Trivia

He is the German voice of the actors Jack Nicholson Harvey Keitel Anthony Hopkins Dennis Hopper Dustin Hoffman Jean Reno Robert Wagner Michael Ironside

When Rolf Schult (German dubbing voice of Anthony Hopkins) became ill, he was asked to dub Hopkins in 'Hannibal'. Two years later he dubbed Hopkins in 'Red Dragon', too.

German "Mr. Voice", meaning he is the voice-over artist for the majority of all trailers shown in Germany.

Kerzel was a German actor and a voice artist for dubbing, radio dramas, audiobooks, and voice-overs. As the German voice of international character actors such as Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Hopper, Robert Wagner, Harvey Keitel, Jean Reno, and Anthony Hopkins, he was one of the most prominent voice actors in the German-speaking world.

Alongside his stage work, Kerzel was also active sporadically in front of the camera starting in the early 1970s—for instance, in Wolf Dietrich's miniseries "Das Jahrhundert der Chirurgen" (1972) and Hartmut Griesmayr's adaptation of the literary work "Meister Timpe" (1980).

In 2023, he received the German Dubbing Award – Honorary Award for his lifetime achievement. His delivered a speech was recorded by Sven Plate and Peter Flechtner and made available online.

In addition to dubbing, Kerzel shaped a good two-thirds of German-language cinema trailers and numerous documentaries as a voice-over artist.

Kerzel received the German Dubbing Award in 2003 for dubbing Jack Nicholson in "About Schmidt".

He has also collaborated with the German trance/techno-band E Nomine on a number of their albums.

In the realm of audio dramas, Joachim Kerzel was particularly well-known for the revival of the "Geisterjäger John Sinclair" series—launched in 2000—in which he served as the narrator up to episode 46. Health issues necessitated a change in casting for the subsequent eight episodes, with Wolfgang Pampel taking over the role. In September 2009, Joachim Kerzel returned with a brief video message to the audience and resumed his participation starting with episode 55.

Kerzel directed the dubbing for productions including the crime series "Twin Peaks" (1990–1991) and the feature films "Meet Joe Black" (1998), "Spy Game" (2001), and "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004).

From 1963 to 1966, he attended the State Academy of Music and Theatre in Hanover, where he trained as an actor. He made his debut in 1965 at the Kreuzgangspiele Feuchtwangen as Lionel in Schiller's tragedy "The Maid of Orleans". After passing his stage qualification exam, he took up a two-year engagement at the Stadttheater Hildesheim.

During the 1980s, Kerzel increasingly shifted his acting focus to film dubbing and, through numerous leading roles in commercially successful cinema productions, established himself as one of the best-known and most distinguished voice actors of the present day.

One of his most distinctive dubbing roles is that of Fredric March in the television dub of the film adaptation of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", originally released in 1931.

From 1969 to 1978, he was a member of the ensemble at the Staatliche Schauspielbühnen Berlin, where he played roles such as Tusenbach in Chekhov's "Three Sisters" and Domingo in Schiller's "Don Carlos". Subsequently, Kerzel worked as a freelance actor, appearing notably at the Theater am Kurfürstendamm in comedies such as Alan Ayckbourn's "Friends in Need" (1979) and "Bedroom Farce" (1980)—productions directed by Wolfgang Spier that were also broadcast on television.

He took on major voice-acting roles in series, such as voicing Robert Wagner as Jonathan Hart in "Hart to Hart" (1979–1984 and 1993–1996) and Vul Kuolun in the 40-part animated series "Captain Future" (1980).

Kerzel lent his voice to numerous projects, including—notably—video games: he voiced the Archdemon Legion in "Shadow Man" (Nintendo 64), Admiral Richard Morrison in "Crysis", Brian Westhouse and Q'aman in "The Longest Journey", Emperor Uriel Septim VII in "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion", Lorewalker Cho in "World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria", Dr. Blackter in "Broken Sword 2.5", and GDI General Jack Granger in "Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars".

From 1989 to 1992, he managed a theater in Berlin named 'Intimes Theater'.

In 2010, he lent his voice to the documentary "Untergang der Republik", among other projects. Previously, Kerzel had also served as a voice-over artist for the science fiction television series "Babylon 5" (1994–1998) and "The Outer Limits" (1995–2002), as well as for the pseudo-scientific spin-off series "Galileo Mystery" (2007–2009).

After fleeing Upper Silesia in 1945, Joachim Kerzel grew up in Augsburg and completed an apprenticeship as a locksmith and oil heating installer from 1958 to 1961. He then performed his military service as a radio operator in the German Navy.