Miroslav Nemec: “Tatort” veteran celebrates 70th birthday

Miroslav Nemec
“Tatort” veteran celebrates 70th birthday

Miroslav Nemec, 70, has made history as a “Tatort” detective. Since 1991 he has been seen as Ivo Batic alongside Franz Leitmayr alias Udo Wachtveitl, 65, in the Munich “Tatort”. With his role as a justice-loving detective from the former Yugoslavia, he plays his way into the hearts of viewers in each of his Sunday crime series. After 100 cases and 35 years, the duo from Bavaria will be calling it a day in 2025. On June 26, Miroslav Nemec will celebrate his 70th birthday. But after the last “Tatort”, he is far from thinking about retirement.

Miroslav Nemec has long been a cult TV detective – but he never had any desire to become an actor. “Actually, I wanted to be a musician,” he explained at the beginning of the year in Interview with “BR-Klassik”At the age of 15 he founded the school band Asphyxia in Freilassing.

Over 50 years later, the former classmates still perform in the original translation – with Nemec as keyboard player and lead singer. With his Miro Nemec Band, founded in 1996, in which he can also be heard as singer, guitarist and keyboard player, he was even invited to meet the Federal President at Bellevue Palace.

Following his passion, Nemec studied music with a focus on classical piano at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He graduated as a music teacher. The roots of his musical passion lie in his childhood. “We were very poor, had no television or radio, no instruments. But we always sang,” he told the station, “before, during and after meals.”

Miroslav Nemec was born in Zagreb in 1954. Because his mother wanted to give him a better life, she sent him to his great aunt in Munich when he was twelve years old, who later adopted him.

The acting career was a coincidence

Nemec never worked in his profession as a teacher. When his girlfriend at the time applied to the acting academy in Zurich, he simply went with her – and was accepted for the three-year course. The rest is history:

After a short interlude on the theater stage and in series such as “Liebling Kreuzberg” and “Derrick,” he ended up at the casting for “Tatort” in 1990. Before the casting, he said to his colleague Wachtveitl: “There’s free food there, let’s go.” That was the beginning of a great friendship and a “true stroke of luck.”

Private happiness with his three daughters

Nemec’s meeting with his wife was also a stroke of luck. He has been married for the second time since 2013 to documentary filmmaker Katrin Jäger, 43. They have a daughter, 12, together. He is also the father of two daughters from previous relationships. None of them are following in their father’s footsteps. “If one of the three wanted to be in front of the camera, I would of course support them. But it does require absolute willpower, discipline and perseverance,” he explained to the news agency spot on news.

Several projects besides the “Tatort”

In addition to music and acting, Miroslav Nemec is a successful author. He has published his own biography “Miroslav – Jugoslav” and has also written two novels. He also gives readings and appears on stage at the Passau Festival, for example. “What I find very satisfying these days is that I can do so many different things: write, read, make music and act – this diversity inspires me,” he enthused in an interview with the newspaper “Merkur”.

Miro Nemec will not be bored without his Ivo, his Udo and the “Tatort”. He is not afraid of the number 70 anyway, as he revealed in an interview with spot on news: “Of course I think about the future. Life circumstances simply change from time to time and then you just react. But that has nothing to do with the 70th birthday. That’s always the case for me when something new is coming up. Then you just have to face the challenges again.”

The birthday boy has no material wishes for his birthday. “I have everything. I just want to stay healthy and keep my love and family. That is gift enough for me,” he explained.

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