Antoine Monot
Character Actor & Director — for over three decades one of the most versatile performers in German-language film.
Origins & Family
Antoine Monot was born on 22 June 1975 in Rheinbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The craft of acting was, quite literally, in his cradle: his father Jean-François Monot is a composer and conductor, his mother Gisela Monot an actress. Growing up in a household where music, theatre and film were part of everyday life, he developed an early instinct for language, character and scene.
After school at a Waldorf institution he moved to Switzerland — to study directing at the prestigious Schauspielakademie Zürich (now the Zurich University of the Arts, ZHdK), where he studied from 1990 to 1993. Zurich became his second home: he acquired Swiss citizenship and continues to live within a German-Swiss context.
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Theatre Years in Switzerland
After graduating, Antoine Monot gained intensive stage experience at the major theatres of German-speaking Switzerland — at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, the Theater am Neumarkt and Theater Basel. These years laid the foundation for his later work as a character actor: the ability to develop complex figures with depth and precision.
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Founder of Creative Artists Management AG
In 1998 he founded Creative Artists Management AG (CAM), a talent agency based in Switzerland. Until 2002 he built the company as its managing director — his first experience at the intersection of art and entrepreneurship.
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Cinema Breakthrough: Absolute Giganten
The film that changed everything: in Sebastian Schipper's cult classic “Absolute Giganten” (1999, X Filme Creative Pool), Antoine Monot played the lead role of Walter — a young man on one night when friendship, farewell and new beginnings collide. The film is regarded as a milestone of German auteur cinema. International recognition followed two years later: Best Actor at the Sochi International Film Festival 2001.
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Formative Cinema Work
The early 2000s brought a series of defining productions. In Oliver Hirschbiegel's psychological thriller “Das Experiment” (2001) he appeared in a substantial supporting role — a film that caused a sensation internationally and was later remade in Hollywood. With “Lammbock” (2001, dir. Christian Zübert) he demonstrated his talent for comedic character work. There followed “Der Wixxer” (2004) and the hit comedy “Schwere Jungs” (2006, Marcus H. Rosenmüller) in a lead role.
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Zurich Film Festival
In 2005 Antoine Monot co-founded Spoundation Motion Picture GmbH and with it the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) — today one of the most important film festivals in the German-speaking world. As artistic and programme director he shaped the festival decisively until 2009. Also in 2009 he co-founded Zuckerfilm GmbH, a further production company.
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Initiator of the German Acting Prize
There was a gap in the German film landscape: no award dedicated exclusively to actors. Antoine Monot had the idea in 2010 — and made it happen. In 2012 the first ceremony of the Deutscher Schauspielpreis (German Acting Prize) took place; it has been awarded annually ever since by the Bundesverband Schauspiel (BFFS), of which he served as deputy chairman until the end of 2022.
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National Recognition: Saturn “Tech-Nick”
From 2013 to 2017 Antoine Monot embodied the advertising character “Tech-Nick” for the electronics retailer Saturn — one of the most prominent advertising campaigns in Germany during that period. The character made him familiar to a mass audience who may not have known his name but instantly recognised his face.
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Ein Fall für zwei & Swiss Television Film Prize
In 2014 Antoine Monot took on the recurring role of solicitor Benjamin “Benni” Hornberg in the ZDF crime series “Ein Fall für zwei” — a role he continues to play today. In the same year he appeared in the cyber-thriller “Who Am I” (dir. Baran bo Odar), which achieved international success on Netflix. In 2016 he received the Swiss Television Film Prize at the 51st Solothurn Film Days for his role in the Tatort episode “Ihr werdet gerichtet”.
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Author & Columnist
In 2015 “Vertrauen Sie mir, ich tu's ja auch!” was published — a book Antoine Monot co-wrote with journalist David Denk. Since 2004 he has written regular columns on kolumnen.de; previously he contributed to the youth magazine “Blond”.
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Title Role: Behringer und die Toten
Since 2024 Antoine Monot has carried the RTL crime series “Behringer und die Toten – Ein Bamberg-Krimi” as its lead character. As Chief Inspector Konrad Behringer he investigates in the UNESCO World Heritage city of Bamberg — a role he has substantially shaped. The production (Redseven Entertainment) shows Antoine Monot today at the height of his craft: a character actor who carries an entire evening.
Awards & Nominations
- ★Best Actor — Sochi International Film Festival 2001 (for Absolute Giganten)
- ★Swiss Television Film Prize 2016 — 51st Solothurn Film Days (for Tatort: Ihr werdet gerichtet)
- ○Nomination Deutscher Comedypreis 2017 — Best Sketch Show (for Knallerkerle)
- ○Longlist Deutscher Filmpreis — Best Lead Actor (for Die blaue Grenze)