Wolfgang Cerny
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Wolfgang grew up in a family of doctors and sportsmen in Vienna, Austria. He was heavily involved in sports, including martial arts, boxing, horse riding, swimming, alpine skiing and surfing. He was in the swim team and is a certified ski-instructor and member of the Red Devils in Kitzbühel. Originally Wolfgang chose to become a doctor like his father and older brother, so he enrolled in the medical university of Vienna and passed the first year's exams. After two years he dropped out to pursue an acting career. Wolfgang went to Los Angeles and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts as well as at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna.
After graduating Wolfgang was immediately cast as the lead in the German hit series "Storm of Love". He starred as Lukas Zastrow for one season and 220 episodes. Then he joined the ensemble of the theater Kammerspiele and Schauburg in Munich for two years, before his international breakthrough came 2012 with the popular big budget 8 part TV war epos "Snipers" for Russia's Channel One, where his leading performance as the aristocratic German sniper Alexander von Foss earned him much attention. An instant hit, this project paved the way and led to him later becoming an in-demand actor in Russia and the former CIS countries. In 2014 Cerny starred as the elite pilot Boehlke in the WWII drama series "The Hunters".
After that he was invited to "Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation" directed by Christopher McQuarrie, as well as to the German projects "Hitlers Volk" (2015) and "Soko Munich" (2015).
In 2017 well known director Dimitri Dyachenko chose Cerny to star in Walt Disney Russia's "The Last Warrior" as the knight Alyosha Popovich, one of Russia's most popular fairy tale heroes.This was a huge breakthrough, as it became the most successful movie in Russian history. More and more projects followed. Famous Russian actor Konstantin Khabenskiy cast Wolfgang for his directorial debut in "Sobibor" a true story about the mass breakout of a Nazi death camp, as one of the leading roles next to Christopher Lambert. The historical drama was selected to represent Russia in the Oscars 2019.
Wolfgang continued working in the East as well as in Europe. In 2018 the UK spy comedy "Action Team", by Tom Davis and James De Frond, aired on the British channel ITV2, where Cerny was offered to join the main cast as Bogohardt, an Austrian and Russian counter spy. In the Welsh movie "Morfydd" (2018) he impersonated wealthy prince Alexis.
In 2019 he was shooting in 5 feature films and two TV series, including the big budget horror blockbuster "Row 19", where he stars as the male lead Alexei, already speaking fluent Russian.
"Red Ghost" (2021), a Tarantino-esque thriller, where Cerny starred as the lead Braun, became an instant success, and was sold to more than 120 countries, including the States, Canada, France, Germany, China and Japan. The dark comedy was sold to more than 120 countries and became the 8th most popular Russian movie on IMDB of all time. Wolfgang was awarded best actor at the International Ozerov Film Festival.
In an episode of the 11th season of the Austrian crime series "Soko Donau" (2019), he guest starred as Thomas Wielking, a blacksmith and member of a medieval reenactment troupe.
In the same year he was invited to the highly successful figure skating show "Ice Age" for the First Channel, alongside Olympic champion Oksana Domnina. Together they performed 13 shows over 13 weeks. In the same year he starred in the biopic "Zoe" (2020).
In 2021 he plays the lead in no less than 4 feature films and a series. The Guru, shamanic cult leader in the mystery thriller "Whirlpool", the German ex soldier Helmut in the international blockbuster "Nuremberg" directed by Nikolai Lebedev, a martial arts hero in "Legends of Sambo", which Cerny also produced, and a mislead security guard in "Sokina Station".
In the same year Wolfgang's wife Victoria Cerny gives birth to their son Leonard.
For the family drama "Tell Her" (2021) upcoming director Alexander Molochnikov chose Cerny to star alongside starlet Svetlana Khochenkova.
After that he joined the cast of Netflix "Valhalla" (2021) as Sten Sigurdsson.
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Cerny together with his family left Russia for Austria. They now live in Vienna.
After graduating Wolfgang was immediately cast as the lead in the German hit series "Storm of Love". He starred as Lukas Zastrow for one season and 220 episodes. Then he joined the ensemble of the theater Kammerspiele and Schauburg in Munich for two years, before his international breakthrough came 2012 with the popular big budget 8 part TV war epos "Snipers" for Russia's Channel One, where his leading performance as the aristocratic German sniper Alexander von Foss earned him much attention. An instant hit, this project paved the way and led to him later becoming an in-demand actor in Russia and the former CIS countries. In 2014 Cerny starred as the elite pilot Boehlke in the WWII drama series "The Hunters".
After that he was invited to "Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation" directed by Christopher McQuarrie, as well as to the German projects "Hitlers Volk" (2015) and "Soko Munich" (2015).
In 2017 well known director Dimitri Dyachenko chose Cerny to star in Walt Disney Russia's "The Last Warrior" as the knight Alyosha Popovich, one of Russia's most popular fairy tale heroes.This was a huge breakthrough, as it became the most successful movie in Russian history. More and more projects followed. Famous Russian actor Konstantin Khabenskiy cast Wolfgang for his directorial debut in "Sobibor" a true story about the mass breakout of a Nazi death camp, as one of the leading roles next to Christopher Lambert. The historical drama was selected to represent Russia in the Oscars 2019.
Wolfgang continued working in the East as well as in Europe. In 2018 the UK spy comedy "Action Team", by Tom Davis and James De Frond, aired on the British channel ITV2, where Cerny was offered to join the main cast as Bogohardt, an Austrian and Russian counter spy. In the Welsh movie "Morfydd" (2018) he impersonated wealthy prince Alexis.
In 2019 he was shooting in 5 feature films and two TV series, including the big budget horror blockbuster "Row 19", where he stars as the male lead Alexei, already speaking fluent Russian.
"Red Ghost" (2021), a Tarantino-esque thriller, where Cerny starred as the lead Braun, became an instant success, and was sold to more than 120 countries, including the States, Canada, France, Germany, China and Japan. The dark comedy was sold to more than 120 countries and became the 8th most popular Russian movie on IMDB of all time. Wolfgang was awarded best actor at the International Ozerov Film Festival.
In an episode of the 11th season of the Austrian crime series "Soko Donau" (2019), he guest starred as Thomas Wielking, a blacksmith and member of a medieval reenactment troupe.
In the same year he was invited to the highly successful figure skating show "Ice Age" for the First Channel, alongside Olympic champion Oksana Domnina. Together they performed 13 shows over 13 weeks. In the same year he starred in the biopic "Zoe" (2020).
In 2021 he plays the lead in no less than 4 feature films and a series. The Guru, shamanic cult leader in the mystery thriller "Whirlpool", the German ex soldier Helmut in the international blockbuster "Nuremberg" directed by Nikolai Lebedev, a martial arts hero in "Legends of Sambo", which Cerny also produced, and a mislead security guard in "Sokina Station".
In the same year Wolfgang's wife Victoria Cerny gives birth to their son Leonard.
For the family drama "Tell Her" (2021) upcoming director Alexander Molochnikov chose Cerny to star alongside starlet Svetlana Khochenkova.
After that he joined the cast of Netflix "Valhalla" (2021) as Sten Sigurdsson.
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Cerny together with his family left Russia for Austria. They now live in Vienna.
