Andreas Stenschke

Andreas Stenschke started making movies when he was 11 years old, produced some music videos and won a bunch of juvenile filmmaker prizes, including a trip to display his film short at a Festival in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympic Games. And while still a teenager, he began modeling in pictorial layouts for German newspaper articles. After doing his compulsory national service, working at an old person's home and hospital, he decided to fulfill his dream to become a film director. Then, at the age of 21, while doing an internship at the WDR TV Station in Köln (Cologne) Germany, he was literally discovered in the commissary -- Lana Turner style -- while joking with some young girls. A producer, struck by his good looks and infectious laughter, asked him if he was an actor. Not wanting to lose an opportunity, he said that he was and was given a screen test, resulting in his being cast for the new role of Ulli in the popular daily German late afternoon serial, "Verbotene Liebe" (Forbidden Love). While on that series, Andreas suddenly found himself a teen heartthrob for more than three years, in addition to breaking ground with his portrayal of a young gay teenager who "comes out" on the show. He also recorded a hit record, "Just When I needed You Most," displaying his rich and throaty tenor voice. However, he soon found that his private life had vanished and he couldn't go anywhere -- not to the movies or a disco or even sit in a café without being besieged for autographs, pictures or conversation. Plus, his desire to direct continued to pull at him and he decided to leave the series. He applied to the prestigious Baden-Württemberg Film Akademie in southwest Germany and was accepted for admission among 800 candidates. At about the same time, he was asked to become a regular playing the role of Ben on the weekly series, "Die Anrheiner." He took the offer, as it kept his hand in the acting side of the business, provided an income while attending school and, as a weekly series, it was less demanding on his time. In 2006, he finished shooting his final thesis film, "In Ewigkeit. Amen?," co-written with American TV/Film writer Michael Russnow. The project is a mystery comedy series, which opened doors for him at a lot of production companies and the leading German networks. At the outset of 2007, Andreas co-developed a new German TV series for Granada Entertainment. Then, in February 2007 he began his first professional directing gig on "Staatsanwalt Posch ermittelt," a dramatized legal television series for the German company Filmpool televised on the RTL network. Granada then signed him in the fall of 2007 to direct alternate weekly blocks of the popular cooking competition series, "Unter Volldampf!" transmitted on the VOX Network in Germany. Also in the fall of 2007, Andreas asked to be released from "Die Anrheiner" after seven seasons on the show. His last episodes on the series will be televised in March 2008. In addition to his directing jobs, he is actively pursuing other acting opportunities in Germany, the U.S., the UK, Canada and Australia.