Jens Harzer (born 14 March 1972) is a German stage, film, and television actor. He began his career at the Munich Kammerspiele, and has been a member of the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg since 2009. He has appeared at the Salzburg Festival regularly since 2000. Harzer received prizes for roles on stage, in film and on television. He has been the bearer of the Iffland-Ring since March 2019.
Since 2000, Harzer has been a regular guest at the Salzburg Festival.[2] Again in a production staged by Stückl, he played the role of Death in Hofmannsthal's Jedermann. In 2008 there, Harzer played the leading role in a staged version of Dostoevsky's Verbrechen und Strafe, staged by Andrea Breth. In 2011, he played the role of Ich in the world premiere of Peter Handke's Immer noch Sturm at the Festival.[5]
Harzer was named by Bruno Ganz to be his successor as bearer of the Republic of Austria's Iffland-Ring, traditionally bestowed upon the "most significant and most worthy actor of the German-speaking theatre" in the opinion of the previous bearer.[3][7][8][9] Harzer was awarded the ring in a ceremony at the Burgtheater in June 2019, four months after Ganz's death.[10][11][12]