Diego Wallraff

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[[File:Wallraff.jpg|thumb|Diego Wallraff en 2004]]
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[[File:Wallraff.jpg|thumb|Diego Wallraff in 2004]]
  
Diego Wallraff est né le 30 novembre 1961 à Barranquilla, en Colombie. Il est marié et papa d'un petit garçon. Diego a travaillé comme acteur de cinéma, à la télévision et au théâtre en Europe ainsi qu'aux Etats-Unis.
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Diego Wallraff was born on November 30th, 1961 in Barranquilla, in Colombia. He is married and father of a small boy. Diego worked as a film actor, on television and at the theatre in Europe as well as in the United States.  
  
==Jeunesse==
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==Youth==
  
Diego grandit entre la Colombie, le pays de sa mère, et l'Allemagne d'où son père est originaire et que ce dernier a fui à l'adolescence pour chercher une vie meilleure loin des événements de la seconde guerre mondiale qui ont ruiné son enfance. À l'âge de 7 ans, Diego a déjà fait deux fois l'aller-retour entre les deux pays avant que sa famille ne s'installe finalement à Hambourg où il passe les 20 années suivantes. Ces déménagements ne facilitent pas sa scolarité et pour échapper à l'école il décide de devenir mécanicien auto, attiré par sa passion des belles américaines des années 50-60. Après une dure sélection, il commence son apprentissage dans les services de la Police de Hambourg, réparant voitures, camions, motos...
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Diego grows between Colombia, the country of his mother, and Germany where from his father come originally from and that he last escaped during adolescence to search for a better life far from the events of World War II which ruined its childhood. At the age of 7 years old, Diego has already made twice the voyage in and out between both countries before his family becomes finally established in Hamburg where he passes the 20 next years. These moves don't help his schooling and to avoid the school he decides to become an auto mechanic, attracted by his passion of the nice American cars of the 50s-60s. After a hard selection, he begins his training for the services of the Hamburg's Police, repairing cars, trucks, motorbikes...
  
Pendant son temps libre, il joue au football américain. Il est d'ailleurs l'un des membres fondateurs du premier club de foot américain à Hambourg et il a entraîné l'équipe pendant plusieurs années. Ils ont joué en ligue nationale 1 !
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During his free time, he plays the american football. He is one of the founder members of the first club of American football in Hamburg and he trained the team during several years. They played in national league 1!
  
Il fait aussi partie de deux groupes de musique de Rock'n Roll et de Rythm'n Blues : il joue de la guitare et de l'harmonica Blues Harp... et il commence finalement à apprécier la vie en Allemagne où, jusque là, il ne se sentait pas vraiment chez lui.
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He is also part of two Rock n Roll and Rythm'n Blues music groups: he plays the guitar and Blues Harp harmonica and he begins finally to appreciate life in Germany where, until then, he didn't feel really at home.
  
Après un apprentissage réussi, il se replonge dans les études pour devenir mécanicien d’avions, mais il commence à se demander vraiment ce qu’il veut ou doit faire de sa vie. Finalement, il arrête tout et suit un ami à Londres... et se retrouve à travailler dans une petite concession Mercedes. C’est là qu’il réalise qu’il ne peut pas se contenter d’une existence de mécano et qu’il a besoin de changer de vie.
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After a successful training, he immerses himself again into studies to become a plane mechanic, but he begins wondering really what he wants or make of his life. Finally, he stops everything and follows a friend in London to work in a small Mercedes concession . It is there that he realizes that he can't content himself with an existence of mechanic and that he needs to change his life.
  
Il rentre en Allemagne où le service militaire l’attend, ce qui lui laisse tout loisir de penser à son avenir.
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He comes back to Germany where the military service is waiting for him, and it gives him all the leisure to think of his future.
  
==Danse classique==
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==Classical ballet==
  
Il se lie alors d’amitié avec un groupe d’Américains danseurs au Ballet de Hambourg et un jour il se retrouve invité à assister à une représentation de Roméo et Juliette... Il est soufflé par la beauté du ballet classique (sans parler des magnifiques ballerines !) et n’a plus qu’une envie : les revoir. La fois suivante, il assiste au spectacle des coulisses et, , c’est l’animation qui règne derrière la scène qui le fascine. Il en veut encore et encore... et c’est la révélation : la magie et l’esprit du théâtre l’ont touché ! Lorsqu’il rentre à la caserne, il sait qu’il veut devenir acteur. Il commence immédiatement à chercher des écoles d’art dramatique et à préparer de quoi passer des auditions... Il est accepté à l’Académie de musique et des arts de la scène de Hambourg et lorsqu’il commence à suivre les cours il sait qu’il a finalement trouvé ce qui le passionne dans la vie.
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He then strikes up a friendship with a group of American dancers in the Ballet of Hamburg and one day he finds himself invited to attend a representation of Romeo and Juliet... He is blown by the beauty of classical ballet (without speaking about splendid ballerinas!) and he just has a desire: to see them again. Next time, he attends the show behind the scene and, there, it is the animation which reigns behind the stage that fascinates him. He wants more and more and it is a revelation: The magic and spirit of the theatre touched him! When he comes back to the barracks, he knows that he wants to become actor. He begins immediately searching for drama schools and preparing to pass auditions... He is accepted in the music Academy of the arts and stage of Hamburg and when he begins doing courses he knows that he finally found what enthralls him in life.
  
Il rejoint le Deutsche Shauspielhaus (théâtre national) de Hambourg en 1985. Pour sa première expérience, il joue et danse avec son frère Cuco dans Ghetto, une pièce musicale sur l’holocauste, mise en scène par Peter Zadek.
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He joins the Deutsche Shauspielhaus (national theatre) of Hamburg in 1985. For his first experience, he plays and dances with his brother Cuco in Ghetto, a musical piece on holocaust, staged by Peter Zadek.
  
En 1985 encore, il joue et danse toujours dans la comédie-ballet Le bourgeois gentilhomme sous la direction de Jérôme Savary.
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In 1985 still, he plays and always dances in the comedy-ballet The bourgeois gentleman conducted by Jérôme Savary.
  
En 1986, il auditionne pour l’illustre comédie musicale Cats à laquelle Cuco participe pendant près d’une année, mais en définitive, après trois rappels, Diego décide de s’en tenir au pur théâtre... Quoique...
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In 1986, he auditions for the famous musical Cats in which Cuco participates during almost one year, but after all is said and done, after three recalls, Diego decides to stay with pure theatre... Though...
  
En 1987, il retrouve Zadek pour Andi, un comédie musicale rock moderne et antifasciste.
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In 1987, he finds Zadek for Andi, a modern musical rock and antifascist comedy.
  
Toujours au Deutsche Shauspielhaus de Hambourg, il a l’occasion de travailler à plusieurs reprises sous la direction de Michael Bogdanov (non pas Grishka ni Igor, mais le grand metteur en scène anglais !) notamment dans Romeo und Julia en 1990 ou Hamlet en 1991.
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Always in Deutsche Shauspielhaus of Hamburg, he has the opportunity to work again and again directed by Michael Bogdanov (not Grishka nor Igor, but the big English movie director!) notably in Romeo und Julia in 1990 or Hamlet in 1991.
  
==Télévision==
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==Television==
  
Après une grave blessure à l’épaule pendant une répétition de la comédie musicale Guys and Dolls en 1991 Diego se sent davantage attiré par la télévision et le cinéma. Il met un terme à son contrat avec le Théâtre national de Hambourg après six années de bons et loyaux services et part à Los Angeles essayer de faire sa place au soleil hollywoodien... mais il revient fréquemment tourner en Allemagne, où sa carrière ne se limite pas à la scène.
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After a serious wound in the shoulder during a repetition of the musical Guys and Dolls in 1991 Diego feels more attracted by the television and cinema. He puts an end to his contract with the national Theatre of Hamburg after six years of good and loyal services and leaves for Los Angeles to try to make his place under the Hollywood sun but he often returns to shoot in Germany, where his career doesn't limit itself to the stage.
  
En effet, il décroche son premier rôle principal en 1986, dans un téléfilm de science fiction, Das Go! Projekt. Le réalisateur, Olivier Hirschbiegel, à la recherche d’un acteur pour le rôle le découvre... dans son école. Et Diego est alors le plus heureux des hommes !
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Indeed, he gets his first title role in 1986, in a science fiction TV film, Das Go! Projekt. The film director, Olivier Hirschbiegel, in search of an actor for the role discovers him in his school. And Diego is then the happiest of men!
  
==Cinéma==
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==Cinema==
  
Il fait ses débuts au cinéma en 1987 dans Der Madonna-Mann de H.C. Blumenberg : Un géologue australien qui fait étape à Hambourg est pris pour un tueur par une jeune femme qui lui demande d’éliminer un gangster (Michael Lonsdale). Quand le truand découvre le pot aux roses, le duo n’a plus qu’à tenter d’échapper à la mort... Diego tient un petit rôle amusant, celui d’un routier espagnol qui passe son temps à chanter et parler... et qui fait un brin de conduite aux deux stars du film, Renee Soutendijk et Marius Müller Westernhagen.
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He makes his debut at the cinema in 1987 in Der Madonna-Mann of H.C. Blumenberg: An Australian geologist who makes a stop in Hamburg is taken to be a killer by a young woman who asks him to eliminate a gangster (Michael Lonsdale). When the gangster gets to the bottom of things, the duet doesn't have more than to try to avoid death... Diego plays an entertaining cameo role, that of a Spanish truck driver who spends his time to sing and speak and that makes a bite of behaviour to both stars of the film, Renee Soutendijk and Marius Müller Westernhagen.
  
Il apparaît également dans le rôle de Roberto Zenga, un tueur italien extrêmement professionnel venu remplir un contrat en Autriche dans l’épisode « Jeu de construction » de la série européenne Eurocops en 1990.
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He also appears in the role of Roberto Zenga, an extremely professional Italian killer come to fulfill a contract in Austria in the episode «Jeu de construction» of the European series Eurocops in 1990.
  
Diego est à peine installé à Los Angeles qu’il revient en Allemagne tenir son premier rôle principal au cinéma cette fois, dans Schattenboxer : Eddi, un ex-taulard qui veut aider un ami sans papiers, vient perturber la mécanique bien huilée de flics qui se livrent à un trafic de drogue en profitant des expulsions de réfugiés qui n’ont pas obtenu l’asile politique. Le film sort en 1992, tout comme Ginevra, un film que Diego a tourné dans le sud de la France alors qu’il faisait encore partie du théâtre de Hambourg. Le rôle de Manuel dans cette œuvre étrange qui revisite le célèbre triangle passionnel de la légende arthurienne lui laisse le souvenir d’une expérience très amusante... même s’il n’a jamais vu le résultat !
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Diego is barely installed in Los Angeles when he comes back in Germany to play his first title role at the cinema this time, in Schattenboxer: Eddi, an ex-convict who wants to help a friend without papers, comes to unsettle the well-oiled mechanics by cops who devote themselves to a drug trafficking by using expulsion of refugees which didn't get the political asylum. The film comes out in 1992, just as Ginevra, a film of which Diego made in the south of France while he was still part of the theatre of Hamburg. His Manuel's role in this strange work which visits again the famous passionate triangle of the arthurian legend leaves him the memory of a very amusing experience even if he has never seen the result!
  
En 1995, il franchit de nouveau l’Atlantique pour un nouveau rôle principal dans un téléfilm adapté d’un roman de Rosamunde Pilcher : il interprète un type cruel et égoïste qui use et abuse de son charme pour manipuler sa cousine dans Das Ende eines Sommers.
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In 1995, it crosses the Atlantic once again for a new title role in a TV film adapted from a novel of Rosamunde Pilcher: he interprets a selfish and cruel type which employs and abuses its charm to manipulate his cousin in Das Ende eines Sommers.
  
Il revient aussi régulièrement participer à des séries allemandes : Il tourne à trois reprises dans la série policière Tatort (3 rôles de vilains) entre 1991 et 2000, il apparaît dans Die Partner (1995), Schimanski (1997), Die Straßen von Berlin (1998), Mordkommission (2000) ... Il participe également à deux téléfilms prolongeant l’aventure de la série Das Traumschiff (la version allemande de La croisière s’amuse !) ce qui lui permet de tourner à terre à Sydney, en Australie et en mer entre Hong-Kong et la Thaïlande, ou encore en Afrique du Sud et dans les Caraïbes... Sympa d’être photographe ou pianiste sur un bateau de croisière, surtout quand en prime le personnage rencontre l’amour !!!
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He also regularly returns to participate in the German series: He turns three times in a police series Tatort (3 roles of villains) between 1991 and 2000, he appears in Die Partner (1995), Schimanski (1997), Die Straßen von Berlin (1998), Mordkommission (2000)... He also participates in two TV films extending the adventure of the series Das Traumschiff (the German version of the love boat !) that allows him to shoot on earth in Sydney, in Australia and at sea between Hong Kong and Thailand, or else in Southern Africa and in the Caribbean... Nice to be the photographer or the pianist on a boat cruise, especially if as a bonus the character meets love!!!
  
En 1997, Diego participe à Winnetous Rückkehr, un téléfilm en deux parties qui ramène à l’écran l’indien Winnetou de la mythique série western allemande des années 60. Il y joue un métis nommé Steve Shagan et s’amuse beaucoup pendant le tournage dans le sud de l’Espagne aux côtés de Pierre Brice, l’acteur français qui interprète le célèbre Apache.
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In 1997, Diego participates in Winnetous Rückkehr, a TV film in two parts which brings back to the screen the Indian Winnetou of mythical German western series of the sixties. He plays a half-bred named Steve Shagan and has a good time during the filming in the south of Spain beside Pierre Brice, the French actor who interprets thefamous Apache.
  
Mais surtout Diego incarne pendant 12 épisodes le personnage d’Andi Sanchez dans Delta Team (1999). Il adore cette série d’action et regrette son interruption, mais c’est à l’issue de ce tournage qu’il se voit proposer le rôle de Simon dans Largo Winch...
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But especially Diego represents during 12 episodes the character of Andi Sanchez in the Delta Team (1999). He loves this action series and regrets its end, but it is at the end of this filming that he sees himself offering Simon's role in Largo Winch...
  
Avec une telle activité en Europe, il est facile d’oublier que Diego s’est installé aux USA... et pourtant, là-bas aussi sa carrière est impressionnante !
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With such an activity in Europe, it is easy to forget that Diego is established in the USA and however, there also his career is impressive!
  
Son premier contrat est un petit rôle dans le pilote d’une sitcom de la Warner Bros intitulée Interns in Heat qui relate les aventures d’une chaude équipe de personnel hospitalier... et qui n’a jamais été diffusée nulle part !
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His first contract is a cameo role in the pilot of a Warner Bros sitcom called Interns in Heat who relates the adventures of a hot team of hospital personnel and it was never broadcasted anywhere!
  
Il apparaît également dans diverses séries telles que Acapulco Heat (Agence Acapulco) (1993), Renegade (Le rebelle) (1995), I love Lupe (1997), Cracker (1997)...
 
  
Mais sa première aventure vraiment excitante de l’autre côté de l’Atlantique débute lorsqu’il rencontre la réalisatrice vénézuélo-new-yorkaise Betty Kaplan qui lui propose de tenir le rôle de José, le frère d’Antonio Banderas dans Of Love and Shadows (titre original espagnol : De amor y de sombras). Pour Diego, le rêve est devenu réalité... Le film argentino-américano-espagnol, sorti en 1995, est tourné en Argentine... mais en anglais. Il relate la rencontre et l’histoire d’amour d’un opposant à la dictature de Pinochet au Chili (Banderas) et d’une jeune fille de bonne famille (Jennifer Connelly) qui vivait jusqu’alors dans le calme d’un univers protégé.
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He also appears in various series such as Acapulco Heat (Acapulco agency) (1993), Renegade (The rebel) (1995), I love Lupe (1997), Cracker (1997)...
  
Diego a par la suite l’opportunité de tourner à nouveau sous la direction de Betty Kaplan dans Doña Bárbara... en espagnol cette fois, mais il renonce au projet car il ne veut pas risquer de se retrouver quelque part en Amérique du Sud au moment de la naissance de son fils.
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But his first really stimulating adventure on the other side of the Atlantic starts when he meets the film director vénézuélo-NewYorker Betty Kaplan who offers him to play the role of José, the brother of Antonio Banderas in Of Love and Shadows (Spanish original title: De amor y de sombras). For Diego, the dream became reality... The argentino-américano-spanish film, came out in 1995, was made in Argentina in English. He relates the meeting and love story of an opponent to the dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile (Banderas) and a well-bred girl (Jennifer Connelly) who lived until then in a peaceful and protected world.
  
Il tourne également au Maroc en 1994 sous la direction de Roger Young dans une coproduction internationale qui fait partie d’une série sur la Bible : Joseph est un téléfilm en deux parties qui raconte l’histoire du fils de Jacob et de ses 11 frères... Il incarne l’un de ces frères, Icassar, et côtoie dans la distribution Ben Kingsley, Martin Landau et Monica Bellucci.
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Diego has later on the opportunity to act again under the direction of Betty Kaplan in Doña Bárbara in Spanish this time, but he abandons the project because he doesn't want to risk being somewhere in South America at the time of the birth of his son.
  
Il enchaîne au cinéma avec The Perez Family en 1995 qui lui permet de travailler avec la grande réalisatrice indienne Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay! ça ne vous rappelle rien ?). Cette tragi-comédie romantique dépeint les aventures d’un prisonnier politique cubain qui quitte son pays pour retrouver sa famille exilée à Miami et se retrouve affublé d’une « épouse » aussi inattendue que débrouillarde... Diego y incarne le frère ultra-protecteur de l’épouse légitime et il savoure le plaisir de tourner avec Anjelica Huston, dont il admire la classe !
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He also shoots in Morocco in 1994 under the direction of Roger Young in an international co-production which is part of a series on the Bible: Joseph is a TV film in two parts which tells the story of the son of Jacob and his 11 brothers... He represents one of these brothers, Icassar, and acts along Ben Kingsley, Martin Landau and Monica Bellucci.
  
En 1997, on le retrouve dans le rôle d’un détective dans le thriller Exception to the Rule (Piège de diamants), une histoire de diamantaire qui trompe sa femme et se retrouve victime de chantage, avec Sean Young, Kim Cattrall et Eric McCormack.
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He follows at the cinema with The Perez Family in 1995 which allows him to work with the big Indian film director Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay! this doesn't remind you of anything?). This romantic tragicomedy paints the adventures of a Cuban political prisoner who leaves his country to find his family exiled in Miami and finds himself decked out with a "wife" as unexpected as resourceful... Diego represents the ultra-protective brother of the legitimate wife and he savours the pleasure of shooting with Anjelica Huston, whose class he admires!
  
Avec They come at night en 1998, Diego joue dans un film fort qui se penche sur la relation d’une refugiée politique salvadorienne ayant perdu sa famille et survécu à la torture et de sa psychothérapeute qui a du mal à gérer la dure réalité de sa propre vie. Il incarne le mari torturé puis exécuté qui apparaît dans les flashbacks qui parsèment le film.
 
  
Dans le téléfilm DeadLocked (Impasse meurtrière) (2000) où le père d’un jeune homme noir accusé de viol et de meurtre prend en otage le tribunal pour faire rouvrir l’enquête et innocenter son fils, Diego incarne un commandant des forces spéciales antiterroristes, le Sergent DeLucca.
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In 1997, we find him in the role of a detective in the thriller Exception to the Rule, the history of a diamond cutter who deceives his wife and is victim of blackmail, with Sean Young, Kim Cattrall and ERIC MCCORMACK.
  
Un brin de folie en 2001, grâce à Unleashed : le film relate les aventures d’un expert informatique de la police de L.A. qui découvre que le seul témoin du meurtre sur lequel il enquête est le... chien de la victime qui s’avère également être le seul chien au monde à parler et à pratiquer les arts martiaux ! Diego y incarne un détective...
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With They come at night in 1998, Diego plays in a strong film which leans over the relation of a Salvadorian political refugee having lost his family and survived torture and of his psychotherapist who finds it difficult to manage the grim reality of her own life. He represents the tortured then executed husband who appears in the flashbacks which intersperse the film.
  
Enfin, en 2002 il endosse un rôle de méchant voleur dans un téléfilm intitulé Rush of Fear, écrit et réalisé par Walter Klenhard, avec Rosanna Arquette et Chris Potter. Une jeune femme tente de sauver son mari enlevé par des voleurs de diamants qui veulent récupérer leur butin égaré. Le téléfilm regorge d’action et de rebondissements... mais avec tout ce qui précède, on se doute que ce n’est pas fait pour effrayer Diego !
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In the TV film DeadLocked (2000) where the father of a black young man accused of rape and murder takes the court in hostage to make open again the inquiry and exculpate his son, Diego represents the commander of anti-terrorist special force, the Sergeant DeLucca.
 +
 
 +
A bite of madness in 2001, thanks to Unleashed: the film relates the adventures of a computer expert of the L.A. police which discovers that the only witness of a murder whom he investigates is the dog of the victim who also proves to be be the only dog in the world to speak and to practice martial arts! Diego represents a detective there...
 +
 
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Finally, in 2002 he endorses the role of a mean robber in a TV film called Rush of Fear, written and directed by Walter Klenhard, with Rosanna Arquette and Chris Potter. A young woman tries to save her husband kidnapped by diamond thieves who want to recover their booty gone astray. The TV film is packed with action and rebounds but with all what precedes, we suspect that it isn't done to scare Diego!

Revision as of 11:59, 27 December 2011

Diego Wallraff in 2004

Diego Wallraff was born on November 30th, 1961 in Barranquilla, in Colombia. He is married and father of a small boy. Diego worked as a film actor, on television and at the theatre in Europe as well as in the United States.

Contents

Youth

Diego grows between Colombia, the country of his mother, and Germany where from his father come originally from and that he last escaped during adolescence to search for a better life far from the events of World War II which ruined its childhood. At the age of 7 years old, Diego has already made twice the voyage in and out between both countries before his family becomes finally established in Hamburg where he passes the 20 next years. These moves don't help his schooling and to avoid the school he decides to become an auto mechanic, attracted by his passion of the nice American cars of the 50s-60s. After a hard selection, he begins his training for the services of the Hamburg's Police, repairing cars, trucks, motorbikes...

During his free time, he plays the american football. He is one of the founder members of the first club of American football in Hamburg and he trained the team during several years. They played in national league 1!

He is also part of two Rock n Roll and Rythm'n Blues music groups: he plays the guitar and Blues Harp harmonica and he begins finally to appreciate life in Germany where, until then, he didn't feel really at home.

After a successful training, he immerses himself again into studies to become a plane mechanic, but he begins wondering really what he wants or make of his life. Finally, he stops everything and follows a friend in London to work in a small Mercedes concession . It is there that he realizes that he can't content himself with an existence of mechanic and that he needs to change his life.

He comes back to Germany where the military service is waiting for him, and it gives him all the leisure to think of his future.

Classical ballet

He then strikes up a friendship with a group of American dancers in the Ballet of Hamburg and one day he finds himself invited to attend a representation of Romeo and Juliet... He is blown by the beauty of classical ballet (without speaking about splendid ballerinas!) and he just has a desire: to see them again. Next time, he attends the show behind the scene and, there, it is the animation which reigns behind the stage that fascinates him. He wants more and more and it is a revelation: The magic and spirit of the theatre touched him! When he comes back to the barracks, he knows that he wants to become actor. He begins immediately searching for drama schools and preparing to pass auditions... He is accepted in the music Academy of the arts and stage of Hamburg and when he begins doing courses he knows that he finally found what enthralls him in life.

He joins the Deutsche Shauspielhaus (national theatre) of Hamburg in 1985. For his first experience, he plays and dances with his brother Cuco in Ghetto, a musical piece on holocaust, staged by Peter Zadek.

In 1985 still, he plays and always dances in the comedy-ballet The bourgeois gentleman conducted by Jérôme Savary.

In 1986, he auditions for the famous musical Cats in which Cuco participates during almost one year, but after all is said and done, after three recalls, Diego decides to stay with pure theatre... Though...

In 1987, he finds Zadek for Andi, a modern musical rock and antifascist comedy.

Always in Deutsche Shauspielhaus of Hamburg, he has the opportunity to work again and again directed by Michael Bogdanov (not Grishka nor Igor, but the big English movie director!) notably in Romeo und Julia in 1990 or Hamlet in 1991.

Television

After a serious wound in the shoulder during a repetition of the musical Guys and Dolls in 1991 Diego feels more attracted by the television and cinema. He puts an end to his contract with the national Theatre of Hamburg after six years of good and loyal services and leaves for Los Angeles to try to make his place under the Hollywood sun but he often returns to shoot in Germany, where his career doesn't limit itself to the stage.

Indeed, he gets his first title role in 1986, in a science fiction TV film, Das Go! Projekt. The film director, Olivier Hirschbiegel, in search of an actor for the role discovers him in his school. And Diego is then the happiest of men!

Cinema

He makes his debut at the cinema in 1987 in Der Madonna-Mann of H.C. Blumenberg: An Australian geologist who makes a stop in Hamburg is taken to be a killer by a young woman who asks him to eliminate a gangster (Michael Lonsdale). When the gangster gets to the bottom of things, the duet doesn't have more than to try to avoid death... Diego plays an entertaining cameo role, that of a Spanish truck driver who spends his time to sing and speak and that makes a bite of behaviour to both stars of the film, Renee Soutendijk and Marius Müller Westernhagen.

He also appears in the role of Roberto Zenga, an extremely professional Italian killer come to fulfill a contract in Austria in the episode «Jeu de construction» of the European series Eurocops in 1990.

Diego is barely installed in Los Angeles when he comes back in Germany to play his first title role at the cinema this time, in Schattenboxer: Eddi, an ex-convict who wants to help a friend without papers, comes to unsettle the well-oiled mechanics by cops who devote themselves to a drug trafficking by using expulsion of refugees which didn't get the political asylum. The film comes out in 1992, just as Ginevra, a film of which Diego made in the south of France while he was still part of the theatre of Hamburg. His Manuel's role in this strange work which visits again the famous passionate triangle of the arthurian legend leaves him the memory of a very amusing experience even if he has never seen the result!

In 1995, it crosses the Atlantic once again for a new title role in a TV film adapted from a novel of Rosamunde Pilcher: he interprets a selfish and cruel type which employs and abuses its charm to manipulate his cousin in Das Ende eines Sommers.

He also regularly returns to participate in the German series: He turns three times in a police series Tatort (3 roles of villains) between 1991 and 2000, he appears in Die Partner (1995), Schimanski (1997), Die Straßen von Berlin (1998), Mordkommission (2000)... He also participates in two TV films extending the adventure of the series Das Traumschiff (the German version of the love boat !) that allows him to shoot on earth in Sydney, in Australia and at sea between Hong Kong and Thailand, or else in Southern Africa and in the Caribbean... Nice to be the photographer or the pianist on a boat cruise, especially if as a bonus the character meets love!!!

In 1997, Diego participates in Winnetous Rückkehr, a TV film in two parts which brings back to the screen the Indian Winnetou of mythical German western series of the sixties. He plays a half-bred named Steve Shagan and has a good time during the filming in the south of Spain beside Pierre Brice, the French actor who interprets thefamous Apache.

But especially Diego represents during 12 episodes the character of Andi Sanchez in the Delta Team (1999). He loves this action series and regrets its end, but it is at the end of this filming that he sees himself offering Simon's role in Largo Winch...

With such an activity in Europe, it is easy to forget that Diego is established in the USA and however, there also his career is impressive!

His first contract is a cameo role in the pilot of a Warner Bros sitcom called Interns in Heat who relates the adventures of a hot team of hospital personnel and it was never broadcasted anywhere!


He also appears in various series such as Acapulco Heat (Acapulco agency) (1993), Renegade (The rebel) (1995), I love Lupe (1997), Cracker (1997)...

But his first really stimulating adventure on the other side of the Atlantic starts when he meets the film director vénézuélo-NewYorker Betty Kaplan who offers him to play the role of José, the brother of Antonio Banderas in Of Love and Shadows (Spanish original title: De amor y de sombras). For Diego, the dream became reality... The argentino-américano-spanish film, came out in 1995, was made in Argentina in English. He relates the meeting and love story of an opponent to the dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile (Banderas) and a well-bred girl (Jennifer Connelly) who lived until then in a peaceful and protected world.

Diego has later on the opportunity to act again under the direction of Betty Kaplan in Doña Bárbara in Spanish this time, but he abandons the project because he doesn't want to risk being somewhere in South America at the time of the birth of his son.

He also shoots in Morocco in 1994 under the direction of Roger Young in an international co-production which is part of a series on the Bible: Joseph is a TV film in two parts which tells the story of the son of Jacob and his 11 brothers... He represents one of these brothers, Icassar, and acts along Ben Kingsley, Martin Landau and Monica Bellucci.

He follows at the cinema with The Perez Family in 1995 which allows him to work with the big Indian film director Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay! this doesn't remind you of anything?). This romantic tragicomedy paints the adventures of a Cuban political prisoner who leaves his country to find his family exiled in Miami and finds himself decked out with a "wife" as unexpected as resourceful... Diego represents the ultra-protective brother of the legitimate wife and he savours the pleasure of shooting with Anjelica Huston, whose class he admires!


In 1997, we find him in the role of a detective in the thriller Exception to the Rule, the history of a diamond cutter who deceives his wife and is victim of blackmail, with Sean Young, Kim Cattrall and ERIC MCCORMACK.

With They come at night in 1998, Diego plays in a strong film which leans over the relation of a Salvadorian political refugee having lost his family and survived torture and of his psychotherapist who finds it difficult to manage the grim reality of her own life. He represents the tortured then executed husband who appears in the flashbacks which intersperse the film.

In the TV film DeadLocked (2000) where the father of a black young man accused of rape and murder takes the court in hostage to make open again the inquiry and exculpate his son, Diego represents the commander of anti-terrorist special force, the Sergeant DeLucca.

A bite of madness in 2001, thanks to Unleashed: the film relates the adventures of a computer expert of the L.A. police which discovers that the only witness of a murder whom he investigates is the dog of the victim who also proves to be be the only dog in the world to speak and to practice martial arts! Diego represents a detective there...

Finally, in 2002 he endorses the role of a mean robber in a TV film called Rush of Fear, written and directed by Walter Klenhard, with Rosanna Arquette and Chris Potter. A young woman tries to save her husband kidnapped by diamond thieves who want to recover their booty gone astray. The TV film is packed with action and rebounds but with all what precedes, we suspect that it isn't done to scare Diego!

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