresses racism, AIDS, friendship and the fragile and ephemeral joy of living. Since the early 1990s, he has played numerous film and television roles, especially in crime drama series. From 1998 to 2002, he played inspector Lorenz Wiegand in the popular TV crime series Siska.

Freihof has also performed as a singer and entertainer in many musicals and shows. From 1989 to ‘90, he had his own cabaret ensemble at the Palast der Republik in Berlin. He took master classes with the famous East German chanson singer Gisela May (1990-92) and they shared the stage in Jaques Brel – Eine Homage at the Berliner Ensemble and in Brecht-Matinee at the Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. In 1991, he teamed up with the music group L’art de passage and went on an international tour with a program entitled Leidenschaften. Since 2017, he has worked as a director at the Schlossfestspiele Willich in Neersen. Freihof, who lives in Berlin, has presented his musical solo programs throughout Germany and has also released several albums. 

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