Rudolf Martin
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| Rudolf Martin | |
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| Born | July 31, 1967 West Berlin Germany |
| Official website | |
Rudolf Martin (born 31 July 1967) is a German actor. He has appeared in a handful of off-Broadway productions, and has also made guest appearances on numerous television series.
Martin was born in West Berlin, Germany. With several impressive film and television roles to his credit, Rudolf Martin is developing into one of Hollywood's more interesting new faces. After arriving in Los Angeles in 1999, Rudolf Martin first received a lot of attention after appearing in the Warner Brothers thriller Swordfish (film) starring John Travolta, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Don Cheadle. In the film Martin plays Axl Torvalds, an internationally renowned computer hacker who leads FBI agent on the trail of a criminal mastermind. Based on his performance in Swordfish, Martin was offered a role in the German thriller Lautlos.
Before Swordfish Rudolf Martin was primarily known for his role in the original Showtime series Beggars and Choosers, an inside look at the television networks developed by Peter Lefcourt and the late Brandon Tartikoff that was especially popular within the entertainment industry. Martin played "Nikolai Krasnakov", the charming but dangerous Russian mobster whose life was to be developed into a mini-series by the fictional network. Krasnakov was such a hit that Martin ended up working the entire two seasons. The L.A.Times called Beggars & Choosers one of the five best shows on television.
A native of West-Berlin, Martin had spent his early years travelling throughout Europe while completing his education. Always interested in the arts, Martin studied American and English Literature in Berlin, theatre Arts in Paris, then enrolled in the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York to pursue his dream of acting. While performing in small theatre productions, Martin secured a starring role in Susan Seidelman's Academy Award nominated short film The Dutch Master. Leading roles on ABC's All My Children and Off-Broadway in Nicky Silver's critically acclaimed hit comedy The Food Chain soon followed. While in New York, Martin received recognition for his work in independent films such as Fall, High Art and When. Increasingly in demand, the engaging young actor then moved to Hollywood and has since appeared in the 20th Century Fox's comedy Bedazzled, the Warner Brothers film White Oleander, Patrik Ian Polk’s edgy comedy Punks that was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award as well as in the independent feature The Scoundrel's Wife, starring Tatum O'Neal, Tim Curry and Julian Sands.
In an altogether different role, Martin received critical acclaim for his unique portrayal of the title character Vlad Dracula in the USA film Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula. The film was shot in 2000 on authentic locations in Romania and tells the story of Vlad the Impaler (1431–1476), a haunted hero driven by an overwhelming desire for vengeance who was feared and respected throughout Europe and who later became the model for the fictional vampire. Peter Weller, Jane March and Roger Daltrey co-starred in Dark Prince which premiered in October of 2001 and has attained a cult status since. Based on this performance Martin then guest-starred as Dracula on the fifth season premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer ("Buffy vs Dracula") alongside his previous All My Children co-star Sarah Michelle Gellar. Rudolf Martin proceeded to guest-star in five episodes of the Fox thriller 24 in which he played two different characters, one of them impersonating the other.
He has also guest starred in other television dramas, notably Judging Amy, Crossing Jordan and in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation as a serial killer motivated by Shakespearean sonnets, as well as Mossad agent Ari Haswari, the antagonist to Mark Harmon on the hit show NCIS. Also released is the independent feature film River's End, shot on location in Texas.
Martin’s main focus remains on working in film, as a European actor he continues to search out European productions as well. He has just completed his second lead performance in the film: Bloodlines, the story of a young man coming to terms with his newly discovered family in Slovakia, with love and most importantly with Eastern European culture. Bloodlines was shot in San Francisco and Slovakia in 2003.
He is cast member in Hoboken Hollow, an independent feature with C. Thomas Howell, Dennis Hopper and Michael Madsen as well as in another German feature, Paparazzo shooting in France and Spain. In Stargate SG-1 he has a guest appearance in the episode "Company of Thieves" in Season 10 as Anateo of the Lucian Alliance. He also has a guest appearance in three episodes of Dexter as drug lord Carlos Guerrero. Currently in postproduction is Anomie and in production Hyenas and the short movie Sunrise.
In addition to German and English, Martin is also a fluent speaker of French and Italian. He resides in Los Angeles, where he spends most of his free time walking his dog.
[edit] Filmography
- Sunrise (2007)
- Hyenas (2007)
- Anomie (2007)
- Two Nights (2006)
- Hoboken Hollow (2005)
- River’s End (2005)
- Paparazzo (2004) (German TV movie)
- Bloodlines (2004)
- Lautlos (2004) (German Movie)
- The Scoundrel’s Wife (a.k.a. Home Front) (2002)
- Swordfish (2001)
- Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula (2000)
- Bedazzled (2000)
- Punks (2000)
- When (1999)
- Watershed (1999)
- High Art (1998)
- Fall (1997)
- Run for Cover (1995)
- Café Babel (1995)
- The Dutch Master (1994) (Susan Seidelman)
Appearances/guest appearances on TV series:
- Moonlight (2007)
- Dexter (TV series) (2006)
- Stargate SG-1 (2006)
- NCIS (in five episodes) (2004/2005)
- Crossing Jordan (2005)
- CSI: Miami (2004)
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2003)
- Judging Amy (2003)
- Star Trek: Enterprise (2002)
- 24 (2001/2002)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2000)
- Beggars and Choosers (1999)
- Sliders (1999)
- All My Children (1993–1996) as Anton Lang
TV commercials:
- Philips High Definition Television ("Going to the movies") (1999)
- Levi Jeans ("They go on" campaign) (1997)
