During his school years, Held was a solo singer of the Regensburger Domspatzen, and played football for TSV 1860 München, winning five youth championships.
Since then he has appeared in numerous cinema and TV productions, including Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, Marc Rothemund's Sophie Scholl – The Last Days, and Oliver Hirschbiegel's Downfall.
In 2009, he played the politically tactical abbot Kuno in the Margarethe von Trottas film Vision alongside Barbara Sukowa, Heino Ferch, and Hannah Herzsprung, and in the same year, he was seen in Sönke Wortmann's Pope Joan as the Frankish Emperor Lothar I.
In 2010, he played the Attorney General Dr. Sasse alongside Ulrich Tukur in Dieter Wedel's two-part TV film Greed [de].
Since 2014, he has played the lead role of head commissioner Ludwig Schaller in the crime series München Mord.