THOMAS KRETSCHMANN (Kapitanlieutenant Wassner), born in East Germany, trained as a teen to be an Olympic swimmer but decided to pursue an acting career instead. At twenty years old, he was able to escape to West Berlin to begin a new life without the regimentation of communism. After three years of odd jobs and acting classes, he was invited to be a member of the Schillertheater, Germany's equivalent of England's Royal Shakespeare Company.

In 1991, he made his film debut in Der Mitwisser which earned him Germany's prestigious Max-Ophuls Prize as Best Up & Coming Actor for his performance. When he appeared in the World War II epic Stalingrad, a movie made by the same producers as Das Boot, his performance launched him into the international limelight. He went on to star in Queen Margot, Marching In The Dark, Dario Argento's The Stendahl Syndrome and Prince Valiant, to name a few of his more internationally known credits. He will most recently seen by American audiences in TNT's Bible film Esther.

Kretschmann makes his home in Los Angeles.