Thomas Thieme (born 29 October 1948) is a German actor. He is considered to be a prolific stage actor and also appeared in more than 100 film and television productions since 1973. In his film and television appearances, Thieme often plays powerful but morally dubious characters. He is perhaps best-known internationally for his roles as Martin Bormann in Downfall (2004) and as Communist minister Bruno Hempf in the Oscar-winning The Lives of Others, for which he was compared to Sydney Greenstreet by Roger Ebert in his review. He played former …