Hardy Krüger Jr.

Hardy Krüger Jr. (born 9 May 1968, Lugano, Switzerland) is a second generation German actor. He is the son of actor-writer Hardy Krüger and the Italian painter Francesca Marazzi. Shortly after his birth, his father took his wife and son to Tanzania to live on the farm which had served as the backdrop for the film Hatari!, in which Krüger senior had appeared. Krüger Jr. attended an international school in Germany and in 1989 he took acting classes in Los Angeles and acted in a few US television shows. After graduating in 1991, he began his professional acting career in Germany with an appearance in the ARD series Nicht von schlechten Eltern and landing the coveted lead role in Gegen den Wind. Kruger has since appeared in quite a few international productions such as Du gehörst mir! (France, 1999), Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar (France, 1999) and Roger Young's Dracula. He also garnered a lead role in the 2004 film "Stauffenberg", which was awarded the Deutscher Fernsehpreis for Best Film. In May 2006, he first appeared as the replacement for Christian Wolff in ZDF's very popular TV series, Forsthaus Falkenau, in which he now plays the lead role of the forester Stefan Leitner. He is a UNICEF ambassador against child prostitution, a role for which he was rewarded by Kinderlachen with the "Kind-Award 2006". He has also become a patron of the charity "TukTuk-Tour" from Asia to Europe. He also accompanied Bundesminister Sigmar Gabriel on the creation of the Naturallianz by the CBD-COP9.