Career
1998–2008: Early career
After graduating from a Waldorf school, Diehl studied acting at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. He made his film debut in 1998 as computer hacker Karl Koch in 23, winning the German Film Award (1998) for Best Actor and the Bavarian Film Award (1999) for Best Young Actor. In 2000, he was named one of the European Shooting Stars at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Over the next decade, Diehl worked extensively in film and theater. His early roles included Tattoo (2002), Love in Thoughts (2004), and Volker Schlöndorff's The Ninth Day (2004). Diehl's performance in Love in Thoughts earned him several awards, including the German Film Critics Award for Best Actor. He later appeared in films includingThe Counterfeiters and Buddenbrooks.
Diehl also established a stage career, working with director Peter Zadek in Sarah Kane's Cleansed, and started performing at the Burgtheater in 2000. His early roles included Konstantin in Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, for which he received the Alfred Kerr Acting Prize in 2001.
2009–2016: International productions
In 2009, Diehl played Gestapo Major Dieter Hellstrom in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, followed by the action thriller Salt (2010) in which he appeared opposite Angelina Jolie. Other work during this period included If Not Us, Who? (2011), for which he earned a German Film Award nomination for Best Actor, Confession of a Child of the Century, Layla Fourie, Night Train to Lisbon, and Robert Zemeckis's Allied.
He also appeared regularly on stage during this time. At the Burgtheater, he appeared in productions of Major Barbara, The Prince of Homburg, and Shakespeare's Hamlet. His performance in Hamlet earned him the 2014 Nestroy Theatre Prize for Best Actor.
