8 German acts that made it big abroad
Celebrating the new Vietnamese stardom of the "German Hot Boy" Trong Hieu, here are other Germans who became famous abroad. Some are now international stars, while others still walk unnoticed in their home country.
Trong Hieu
The 23-year-old singer doesn't speak Vietnamese fluently, but he just became an instant star in his parents' home country by winning the talent show "Vietnam Idol." The "German Hot Boy," as he's called there, was born in Bavaria and lives in Hanover. Will he now manage to conquer the hearts of fans in Germany too? Some of the following stars did...
Diane Kruger
When she was cast in the French film "My Idol" in 2002, the German actress Diane Heidkrüger shortened her name to make it more internationally marketable. The strategy worked; since then, she's starred in the epic war film "Troy" (2004) and in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" (2009), among others.
Lou Bega
People wouldn't necessarily associate him with Germany. Yet the mambo singer was born in Munich and currently lives in Berlin. As a teenager, he spent time in Miami and fell in love with Latin music - so much so that he produced one of the genre's most famous hits: "Mambo No. 5."
Modern Talking
They conquered the world in the 80s - including Germany. But with the name and English-language songs like "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" and "Cheri, Cheri Lady," no wonder few people realized that the duo was made up of Thomas Anders and Dieter Bohlen. Or, overwhelmed by their hairstyle, fans probably just didn't care.
Scorpions
That also goes for this band: English name, English songs, and wonderful hair. Their most famous hit "Wind of Change" was a symbol of the end of the Cold War, but even in the 1970s they were creating power ballads that were successful worldwide. In 1976, Scorpions earned their first gold record with the album "Virgin Killer" - and that happened in Japan.
Wilma Elles
This actress was born in Cologne and started off in Germany, but her big break came in 2010 with the lead role in "Öyle bir geçer zaman ki," a Turkish TV series viewed by over 25 million people weekly and sold to dozens of countries. At first, she couldn't speak Turkish, so she just memorized her lines phonetically. The mega star and top model has been involved in many projects ever since.
Steffen Möller
He's the most famous German in Poland. The stand-up comedian landed a role in the soap opera "M jak milosc" (L for Love) in 2002 and hosted the first season of the Polish edition of the German TV show "Wetten, dass…?" in 2005. Since then, Poland's entertainment world couldn't go without him. The author of several books in German about his adoptive country, he's a bridge between the two cultures.
Heidi Klum
As the host and producer of "Germany's Next Top Model" since 2006, her name is now inextricably associated to that of her home country. Yet her rise to international modeling fame came in the US, when she appeared on the cover of the "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue" in 1998. A year later, she was the first German model to become a Victoria's Secret Angel.