Max Giermann
(born 24 October 1975, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany)
lives and works in Freiburg im Breisgau
Max Giermann is an actor, comedian, director and visual artist. Widely known to international audiences for his work in television, film and theatre, he has in recent years developed an increasingly autonomous practice as a painter, shown in institutional and gallery contexts.
After completing his secondary education in Freiburg and his civil service, Giermann initially studied media art at the Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe (ZKM). From 1997 to 2001 he trained as an actor at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. During his studies he appeared on Berlin stages such as the Maxim Gorki Theatre, followed by engagements at major German-speaking theatres including Schauspiel Essen, Theater Bonn and the Volkstheater Vienna, as well as his own work as a theatre director.
Since 2004, Giermann has worked primarily as a comedian and actor. He became a key figure in influential television formats such as Frei Schnauze and Switch Reloaded, receiving numerous awards including the German Comedy Award, the German Television Award, the Romy Award and the Grimme Prize. He is particularly renowned for his sharply observed and often unsettling impersonations of public figures, among them Klaus Kinski, Donald Trump, Karl Lagerfeld, Stefan Raab and Sigmar Gabriel. Alongside a wide range of film and television roles, he won the second season of LOL: Last One Laughing in 2021.
Parallel to his performative career, Giermann has long pursued an intensive practice in drawing and painting. His visual work explores themes of identity, role, mask and projection—concerns that also permeate his stage and screen performances. In his paintings, these motifs condense into expressive, sometimes disquieting figurations situated between portrait, fragment and psychological study. His work has been exhibited, among others, at the Kunstverein Ulm and Galerie Holger John in Dresden.
In 2026, Max Giermann will present a solo exhibition at janinebeangallery, Berlin, in the context of Gallery Weekend Berlin.