His father is German, his mother was American, and in his early life he spent summers with his cousins in Indiana.
From 1998 to 2002, he attended the Free University of Berlin, Germany, and received a Master of Arts in Communication and Journalism, and North American Studies.
[9][10][11][12][13][14] He worked on many special projects while serving as the personal editor for the managing TV director of DW in Germany from 2005 until 2010.
[11] For their documentary Eingemauert or Walled In, Max Hofmann and Christoph Lanz won the RIAS Berlin Commission New Media Award on May 30, 2010.
This production examines the characteristics of the inner German border and was initially released as a streaming movie on the DW website.