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Rufus Beck is the only child of a business-owning couple. Because his parents traveled extensively abroad, he lived in the boarding school of the Odenwald School. After graduating from high school in 1976 and completing his civilian service, Beck studied Islamic Studies, Ethnology, and Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg, but later dropped out. From 1976 onward, he appeared as a musician and acting student at the Heidelberg Municipal Theatre. The following year, he was a guest performer at the Saarland State Theatre, followed by engagements at the Tübingen State Theatre, the Frankfurt Theatre, the Cologne Theatre, the Bavarian State Theatre, the Munich Kammerspiele, and the Berliner Ensemble. He later also appeared as a guest performer at the Berlin Renaissance Theatre (2006), the Stuttgart State Theatre (2010), and the Hamburg Kammerspiele (2014).
In 1989, Beck was named "Young Actor of the Year" by the magazine Theater heute. Also in 1989, he received the Young Actor Award from the Friends of the Bavarian State Theatre.
In 1990, he toured the Soviet Union with Friedrich Schiller's *The Robbers*, performing in Moscow, Irkutsk, and Alma-Ata. He toured South America in 1991 with G.E. Lessing's *Miss Sara Sampson*. In 1994, he toured Germany with Peter Maffay's *Tabaluga*.
Beck's breakthrough in film came in 1994 with Sönke Wortmann's *The Most Desired Man*, for which he received a Bambi Award for his role as Waltraut. In 1999, he was nominated for the German Film Award for *Jimmy the Kid*. He has appeared in more than 70 television and 14 feature films (as of 2018). In the children's film *The Wild Soccer Bunch* (2003), he played the role of "Coach Willi." He reprised this role in *The Wild Soccer Bunch – The Legend Lives!* (2016).
Rufus Beck is the narrator and producer of more than 200 audiobooks, including the Harry Potter novels. He gives each of the many characters a distinct voice, employing various dialects and accents. His audiobooks have received numerous awards.
During the 2006 and 2007 festival seasons, Beck played Mephisto in Goethe's *Faust* at the Bad Hersfeld Festival. Under the artistic direction of Dieter Wedel, he played Joseph Süß Oppenheimer in Jehoschua Sobol's *The Story of Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, Called Jud Süß* at the 2011 Worms Nibelungen Festival.
In 2004, he directed the dance spectacular for the world tour of *Night of the Sultans – Pandora's Legend* in Istanbul. In 2003, 2012, and 2016, he was responsible for directing, writing, and playing the magician and the beetle in the musical Tabaluga.
Rufus Beck wrote several stage adaptations for his own shows. In 2006, he published the anthology *Stories for Us Children*. His non-fiction book *Children Love Fairy Tales and Discover Values* was published in 2007.
He appeared with his son Jonathan Beck in the film *The Wild Soccer Bunch* and toured with him in 2014/15 with the play *Zorn*. Jonathan Beck also played the role of 0815 in his father's Tabaluga productions in 2012 and 2016 and was also his assistant director. Since 2018, he has starred in the television series *Deutsch-Les-Landes*.
His daughters Sarah Beck and Natalie Spinell also work as actors. Rufus Beck lives in Munich.
