Daniel Brühl is a one-time Euro-film it boy who's now better known for his character work in English-speaking cinema.

Tracking down why he looks familiar will be a chore -- not only has he been in a lot of high-profile stuff in the past few years, but he's also a bit of a chameleon.

If you're plugged into the foreign-film genre, then you might know him as the lead actor in 2003's "Good bye Lenin!" In this German-language dramedy, he plays a son attempting to shelter his fragile mother from the fact that the Cold War has ended in Germany (it's funnier than it sounds).

That was his breakout role, earning him piles of awards and accolades, but rather than staying and continuing to conquer European cinema, he began branching out to smaller roles in British and American pictures.

This includes roles in 2009's "Inglourious Basterds" with Brad Pitt and "The Countess" with Julie Delpy, 2013's "Rush" with Chris Hemsworth and 2014's "A Most Wanted Man" with the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.

And then, as you say, there was "Captain America: Civil War" (2016), which introduced him as the villainous Zemo -- a role he reprised in the 2021 series "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier."

Part of his success as a character actor stems from his international heritage. Born in Spain but later transplanted to Germany by his German father and Spanish mother, Brühl is fluent in six languages. On screen, he's played a Hungarian ("The Countess"), an Austrian ("Rush"), and, of course, a German (in "Basterds" and many other things -- Hollywood needs a lot of Germans, apparently).

All of that was excellent prep for his job in the Marvel universe playing a citizen of the made-up European nation of Sokovia.

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