Thomas Heinze (58) is fed up with the sloppiness in his hometown of Berlin. "In the beginning it was very funny and somehow charming," the actor complained in the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung". "But now I just think it's sad, with what chutzpah everything is simply passed over here, decisions are made arbitrarily and nothing, really nothing works anymore."
Heinze understands the rest of the republic, who make fun of the chaos in the capital. "Unfortunately, I can understand that," said the half-American. As such, he has the advantage of being able to choose which of his homes he identifies with. "And when it comes to Berlin, I'm very quickly the American who laughs along."
Heinze was born on March 30, 1964 as the son of an American father and a Dutch mother of German descent in West Berlin. His father was stationed in Germany as a US soldier.
Above all, the Berlin Airport (BER) is a thorn in Thomas Heinze's side. If the convinced train driver has to fly, he gets annoyed in advance about the airport, which went into operation in 2020 after many breakdowns and delays. "The waiting times are really exorbitant - even if you are there two or three hours before departure, you have no certainty that you will actually make it onto the plane," he complained.
Not only the long queues annoy the actor, but also the treadmills for people who are not good on their feet. "Either they are currently under construction or they just don't work," says Heinze. "It's just embarrassing," he says.
On March 24, 2023, Thomas Heinze will be seen for the first time as "The Old Man". He is the fifth actor to take on the leading role in the long-lived crime series (since 1977 on ZDF). He succeeds the outgoing Jan-Gregor Kemp.
Heinze came to the part with an unsolicited application. "Jan-Gregor Kremp had told me that he was going to quit, so I asked him if there was already a successor," he told the "Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung". There have been applicants, but no decision yet.
Heinze threw his hat in the ring and landed the part on the show he'd been following since he was a teenager.
