In 2010, he played a major role as an idealistic Berlin police detective in Dominik Graf's elaborate and critically acclaimed television ten-part series Im Angesicht des Verbrechens.

In 2012 he starred in Christian Petzold's Barbara, which won Silver Bear for Best Director at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival.

The film was selected as the German entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.

[2] In the war drama Inbetween Worlds he appears as a German soldier in Afghanistan, who falls into a crisis of conscience.

He also starred in Christian Petzold's postwar drama Phoenix alongside Nina Hoss; the movie received universal acclaim from critics.