His average looks remind everyone of someone they know. This actor brings life to all the domestic dramas that take place between potted plant and picket fence. In "Die Frau am Ende der Straße" (ARD) he plays a husband who looks on helplessly while losing his wife to a psychosis. His luck is meager and when he finally vents his anger, he quickly bottles it up again. In "Contergan" (ARD), he plays a plant manager, a follower-type, who finally shows some courage. The way that Matthias Brandt portrays the "little guy" (extraordinary in the ZDF crime-thriller "Nachtschicht - Ich habe Angst" as a father who abuses his own child), his restrained, shy, helpless portrayals of all those anti-heroes is comparable only to the unforgotten art of the great Heinz Rühmann. Excellent.

Laudation: Christiane Hörbiger