Marcel Kohler, born in Mainz in 1991, studied acting at the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst »Ernst Busch« in Berlin (2011 to 2015). He was a scholarship holder of the German National Academic Foundation. While still a student, he took on his first roles at the Deutsches Theater Berlin, where he has been permanently engaged since February 2015. In 2016 he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival, where he appeared in Hofmannsthal's »Das Bergwerk zu Falun« directed by Jossi Wieler in 2021.
Marcel Kohler has received several awards. Among others, he received the Daphne Award, the O. E. Hasse Award, the Alfred Kerr Performers Award for the best performance by a young actor at the Theatertreffen of the Berliner Festspiele and was Young Actor of the Year 2016.
In addition to his work as an actor, Marcel Kohler is regularly active as a director. His production of Heiner Müller's »Philoktet« was created during his studies. Invitations to festivals in Moldova, Florence, Kiev, Bensheim and Munich followed. The production was filmed by Jim Rakete. Marcel Kohler is the initiator and founding member of the »Neuen Künstlertheaters Berlin«. Marcel Kohler has a close collaboration with the actress Corinna Harfouch and staged two monologues with her.
In 2020, Marcel Kohler staged a digital adaptation of »We got away with it once more« by Thornton Wilder at the Theaterakademie August Everding München during the Corona Pandemic. It was invited to the Grenzenlos Kultur Festival at the Staatstheater Mainz and to the Fringe Festival in Beijing. At the Fiesad Festival in Morocco it won the Special Prize.
Most recently, his work was awarded the Otto Kasten Prize 2021.
In 2022/23 he directed the world premiere of Roland Schimmelpfennig's »Das Märchen von der kleinen Meerjungfrau« for the first time for young audiences at Theater und Orchester Heidelberg. In 2023/24 he will take over the direction of »Der Trafikant« after Robert Seethaler.