Joachim Philipp Maria Meyerhoff (born 1967 in Homburg) is a German actor, director, and writer.
Life
Joachim Meyerhoff is the youngest son of Hermann Meyerhoff, who was the director of the psychiatric clinic in Hesterberg, Schleswig-Holstein, from 1972. The director's house was on the grounds of the clinic. Joachim spent his childhood with two older brothers on the clinic grounds in Schleswig-Holstein. At 17, he spent a year in Laramie, Wyoming. During this time, his middle brother was killed in an automobile accident. After his return, Joachim Meyerhoff completed his high school studies (Abitur) and would have performed his compulsory community service as a swimming-pool supervisor at the Rechts der Isar Hospital in Munich. Instead, he completed his training as an actor between 1989 and 1992 at the Otto Falckenberg School of the Performing Arts in Munich. After commitments at the Staatstheater Kassel, in Bielefeld, Dortmund and the Bühnen der Stadt Köln, he joined the Maxim Gorki Theater, Berlin in 2001, where he also frequently directed. In 2002, he moved to the Deutsche Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, where he stayed until 2005. He acted there in productions by Volker Hesse, Thomas Langhoff, Stefan Otteni, Karin Beier, Sebastian Hartmann and Günter Krämer. Since September 2005, Joachim Meyerhoff has been an ensemble member of the Burgtheater in Vienna. At the beginning of the 2013 season, he returned to the Deutsche Schauspielhaus under the leadership of artistic director Karin Beier. However, he remains a member of the Viennese Burgtheater.[1]
In addition to his work as an actor, Meyerhoff has frequently conceived his own programs. His project Alle Toten fliegen hoch regularly played at the Burgtheater Vienna to a full audience.[2] In this autobiographical, six-part program, Meyerhoff tells the story of his life and family. He tells of his siblings, his grandparents in Munich, his father, the director of a child and youth psychiatric clinic in Schleswig, his upbringing on the grounds on the institution, and his exchange year in America. He was invited to perform the first three parts of the series at the Berliner Theatertreffen 2009. In 2011, the first part (Amerika) was published as a book by Kiepenheuer & Witsch.[3]
In 2006 and 2007, Meyerhoff was nominated for the Nestroy-Preis. He was chosen as Actor of the Year in 2007 for playing the role of Hamlet at the Schauspielhaus Zürich and the role of Benedict in Jan Bosse's production of Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing. He received the 2011 Franz-Tumler-Literaturpreis and the 2012 advancement award of the Bremer Literaturpreis for his novel Alle Toten fliegen hoch. Amerika. In 2014, he was recognized for his work in the role of Arnolphe in The School for Wives (Schauspielhaus Hamburg, producer: Herbert Fritsch) with the Rolf-Mares-Preis.[4] In 2015, his interpretation of Kreon in Jette Steckel's production of Antigoneat the Burgtheater was praised by the public and press.[5]
Meyerhoff is the grandson of the actor Inge Birkmann, whose second marriage was to the philosopher Hermann Krings. Meyerhoff has two daughters by Christiane von Poelnitz, who is an actor at the Burgtheater.
