Ulrich Matthes, born on May 9th, 1959 in Berlin to the Tagesspiegel editor Günter Matthes; he studied German and English at the Freie Universität of Berlin. Following an audition for Martin Held, he decided to enter the acting program, and took private lessons from Else Bongers. Beginning in 1985, he performed at the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus – where he played four major roles within twelve months; thereafter, he was at the Bavarian Staatsschauspiel and Münchener Kammerspiele, then went to Berlin in 1992 to perform at Schaubühne and at Deutsches Theater. He was distinguished as actor of the year 1987 by "Theater Heute".

Having made his TV debut in 1970 as a child in "Die Wesenacks", he went on to play a Stasi-Captain in "Nicolaikirche" (1995), and the terrorist Jan-Carl Raspe in "Todesspiel" (1997). Notable film roles for the cinema followed, including the amnesiac projectionist in Tom Tykwer's "Winterschläfer" ("Wintersleepers" 1997), the obnoxious seducer in Nina Grosse's "Feuerreiter" ("Fire Rider" 1998), for which Matthes was awarded the Bavarian Film Prize; the heretical Brecht-supporter in "Abschied" ("The Farewell" 2000) and Joseph Goebbels in "Der Untergang" ("Downfall" 2004).

For his role as a priest released from the Dachau concentration camp in Volker Schlöndorff's "Der Neunte Tag" ("The Ninth Day" 2004) Ulrich Matthes was nominated for the German as well as for the European Film Prize. Working extensively for the theatre Ulrich Matthes was not often seen on the screen. Another important role he played in Christian Schwochow's drama "Novemberkind" ("November Child", 2008).

Also in 2008, Ulrich Matthes was named Best Actor by the trade paper "theater heute" for his performance in the production of "Onkel Wanja" at the Deutsche Theater. The same role also won him the Faust-Theaterpreis. In 2009, he starred along with Nina Hoss in Christian Petzold's production of Arthur Schnitzler's "Der Einsame Weg" at the Deutsche Theater.

Following his turns in the TV comedy "Neue Vahr Süd" (2010) and in Christian Schwochow's "Die Unsichtbare" ("Cracks in the shell", 2011), he was one of the leads in Volker Schlöndorff's WWII drama "Das Meer am Morgen" ("Calm at Sea", DE/FR 2012). He next starred in the international co-productions "Kunduz" ("Kunduz – The Incident at Hagji Ghafur", DE/AF 2012), and "Das große Heft" ("The Notebook", HU/DE/AT/FR 2013), before receiving great reviews - and a Grimme Prize together with Ulrich Tukur - for his portrayal of a diabolical gangster in the acclaimed "Tatort" episode "Im Schmerz geboren".

His performance in the made-for-TV tragicomedy "Bornholmer Straße" (2014) won Matthes the award for Best Supporting Actor by the Deutsche Akademie für Fernsehen. After lead roles in "Der Puppenspieler" (2016) and "Die vermisste Frau", Matthes joined the cast of Terrence Malick's "A Hidden Life" (US/DE 2016-19).

In Rick Ostermann's "Fremder Feind" (2017), he played the lead role of a man embittered after the death of his son in Afghanistan, who is confronted with an unknown intruder in a mountain hut. Directed by Ostermann, Matthes also played a supporting role in the second season of the series "Das Boot" (2020) and a leading role in "Freunde" (TV, 2021) alongside Justus von Dohnányi about the reunion of two old friends who once loved the same woman. In 2021, he had a small role as Adolf Hitler in Christian Schwochow's Netflix production "Munich - The Edge of War" (2021), based on the novel by Robert Harris.

In 2021, Ulrich Matthes was awarded the "Prize for Acting" at the Festival of German Film in Ludwigshafen. In the same year, he was among the 185 lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, queer, inter and non-binary filmmakers who set a sign for diversity and against discrimination as part of the "ActOut" initiative in SZ magazine.  

Ulrich Matthes has been president of the German Film Academy from February 2019 to April 2022. He has also been director of the Performing Arts Section of the Academy of Arts in Berlin from 2012 to 2017 and is a member of the European Film Academy.