Biografia
In 1997, André Schneider launched his ambitious career with "Sleepless Cities," a multi-lingual one-man show featuring songs by Kurt Weill, Burt Bacharach, Jacques Prévert, and Tori Amos. Over time, he evolved into a stand-up comedian, appeared as an extra in films by Peter Greenaway and Michael Caton-Jones, pursued work as a musician and writer, and eventually produced and directed his own feature films.
At twenty, André debuted on stage in his hometown of Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, co-starring with Michael Demuth in the highly successful musical "Zoff." A year later, he moved to Berlin, and in 2001, he relocated to London.
In 2004, both his debut book, "Life is a Sexually Transmitted Disease," and the pop album "Lover's Space" were released. Following the cult success of Deed Poll (2004), André worked extensively across Great Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, Austria, and Belgium. In Germany, he contributed as a writer-actor to Ingo J. Biermann's ill-fated drama Glastage (2007) and collaborated with Nikolaus Firmkranz on Der Mann im Keller (2008), which also marked his directorial debut.
In 2006, André wrote, produced, and starred in Half Past Ten (2008), an adaptation of a Marguerite Duras novel directed by Sascha Bachmann and co-starring Kerstin Linnartz. He then appeared in several (mostly unreleased) Spanish student films before taking nearly a two-year break from cinema to focus on theatre.
Alex und der Löwe (2010), a gay romantic comedy featuring Marcel Schlutt, Sascia Haj, and Udo Lutz, marked André's return as writer-producer-actor after almost three years. He portrayed Alex, a 30-year-old man from Berlin navigating awkward relationships. The film performed surprisingly well, leading André to reprise his role in a brief cameo in its acclaimed, multi-award-winning sequel, Men to Kiss (2012). Despite this, he felt dissatisfied working in quirky German comedies, describing it as a "dead-end career" and expressing a desire for new challenges.
Seeking to rejuvenate his film career, André began shooting his first French feature, A Second Chance (2012), in late 2011. This bold decision proved successful: A Second Chance received immediate critical acclaim in France, Spain, and Greece, enabling him to continue his work in Paris. In One Deep Breath (2014), a dark thriller directed by Antony Hickling—an esteemed figure in the art house genre—he played Adrian, the concerned half-brother of Thomas Laroppe's character. He also portrayed Anton in Le cadeau (2013), a poetic short inspired by Pablo Neruda's poetry. Between 2015 and 2018, André gained recognition as a character actor in France with roles in Boulevard Voltaire (2017), Frig (2018), The Ghosts (2018) alongside Judith Magre and Sophie Tellier, and On My Mother's Path (2016).
Alongside his film career, his 2013 biography of B-movie actress Marisa Mell earned critical acclaim and success. In 2018, André dissolved his company Vivàsvan Pictures and began studying pedagogy and philosophy. An avid writer, he currently resides in Strasbourg, France.
