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Ilja Richter (born 24 November 1952) is a German actor, voice actor, television presenter, singer, theatre director and author, best known as the presenter of theZDF showDisco.
Richter was born inEast Berlin to Georg and Eva Richter. Georg was aCommunist, who named Ilja after the Russian journalistIlya Ehrenburg, and Eva was aJew who survived theThird Reich under a fake Aryan identity. Georg spent nine and a half years in concentration camps during the Third Reich.
After the family was in political difficulties inEast Germany, they moved toWest Berlin in 1953. There, the Richters leased a restaurant. In 1955, Ilja's sister Janina was born, and in 1959 they moved toCologne. There, too, the Richters ran a restaurant, but moved back in 1960 to West Berlin, where they opened a guesthouse.
Eva, a former actress, brought Ilja to theSender Freies Berlin (Radio Free Berlin) for an audition. Ilja's acting career began at the age of nine. As a teenager he starred in the seriesTill, the Boy Next Door as Albert. In the 1970s, Richter became famous in West-Germany as television presenter ofDisco, a music show filmed before a young live audience in which he also performed in sketches.
As an actor, he played several roles in films and in theatre. He starred in several comedy movies alongsideRudi Carrell. As a voice actor, his most prominent role was lending his colourful, peppy voice toTimon fromThe Lion King. He also provided the German voices of Mike Wazowski inMonsters, Inc., Spot/Scott inTeacher's Pet (TV series), the title character ofCount Duckula and Dave inThe Penguins of Madagascar. One of his records is a German adaptation ofTiny Tim'sTiptoe Through the Tulips.
Richter wrote several books. He dated the singerMarianne Rosenberg from 1975 to 1978. From 1995 to 1997 he was married to singer Stephanie von Falkenhausen. He lives in Berlin with his longtime companion Barbara Ferun, and has one child, Kolja.
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