Nikolai Kinski
Nikolai Kinski is an actor, born 1976.
Born in Paris, raised in California, based in Berlin, working in English, German and French: the biography reads like a job description. Kinski is the actor European co-productions call when a scene needs somebody who can hold a room in a language other than the director's. He is the son of Klaus Kinski, and the earliest credit on this page is Paganini in 1990, where he played the violinist's son while still a child.
The work since has split cleanly in two. On one side, American pictures that used him decoratively: Claudius in Æon Flux, a small part in Tortilla Soup, Pascal Al Fariq in the Point Break remake, Amin in Fay Grim. On the other, European films that gave him something to hold: Egon Schiele in Klimt, Karl Lagerfeld in Yves Saint Laurent, Tzvi in Plan A, Commander Jünger in Farewell, Mr. Haffmann.
The pattern worth noticing is how often he is cast as a real person. Egon Schiele, Karl Lagerfeld, Achille Paganini: three historical figures, and all three of them men who lived beside somebody more famous, which is a curious thing to be repeatedly hired for and something he plays with no visible resentment. Television has kept him in the same register, from Walter Drexler in The Sinking of the Laconia to Pelagios in Barbarians, Vandermeer in Liaison and Dr. Lopez in Moresnet. He works steadily rather than famously, across three countries, and the surname has clearly been both a door and a weight.
Movies (14)
TV (6)
Where to start with Nikolai Kinski
Take Klimt first, if only for the oddity of watching him play Egon Schiele in a film named after the other painter; it is a difficult, unfashionable picture and his scenes are the clearest thing in it. Yves Saint Laurent is the more accessible showcase, and his Lagerfeld is a real impersonation rather than a wig and a pair of glasses. Farewell, Mr. Haffmann is the best film on this list by some distance and the one that gives him most to play. Plan A is the hardest watch of the lot. For television, Barbarians is the crowd-pleaser and Liaison the glossier one. Æon Flux and Point Break are the paycheque end, and you will miss very little by skipping both.