Daniel Cesar Martin Bruhl Gonzalez, born June 16, 1978, is a German Spanish actor. He began his work at a young age in a German soap opera called Verbotene Liebe in 1995. In 2003, his starring role in the German movie Good Bye, Lenin! received wider recognition and critical acclaim, which garnered him the European Film Award for Best Actor and the German Film Award for Best Actor. Take a look below for 26 more interesting and fascinating facts about Daniel Bruhl.

1. Bruhl has worked in both European and American productions in several different languages.

2. He was introduced to mainstream U.S. audiences with his breakout role of Fredrick Zoller, a German war hero in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, and appeared in such movies such as The Bourne Ultimatum, The Fifth Estate and A Most Wanted Man.

3. Bruhl received widespread critical acclaim and further recognition for his portrayal of former Formula 1 driver Niki Lauda in the Ron Howard biographical movie Rush.

4. In 2016, Bruhl made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Captain America: Civil War, portraying Helmut Zemo.

5. Bruhl was born in Barcelona, Spain. His father was German Brazilian TV director Hanno Bruhl, who was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. His Spanish mother was Marisa Gonzalez Domingo, a teacher.

6. He has a brother and a sister, Oliver and Miriam.

7. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Cologne, Germany, where he grew up and attended the Dreikonigsgymnasium.

8. A fluent English speaker, Bruhl grew up speaking Spanish, German, and French, and understands Catalan and Portuguese.

9. He used to be in a band called Purge. He was the singer.

10. Bruhl was formerly engaged to Jessica Schwarz from 2001 to 2006.

11. In 2003, he was named as one of European films’ Shooting Stars by European Film Promotion.

12. Bruhl said in an interview that the reason he was born in Spain was because his mother didn’t trust German hospitals and the family returned to Cologne soon after his birth. He spent a lot of his summers in Barcelona though.

13. Jessica Schwarz gave him the nickname “Gollum” because he looks like the character on The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring when he wakes up in the morning.

14. He said that he started his acting career at the age of 4 when he frightened his mother by playing dead or fainting theatrically.

15. He broke Will Smith’s world record for most public appearances on the red carpet in 12 hours together with Jurgen Vogel by attending the premiere of their movie A Friend of Mine in Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Cologne.

16. Since 2011, Bruhl has been the joint operator of a tapas bar in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin.

17. From February to October 2017, he was a joint operator of a tapas bar in Prenzlauer Berg, named Bar Gracia after Barcelona’s nightlife district Gracia, but the bar closed in October 2017 because of little economic success.

18. Since 2010, he has been in a relationship with psychologist Felicitas Rombold. They got married in 2017 and had a son called Anton Hanno.

19. Bruhl began acting at a young age, with a debut role in 1995 as street kid Benji in the soap opera Verbotene Liebe.

20. His international breakthrough role came in 2003 as Alex Kerner in the German Golden Globe nominated tragicomedy Good Bye, Lenin!, which reached an estimated six million movie-goers worldwide.

21. Bruhl made his English speaking movie debut in 2004’s Ladies in Lavender, starring alongside English actresses Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

22. In 2004, Bruhl won the People’s Choice trophy for Best Actor for the movie Love in Thoughts while at the same time, he was nominated for Best Actor for The Edukators.

23. He made a cameo appearance in 2 Days in Paris, a romantic comedy movie directed by French actress Julie Delpy.

24. He was introduced to mainstream U.S. audiences in the roles of Frederik Zoller, a German war hero in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, starring Brad Pitt, which premiered at Cannes 2009.

25. In May 2009, Bruhl launched a production company called Fouronfilm, together with Film 1.

26. In 2013, he co-starred in The Fifth Estate, a movie based on the founding of WikiLeaks. Bruhl played Daniel Domscheit-Berg, alongside Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange.