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Andreas Stenschke, (26 July 1975) is a German actor and director originally brought to prominence in the groundbreaking story of teenager Ulli Prozeski coming to terms with being gay on the popular daily serial, Verbotene Liebe, seen nationally on the ARD network.

Biography
Stenschke was born in Cologne, Germany and moved shortly to the nearby community of Erftstadt, where his parents had bought a home. Educated at the Gymnasium in Erftstadt Lechenich, from which he graduated in 1995, he later received a degree in television series producing and directing from the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in March of 2006.

From an early age he was drawn to cinema and won several prizes as a youthful filmmaker, including one in 1996, which, among the rewards, sent him to the Atlanta Olympics to display his film. He also worked intermittently as a teen-age model in pictorial layouts.

After fulfilling his national service obligation at a senior citizen home in 1995 and 1996, he attempted various pursuits in production when, during a visit to the WDR Studios in 1997, he was discovered in the commissary by a producer, which led to an audition for Verbotene Liebe.

Actor
At the age of 21, he was thus cast as Ulrich (Ulli) Prozeski and quickly became a teenieschwarm, which is German for teen heartthrob.



After two years on the show and antsy to leave, the producers offered him a storyline rich with possibilities. His character, heretofore straight, would discover he was gay after meeting an attractive doctor, played by Kay Böger.



This was one of the first such open romances on German TV, and the boundaries broken were much more revealing than on American cinema and TV shows which depict such entanglements. Indeed the importance of the relationship is such that as recently as 2008 -- more than seven years after the characters broke up and subsequently left the show -- videos of the encounter and ensuing romance were placed by various users on YouTube. As they were in German, a British fan undertook the task to subtitle the Tom/Ulli story in English.

After three and a half years and 342 episodes on Verbotene Liebe and anxious to capitalize on his popularity and to pursue other possibilities, Stenschke left the series and recorded a CD single, Just When I Needed You Most.



It didn't sell as well as he'd hoped and he concentrated on his acting, as well as his desire to direct.

In 2001, he applied for and was accepted among 800 entrants for admission to the prestigious Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg. At the same time, he had guest starred on a serial weekly, Die Anrheiner and was then asked to join the regular cast. . However, this conflicted with his desire to go to film school and he was determined to turn the acting job down. When the producers offered to work around his school schedule he undertook both assignments and began commuting a few times a month from Ludwigsburg, three hours south of Cologne where his series was shot. This kept his hand in acting and provided him a steady paycheck as he learned the ins and outs of production.

In the course of his four years at film school, he directed several films,  received his diploma and then continued his role on Die Anrheiner, ultimately leaving the series in 2008 after completing 133 episodes.

Director
During his breaks from Die Anrheiner in 2006, Stenschke began his apprenticeship as a director, first serving as assistant director on Der Perfekt Urlaub, a reality show shot in tourist locales, and then got a major opportunity as A.D. on the critically successful show Pastewka.

In 2007 he was hired for his first directorial assignment, a mystery crime drama, Staatsanwalt Posch ermittelt broadcast on the RTL Network. . While shooting several episodes of the series, the show's PR representative remembered that one of the series' stars, Andrea Suwa, had played Stenschke's older sister on Verbotene Liebe. Stenschke was asked if he would be willing to take a role in a double episode, in this instance playing Suwa's love interest. Stenschke agreed and the result was very high ratings for the show.



Stenschke was then asked to direct a popular cooking competition show, Unter Volldampf produced by Granada and broadcast on VOX. The show consisted of five amateur chefs vying for a cash prize. Each week featured a new restaurant and different chef candidates in cities throughout Germany. In a year and a half, Stenschke helmed 115 episodes.

In November 2009, Stenschke prepared to direct Alles Was Zählt a Grundy UFA serial drama, broadcast on RTL, providing his biggest break to direct live actors on a top-rated series.

Commentator
In June 2009, Andreas Stenschke began a series of witty commentaries on Ändis Wirre Welt, which appear online at http://dished.tv/.

English language film star
In October, 2009 Andreas Stenschke began shooting his first motion picture as an actor, taking the lead role in writer/director Romain Gierenz's independent film, Ein Plüschtier, also known by its English translation, The Cuddly Toy. This is particularly apt as the film is shot almost entirely in English and will thus introduce Stenschke, who speaks English fluently, to widening opportunities in Britain and America. The month-long shoot, with pick-up shots in December and January 2010 will be released mid-year 2010. .

Support for artists rights
Andreas Stenschke joined the European support for the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike with a video produced in Cologne in which he warned Americans not to give in and suffer the fate befalling foreign artists who do not enjoy a residual structure for royalties and reruns as Americans do. The next year, Stenschke joined 38,000 fellow European artists signing a petition for the furtherance of the protection of artists rights.