Person attributes
Kockisch completed his training to become an actor at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. He accepted engagements in Cottbus and Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz). He appeared in plays at the Maxim Gorki Theater for over 20 years and later, for two years, at the Schaubühne in Berlin.
Kockisch began working in the film industry in 1974. In 1981, he played the lead role in Dein unbekannter Bruder (Your Unknown Brother), available at Netflix, an East German film by Ulrich Weiss. Kockisch appeared in such crime series as Tatort and Polizeiruf 110, and played an inspector in the TV series Zappek. Since 2003 he has incarnated Commissario Guido Brunetti in a number of television films based on the crime novels by Donna Leon. In 2010 he held one of the lead roles in the six-part miniseries The Weissensee Saga: A Berlin Love Story, as the Stasi officer Hans Kupfer.
As a youth, Kockisch attempted to escape from East Germany, but was caught and had to spend a year in prison.
Kockisch is married and lives in Madrid.