Next to Spanish girl Victoria (played by Laila Costa), up-and-coming German actor Frederick Lau (26) truly shines in the captivating one-take heist thriller Victoria.
What many people don't know (especially abroad) is that Frederick – born and raised in Berlin-Steglitz – has appeared in a dozen films since he first started acting as a 10-year-old in 1999.
Lets go back in time and take a quick look at three other Frederick-Lau-films worthwhile checking out…
"Acting out" as a cute little redhead. Photo: cinema.de
Die Welle (The Wave, 2008)
Die Welle, or The Wave as it's called in English-speaking countries also made a lot of waves beyond Germany. The captivating story is that of what would happen if in our modern day and age, another dictatorship was established…
Frederick Lau in the award-winning German drama "The Wave". Photo: cinema-muenster.de
To prove that this is still possible three generations after WW2, a teacher tries an experiment with his class in which they all have to dress the same and greet the teacher with a hand sign that is similar to that of a wave. Some students, including Lau’s character, get really into it and the experiment slowly spirals out of control…
Among other established German actors such as Jürgen Vogel, Max Riemelt and Elyas M'Barek, Frederick played his part of a disoriented teenager so convincingly that he won his first German Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Neue Vahr Süd (2010)
In this Bremen-based drama-comedy, Frederick plays – yet again – a slightly disoriented young guy who missed the deadline to hand in his refusal for one year of compulsory military service (or public health care if the military was not your thing). Until 2011, this service year was compulsory for 18-year-old men in (West) Germany.
Franky doesn't quite know what to do when he is out and about with the army. Photo: tvspielfilm.de
So every Monday morning, Frederick’s character Franky reluctantly drives to the army barracks in nearby Lower Saxony to do his duty. At the weekend, he goes wild with his Hippie student friends in Bremen. Quite an interesting portrait of West Germany in the 1980s – and Frederick Lau at what he does best– the adorable “loser guy”.
Tod den Hippies!! Es lebe der Punk! (Death to the Hippies!! Long Live the Punk!, 2015)
When I saw Frederick in this one, I was extremely disgusted. And I'm not exaggerating. He was so convincing as a gay (nothing against gays though!) small town punk with plenty of big fat pimples scattered all over his face. There was an aura around him that you could almost smell, or at least imagine to smell his bad odour. Yikes!
Frederick Lau and Tom Schilling don't like Hippies in the Eighties. Photo: filmstarts.de
I can imagine though that for Frederick himself, this role was a whole lot of fun to play!
Victoria (2015)
Frederick really is on a roll right now – both professionally and privately speaking. For his role in Victoria, he received the German Film Award (Deutscher Filmpreis or colloquially called Lola) as Best Male Leading Actor in 2015.
Hanging out with Victoria in Berlin. Photo: Wild Bunch Germany
In 2014, a year before his big breakthrough with Victoria, Frederick's daughter Liselotta was born. In May 2016, Frederick also became father to a baby boy, who was named Baz Barne Lau.
The mother of his two children is TV presenter Annika Kipp (37). Married in 2015, the two are the living example that the combo younger man / older woman with a 10-year age gap can work really well.
So in Love: Frederick and his wife Annika. Photo Source: bild.de / API
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