Actor August Diehl debuted in productions in his native Germany beginning in the late '90s, and thereafter did the preponderance of his screen work in continentally produced German-language productions. Early projects -- which found Diehl ascending rapidly from bit parts to supporting roles -- included Stefan Ruzowitzky's medical thriller Anatomy (2000) and its 2003 sequel, and Peter Sehr's romantic drama Love the Hard Way (2001). Diehl tackled one of his premier leads in Robert Schwentke's gruesome post-noir thriller Tattoo (2002), as a rookie detective assigned to homicide, where he must solve a bizarre series of ritual murders. Diehl netted international crossover attention and retained lead billing with his work in such critical darlings as Volker Schlöndorff's 2004 psychological dramaThe Ninth Day (as a Gestapo officer) and Stefan Ruzowitzky's The Counterfeiters (2007), as a World War II-era collotype specialist continually interfering with a Nazi counterfeiting scheme.