Austrian actor Martin Bermoser has a very versatile and international career and that’s precisely the way he likes it. The 37-year-old started his acting career at the state-acting-school Vienna conservatory, where theatre was his early passion. Now he lives in Vienna with his wife and daughter, plays lead roles in Austrian theatres and gets to travel abroad for roles in movies such as the Hollywood blockbuster Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation and he just finished shooting a World War II movie.

Martin recently got back from filming the yet-to-be-titled World War II movie in Bulgaria and is looking forward to seeing the result. “The movie is about American and British Special Forces and takes place near the end of the Second World War,” Martin explains. “I play the character of Standartenführer Visser, who is loyal to Hitler, but at the same time tries to escape the war. I had a great time on set and got to work with the wonderful Swiss director Claudio Fäh and phenomenal actors such as Rutger Hauer; who I really loved working with, Tom Sizemore, Stephen Lang, Michael Epp and Sean Patrick Flanery. The movie is expected to come out in the spring or early summer of 2016 and I think it will be a very good one!”

Stage
Although movie roles are becoming more frequent lately, Martin’s first and foremost passion is theatre. “I started acting when I was 16 or 17 years old and was trained as a stage actor and singer. Even though it’s incredibly hard work, I truly enjoyed it and it felt like a good profession for me. I learned screen acting during guest roles in various German and Austrian television series and later on I trained with American actor and director Robert Castle, which was a great learning experience. In the near future I also get a chance to work with well-known American Broadway director Julian Crouch. For some reason I work a lot with Americans! I like their attitude and team player mentality.”

Western movies
Martin’s fondness of Americans grew during his childhood, after seeing a lot of Hollywood cowboy films. “As a child I particularly liked western movies,” Martin recalls. “I thought Steve McQueen and Horst Buchholtz were amazing in The Magnificent Seven and Charles Bronson was my biggest hero… He was a trained actor, he looked fantastic and I wanted to be like him, despite the fact we’re very different when it comes to looks and acting style.”

Capoeira
Martin does have one thing in common with his childhood hero… the love of physically demanding roles. The Austrian has been practising yoga and tennis for many years, but his favourite sport is capoeira: Brazilian martial arts, combined with dance. “I might have learned more from capoeira, when it comes to being aware of and anticipating my fellow actors’ moves, than from some acting classes!” he quips.

The Wizard of Oz / Living in Vienna
Being in shape also comes in handy with his current projects: playing the lion in The Wizard of Oz at the opera house Vienna Volksoper. “These are great roles and I enjoy working in the theatre so much. I’m lucky I get a lot of work here, that’s one of the reasons I prefer to live in Vienna. The main reason is I’m happy here with my family. At this point I wouldn’t want to move to Los Angeles or London. I need the people I love around me, which enables me to feel good and do the best possible job I can.”

Tough business
“When it comes to movie roles, I fly around the world to do auditions or film scenes and it’s good fun. I love doing movies. At the same time it’s a tough business… everyone gets rejected at some point in their career, because the competition is huge. Every actor has to deal with disappointments, but the trick is to turn that emotion around and keep your head up. You have to take good care of yourself and move on. Rutger Hauer recently said to me: ‘In this line of work you may not hear the phone ring for six months… and then you get five projects at the same time!’ It’s a pretty much unpredictable career, but so far I’m a lucky guy and I’m enjoying it very much!”

If you want to know more about Martin Bermoser, check out his official website and stay tuned for his latest movie and theatre projects!