Jan Messutat was born in 1971 in Stuttgart. He studied drama from 1995 to 1999 at the Mozarteum Salzburg and, in the years to follow, took acting lessons under the coaches Frank Betzelt and Mark Travis. This was followed by his first theater engagements in Lübeck, Ulm, Munich and Erlangen. In 2004 Jan Messutat switched from the stage to film and has since appeared in a number of television productions. He has played roles in a variety of different ‘Tatort’ episodes, including ‘Der Traum von der Au’ (directed by Tim Trageser, 2007), ‘Liebeswirren’ (directed by Tobias Ineichen, 2008), ‘Der Schrei’ (directed by Gregor Schnitzler, 2009) and ‘Der letzte Patient’ (directed by Friedemann Fromm). Other films in which he acted at this time include Stefan Krohmer’s ‘Dutschke’, Jan Fehse’s directing debut ‘In jeder Sekunde’ and Roland Suso Richter’s ‘Mogadischu’, for which he received the German Television Award in 2009 as a member of the ensemble, in the category ‘Best Television Film of the Year’. That same year Jan Messutat appeared in ZDF’s three-part production ‘Krupp – Eine deutsche Familie’. In 2010 he received roles in the television productions ‘Uns trennt das Leben’, ‘Die fremde Familie’, ‘Wettlauf zum Südpol’ and an episode role in the crime series ‘Kreutzer kommt’. Jan Messutat had a guest appearance in the television series ‘Danni Lowinski’ in 2012 and played the title role in the award-winning cinema film ‘Kohlhaas oder die Verhältnismäßigkeit der Mittel’ (directed by Aron Lehmann) that was awarded the viewers’ prize at the ‘Max Ophüls Festival 2013’, the ‘Deutscher Schauspielerpreis’ (German Acting Award) in 2014 in the category ‘Bestes Ensemble in einem Kino-/ Fernsehfilm’ and for which he received the nomination for the ‘Best Young Actor’ in 2012 for the ‘Förderpreis Deutscher Film’. The successful actor appeared in the cinema film ‘Hin und weg’ directed by Christian Zübert in 2013 and played one of the leading roles in 2014 in the cinema production ‘Verfehlung’ (The Culpable) by Gerd Schneider. That same year Jan Messutat stood in front of the camera for the TV feature film ‘Kreise’ (directed by Christian Petzold). This was followed in 2015 by ‘Die Puppenspieler’ directed by Rainer Kaufmann, with whom he had already filmed ‘Beste Bescherung’. Also that year the actor was to be seen on the stage – in Tracy Lett’s play ‘Eine Familie – August: Osage County’. Jan Messutat has just completed working on Johannes Fabrick’s new film ‘Nie mehr wie es war’.

In addition to his work in film and television Jan Messutat has also recorded audiobooks, including Charles Simmon’s novel ‘Salzwasser’ (Salt Water) and lectures on stage direction at the Theaterakademie ‘August Everding’ where he took on the position as deputy course head in 2013.