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Devid Striesow was born 1973 in Bergen auf Rügen and attended actor's training at Berlin's Hochschule für Schauspielkunst "Ernst Busch" until 1999. He then performed at Schauspielhaus Hamburg and Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf where he played leading roles in several productions by Jürgen Gosch, including "Hamlet" and "Prinz von Homburg". In 2004, "Theater heute" named Striesow "Best young actor". In the same year, he also won the Alfred Kerr actor's award. Devid Striesow made his movie debut in 2000 in Rainer Kaufmann's film "Kalt ist der Abendhauch" ("Cold Is The Evening Breeze").
Striesow was nominated for the German film award and for the award of German film critics for his portrayal of an unsuccessful mattress dealer in Hans-Christian Schmid's "Lichter" ("Distant Lights", 2003). He finally won the latter prize for his role in "Bungalow" (2002), directed by Ulrich Köhler. Since then, Striesow was regularly seen in German movie productions, for instance as young Karol Wojtyla in the biopic about the Pope by the same name, as a gay dramaturg in Dominik Graf's "Der rote Kakadu" ("The Red Cockatoo"), or in striking minor roles in Angela Schanelec's "Marseille", in Stefan Krohmer's "Sie haben Knut" ("They've Got Knut"), and in Christoph Hochhäusler's "Falscher Bekenner" ("Low Profile"). In the TV series "Bella Block", Striesow plays an inspector.
At the 2007 Berlinale, Striesow played leading roles in both German films in the competition. In Stefan Ruzowitzky's "Die Fälscher" ("The Counterfeiters"), that later won the Oscar for Best foreign language film, Striesow played an SS officer. Striesow had already played similar roles in "Napola" (2004) und in "Der Untergang" ("Downfall", 2004). For this role, Striesow won the German film award for Best performance in a supporting role in May 2007. In the second Berlinale film, Christian Petzold's "Yella", Striesow played an only seemingly smart and unapproachable private equity manager alongside Nina Hoss.
After that, Striesow appeared again alongside Nina Hoss as a father of a family who leads a double life in the nightmarish drama "Das Herz ist ein dunkler Wald" ("The Heart is a Dark Forest", 2007), directed by Nicolette Krebitz. Striesow then played another leading role in Connie Walther's drama "12 heißt: Ich liebe Dich" (2007) about the love story between a Stasi employee and a Stasi victim. The film premiered in October of 2007 at Hofer Filmtage.
In the following years, Devid Striesow played important roles in the television series "KDD - Kriminaldauerdienst" (2008) and the lavish two-part "Gier" (2010). In the cinema he is seen in the historical adventure movie "12 Meter ohne Kopf" ("13 Paces Without a Head"), Margarethe von Trotta's biopic "Vision - Aus dem Leben der Hildegard von Bingen" and in Alexander Adolph's tragical comedy "So glücklich war ich noch nie" ("I've Never Been Happier"), all 2009. For his role of an impostor in love Striesow is again nominated for the German film award.
In December 2010, Tom Tykwer's romantic comedy "Drei" ("Three") about a love triangle between a longtime couple and a charming scientist - played by Striesow - opens in German cinemas. 2011 saw Striesow in a row of ambitious TV productions, including "Familiengeheimnisse - Liebe, Schuld und Tod", "Blaubeerblau" and "Ein guter Sommer" ("A Good Summer"). The same year, he played in Lars Jessen's comedy "Fraktus", which was released November 2012. Also in 2012, he appeared in a highly unusual and challenging role in the drama "Transpapa": Striesow plays a transsexual who has found his new identity as a woman and who is one day confronted with his teenage daughter, who grew up with her biological mother.
Striesow next guest-starred in episodes of the series "SOKO Stuttgart" (2012), "Bloch" (2013) and "Großstadtrevier" (2013), followed by supporting roles in "Hänsel and Gretel" (2012, TV) and "Traumland" (CH/D 2013). Since 2013, Devid Striesow also stars as police detective Jens Stellbrink in the Saarland editions of the TV series "Tatort".
After a leading role in the made-for-TV drama "Die Frau von früher", he played a strict East German police officer in the children's film "Sputnik" (2013), before starring alongside Sebastian Blomberg in the scathing comedy "Zeit der Kannibalen" ("Age of Canibals", 2014). His performance garnered him a nomination for the Preis der deutschen Filmkritik. Also in 2014, he played the lead in the acclaimed love drama "Göttliche Funken" (TV) about a soon to be husband who meets an old love right before his wedding. After a smaller role as a workman in the psycho drama "Kafkas Der Bau" ("Kafka's The Burrow", 2014), Striesow featured in the highly praised drama "Wir sind jung. Wir sind stark." ("We are Young. We are Strong.", 2014) about the attacks on an asylum accommodation in Rostock-Lichtenhagen in 1992, playing a reluctant local politician and father of a young neo-Nazi. At the Deutscher Schauspielerpreis 2015 he was awarded Best Actor for the role.
Late in 2015, the humorous film adaptation of the bestseller "Ich bin dann mal weg" ("I'm Off Then: Losing and Finding Myself on the Camino de Santiago", directed by Julia von Heinz) opened in German theaters. Striesow featured as comedian Hape Kerkeling who, in 2001, went on a 600-kilometer-long pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain.
Between 2016 and 2017, Striesow appeared in a slew of memorable TV productions, including "Die vierte Gewalt" (2016), "Wellness für Paare" (2016), "Das weiße Kaninchen" (2016) and "Katharina Luther" (2017). The latter two performances won him the Bavarian Film Award. Moreover, he continued his stint as the police detective Stellbrink on "Tatort" and starred in Volker Schlöndorff's made-for-TV drama "Der namenlose Tag".
Striesow remained just as busy on the big screen with turns in "Simpel" (2017), "Die Pfefferkörner und der Fluch des schwarzen Königs" (DE/IT 2017) and "Vorwärts immer!" (2017).
In the acclaimed period drama "Licht" ("Mademoiselle Paradis", DE/AT) by Barbara Albert, he plays the controversial physician and alleged healer Franz Anton Mesmer who treats blind pianist Maria Theresia Paradis (1759-1824). His performance in the 2018 release garnered Striesow a nomination at the Austrian Film Awards.
In the three-person film "Die Wunderübung" (AT 2018), a comedy based on a play of the same name, he played a bourgeois husband who visits a couple therapist with his wife. He had a smaller part as a teacher in Angela Schanelecs award-winning drama "Ich war zuhause, aber...". ("I Was At Home, But...", 2019); in the children's film "Alfons Zitterbacke: Das Chaos ist zurück" ("Alfons Zitterbacke - The Return of Chaos") he was the father of the young hero. On television he played an unscrupulous prepper in the end-time mini-series "8 Tage" ("8 Days", 2019); in addition he continued to playing commissioner Stellbrink in the "Tatort" episodes set in Saarbrücken.
He then played an artsy teacher in the big screen thriller "Trübe Wolken" ("Cloudy Clouds", 2020), a school principal in "Das Unwort" (2020), a satirical TV comedy about bullying and anti-Semitism, and a Stasi spy in the award-winning GDR drama "Nahschuss" ("The Last Execution", 2020), which was released in 2021. Also in 2021, Striesow was in front of the camera for Edward Berger's remake of the anti-war drama "Im Westen nichts Neues" ("All Quiet on the Western Front", DE/US/GB).