Philippe Brenninkmeyer

Philippe Brenninkmeyer's origins alone are confusing. Although he was born in 1964 in Wimbledon, London, he is a Dutch citizen and currently lives in Berlin. After Donald Trump's election, the family moved from the USA to Germany. He is married to the American actress Tara Lynn Orr.

Philippe Brenninkmeyer comes from the Dutch entrepreneurial family Brenninkmeijer. He spent his school years at boarding schools in Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland and speaks fluent Dutch, German, English and French. He studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Studio in London and the William Esper Studio in New York, among others, which led to Philippe Brenninkmeyer's first engagements on stage and supporting roles in internationally successful television productions such as ‘The Guiding Light’ and ‘Sex and the City’. He is best known to German audiences for the six-part LIEBE LÜGEN LEIDENSCHAFT with Maximilian Schell and Barbara Sukowa and the role of hotel manager Christian Dolbien in the ZDF evening series ‘Girl Friends’.

His credits include the productions ‘Entourage’ (directed by Noel Frankel, USA 2000), the comedy cult hits ‘Super Troopers’ (directed by Jay Chandrasekhar, USA 2001), ‘Beerfest’ (directed by Jay Chandrasekhar. USA 2006), ‘Mad Men’ (director: Phil Abraham, USA 2006), ‘The Slammin' Salmon’ (director: Kevin Heffernan, USA 2009), ‘’All Alone‘ (director: Jon Cellini, USA 2010), “Undercovers” (director: Tucker Gates, USA 2010), ’I heart Shakey" (director: Kevin Cooper, USA 2011), ‘The Babymakers’ (dir: Jay Chandrasekhar, USA 2012), ‘Dark Circles (dir: Paul Soter, USA 2012), ’Reasonable Doubt‘ (dir: Peter Howitt, USA 2014), NCIS and NCIS LA, ’The Unforgiven (dir: Jason Piccioni, USA 2016), ‘Zazy’ (dir: M. X. Oberg, 2016) and ‘Before El Fina’ (director: Nathan Buck, USA 2021).

At the end of 2021, Philippe Brenninkmeyer was seen in the historical event series ‘A Touch of America’ in the role of Colonel McCoy, directed by Dror Zahavi on ARD. "Playing an American in a historical film by a German production company, set in wartime/after the Second World War of all times, was a dream that finally came true for me. Slipping into the character of an American officer more than 70 years after the end of the Second World War was a great experience." In the same year, he shot ‘Les Papillons Noirs’ for ARTE France, directed by Olivier Abbau, and made a guest appearance in the German-American co-production TÁR by director Todd Field. The film was nominated for a total of six Oscars and celebrated its world premiere at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival.

In 2022, Philippe Brenninkmeyer was in front of the camera for the Belgian TV film “The Phoebus Files”, directed by Raf Reyntjens, and for “Herrhausen - Der Herr des Geldes”, directed by Pia Strietmann for ARD Degeto. In the highly successful political series, Philippe Brenninkmeyer slips into the role of American banker Roger Burwell, one of Manfred Herrhausen's adversaries. The TV event was awarded the Grimme Prize in 2025. Philippe Brenninkmeyer was also seen in the Belgian World War 1 drama THE LAST FRONT in the cinema and in “Nachts im Paradies” directed by Bettina Oberli & Matthias Glasner and “The Mallorca Files”, directed by Craig Pickles on television. The Amazon production was broadcast in 2024.

In England, Philippe Brenninkmeyer shot the feature film MARCHING POWDER in 2025, which will be streamed this year. It was directed by Nick Love. The US series "FBI International", directed by Michael Katleman, and the TV comedy "Berühmt sein für Anfänger" for ARD, directed by Stefan Bühling, have already been filmed and broadcast. The comedy starring Andrea Sawatzki and Christian Berkel will celebrate its world premiere at the Munich Film Festival 2025.

Philippe Brenninkmeyer lives with his family in Berlin.

(05/2025)