Bjarne Mädel

Bjarne Ingmar Mädel (born March 12, 1968, in Hamburg) is a German actor and director. He spent his childhood in Reinbek. As a teenager, he lived for several years in Nigeria in a gated community because his father worked there as a civil engineer. He obtained his Abitur at the Burggymnasium Friedberg. In California, he initially worked as a construction worker and then studied world literature and creative writing at the University of Redlands. As a 17-year-old, he worked for a summer in the Port of Hamburg.

After studying theater studies and literature at the University of Erlangen, Mädel trained classically as an actor from 1992 to 1996 at the Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen Potsdam. This was followed by an engagement at the Volkstheater Rostock from 1996 to 1999. He was then an ensemble member at the Schauspielhaus Hamburg for five years (2000–2005). Mädel gained greater fame in 2004/2005 through the character of Berthold “Ernie” Heisterkamp, whom he portrayed in the TV series Stromberg.