Uwe Kröger was born in Hamm/Westfalen and while in school sang with a gospel choir. In 1979 he formed the band Saitensprung with a friend. Following community service [as a conscientious objector, in place of military service] he worked as an art therapist and participated in a city culture project as a singer in a musical revue. With this in view, he studied singing, acting, and dance at the Academy of the Arts in Berlin; shortly after finishing his education he had already been onstage in Bochum in Starlight Express as the first, and so far the only, German-speaking Rusty. After that he appeared in the Vienna production of Les Misérables and afterwards was brought to Amsterdam for the original cast of this musical there, where he also served as Assistant Resident Director. This was followed by leading roles in Jesus Christ Superstar, The Rocky Horror Show, Starmania. In 1993 he sang in the anniversary performance of Bernstein's Mass, presented by Marcel Prawy. In 1992 he achieved a great breakthrough at the Theater an der Wien with the role of Death in the world premiere of Elisabeth, the hit musical by Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay, under the direction of Harry Kupfer. He last captured the German public as the GI Chris in the German-language premiere of Miss Saigon in Stuttgart. In addition to his appearances in musicals, Uwe Kröger was a guest on numerous television shows and galas, dubbed the leading role Jack in the Disney movie musical Newsies, and filmed more TV movies. His first solo album, Boulevard der Sehnsucht (lyrics/music: Kunze/Levay) was successful in the Austrian Hitparade. For the newest film by Peter Weck, Die Diebinnen, he sang the title song Jede Frau hat ein süsses Geheimnis. Readers of the magazine Musicals have already elected Uwe Kröger for the fourth time in a row as #1 German-speaking Musical Actor. At the Viennese Opera Ball in 1997 he was awarded the prize of the Austrian arts magazine Die Bühne for Best Young Actor of 1996. In April 1997 Uwe Kröger received the IMAGE Award of the magazine Musical Gazette, which recognised him as Best Musical-Actor of 1996.
