Thomas Kretschmann (born 8 September 1962) is a German actor. He played Lieutenant Hans von Witzland in the 1993 film Stalingrad, Hauptmann Peter Kahn in the 2013 film Stalingrad, Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in The Pianist, Hermann Fegelein in Downfall, Major Otto Remer in the 2008 film Valkyrie, and Captain Engelhorn in the 2005 remake of King Kong, and voiced Professor Z in Cars 2. He appeared as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker in Marvel Studios' Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Kretschmann was born in Dessau, East Germany, on 8 September 1962. Before he became an actor, Kretschmann trained to become an Olympic swimmer. At the age of 19, he fled East Germany and began a month-long trek to West Germany to escape the East German state. During this trek, part of his finger was lost but surgically reattached. Kretschmann crossed four borders (Hungary, Yugoslavia, Austria) with nothing other than his passport and the equivalent of $100 in his possession. Kretschmann starred as Captain Kurt Brynildson in the 2011-2012 ABC original paranormal/adventure/horror television series The River about a group of people on a mission to find a missing TV explorer in the Amazon. Kretschmann signed a multi-film contract with Marvel Studios to play Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, and first appeared as the character in a post-credits scene of the 2014 film Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He had a larger role as the character in the 2015 movie Avengers: Age of Ultron. For the German dubs of movies and television shows he stars in, Kretschmann often dubs his parts himself. Aside from acting Kretschmann has also worked as a fashion model, including a stint as the face for a scent by Hugo Boss.

For more information press the link below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kretschmann