He played a Nazi in The Pianist (2002), and, in Have No Fear: The Life of Pope John Paul II (2005) (TV), he played Pope John Paul II, who (as the movie shows) fought against and tried to protect people from the Nazis.

Modeled in Hugo Boss perfume advertisement.

Received the Max Ophüls Prize for best young actor in 1991.

Collaborated again with his The Pianist (2002) co-star Adrien Brody in King Kong (2005). Incidentally, both of Kretschmann's roles with Brody are as captains, albeit of a very different type. In The Pianist (2002), he played a Nazi officer with a conscience; in King Kong (2005) he plays a tough boat captain guiding a film crew.

Has played a Nazi officer in eight different, completely unrelated films: Stalingrad (1993), U-571 (2000), The Pianist (2002), In Enemy Hands (2004), Untergang, Der (2004), Head in the Clouds (2004),Eichmann (2007) and Valkyrie (2009).

Started working as an actor at the age of 25, after being trained to be an Olympic swimmer.

Made his stage debut in "Macbeth," directed by Katharina Thalbach.

He has three children: one son, Nicolas, one daughter, Stella and another child, with his girlfriend Lena.

Aged 19, he began a month-long trek from East to West Germany to escape Communism, during which he lost part of his finger to frostbite. He crossed 4 borders with nothing other than a passport and the equivalent of $100 in his possession.