Denis Moschitto

Denis Moschitto — Biography

Denis Moschitto was born on 22 June 1977 in Cologne to a Turkish mother and an Italian father. As a teenager in the early 1990s, using the alias Merlin M, he wrote tracker music within the demoscene, and he later co-wrote the computer books Hackerland and Hackertales.

His first film role came in 1999, in Rolf Schübel's drama Gloomy Sunday, after which he was typecast in youth films as an Italian or Turkish sidekick. A leading part in the comedy Süperseks followed, then recognition through Kebab Connection (2004) and Chiko (2008); the latter brought him a German Film Award nomination for best actor, while in 2003 he had already won the Günter-Strack-Fernsehpreis as best young actor.

He reached wider audiences with the migration comedy Almanya – Welcome to Germany (2011) and appeared in the acclaimed drama In the Fade (2017). He continued with the comedy Zweiohrküken (2009) and the more dramatic Coming In (2014) and KBV (2021), before writing and directing his own film, Schock, in 2023.

He counts actors Jessica Schwarz and Daniel Brühl among his close friends, once shared a flat with them in Cologne, and has followed a vegetarian diet since 2003.