Andreas Wisniewski

Wisniewski was born in West Berlin, West Germany, to a Polish father and a German mother, and spent the early part of his life dancing before turning to acting.

Wisniewski made his big-screen debut in Gothic (1986), a film about Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, in which Wisniewski plays the role of Fletcher. In the 1987 James Bond film The Living Daylights, the 6 ft 3 in (191 cm) Wisniewski portrays the assassin Necros. His next mainstream role was as one of Hans Gruber's henchmen, Tony Vreski, in the 1988 film Die Hard. Wisniewski then had roles in the TV shows Superboy, Mann & Machine and Northern Exposure. He later appeared in the 1995 science fiction film Death Machine playing Weyland, and again in 1996 in a non-speaking role as Max's companion in another box office smash, Mission: Impossible. Wisniewski then moved into German films, after which he reappeared to UK audiences in an episode of the TV series Lock, Stock...The Series based on the gangster film by Guy Ritchie. Two years later he was in an episode of the ITV hit series Ultimate Force alongside popular soap opera star Ross Kemp playing Serbian terrorist Savo Glasnovic. Wisniewski hit the screens (although his face is never seen) in the UK again in 2008 after a six-year break when he co-starred in Mark Tonderai's cat-and-mouse thriller Hush. Wisniewski has also appeared in two music videos. He was in the video "Venus", sung by the girl group Bananarama, and also appeared as a soldier in the background of Elton John's video "Nikita", where he can be seen as Elton John's Bentley Continental pulls up to the security gate. In 2001, Wisniewski turned his hand to directing, making the short film Inspiration, starring English actors Danny Webb and Christine Adams. Another Andreas Wisniewski, credited in the biopic Surviving Picasso alongside Anthony Hopkins, is a different actor. Wisniewski has kept a low profile since this time to spend time with his family and children and to concentrate on Buddhism. He made an appearance in ITV's police drama The Bill. He appeared on 10 July 2008 in the episode Gun Runner: Pay and Spray, in which he played a short one-minute role as a Russian criminal 'Dimitri' purchasing guns and ammunition. Fifteen years after his first appearance in a Mission: Impossible film, he had another non-speaking part in 2011's Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, playing the same character from the first film of the series.

Wisniewski has three children and lives in Berlin. He is a practising Zen Buddhist.