Norbert Mahler(1961-2013)

Norbert Mahler was born in 1961 in Bayreuth / Franken. After finishing school he devoted himself to theater. Initially this meant joining a group of young artists who found together at the Bayreuth Young Drama Festival. One of their performing specialties were parodies to the works of Richard Wagner, including the 'Ring'. In this spectacle Norbert Mahler performed the Loge, the Siegmund and the Siegfried. Later Norbert went to Berlin to take drama lessons at the Schauspielschule Else Bongers. He first appeared in 1986 in TV dramas directed by Erwin Keusch ('Der Flieger') and Sven Severin ('Prinz'). From 1987-1989 he played at the Landestheater Detmold, amongst others he performed as Spiegelberg in 'Die Räuber', as Mandelstam in 'Die Hose' and as Dauphin in 'Die heilige Johanna'.

Since 1989 Norbert Mahler appears in the TV series 'Café Meineid', directed by Franz X. Bogner. In 113 episodes Mahler performs the role of court-assessor and later district-attorney Willi Kainz. Contemporarely he appeared in several TV dramas and series such as: 'Polizieruf 110', 'Lilli Lottofee', 'Liebling Kreuzberg', 'Tierarzt Doktor Engel', 'Rosenheim Cops' und 'Der Bulle von Tölz'. Norbert Mahler has been shooting with Werner Masten, Michael Verhoeven, Michael Braun, Vera Loebner and Wolfgang Henschel.

Cordula Trantow repeatedly contracted Mahler for her Summer Theater Festivals in Weilheimer and Garmisch. Here he played Kostja in Tschechow's 'Die Möwe' (1990), Benvolio in 'Romeo und Julia' (1992) and Mephisto in 'Faust' (1998 and 1999). In 2002 and 2003 he performed Gerichtsrat Walter in the Munich Ensemble staging of the 'Der Zerbrochene Krug'.

1998 Mahler made his debut as stage director in Bayreuth with a production of 'Susn' by Herbert Achternbusch.