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He stands there inconspicuously in front of the shiny wood paneling, this almost two-meter man.
He is muscular, dressed in an elegant and sporty manner, so discreetly that you could almost overlook him if he weren't for that intimidating presence.
When an angry woman storms into the lawyer's office, he barely noticeably builds up a little more body tension and remains the silent, very precise observer.
In the further course he will not say a single word.
He can't either.
Benjamin Piwko is deaf.
Although he has learned to speak with great effort, his means of communication are gestures, his body, and sign language.
Benjamin Piwko is an actor, martial artist, author and “Let's Dance” finalist.
As one of the first deaf people, he played a leading role in the Saarland “Tatort: Totenstille” alongside Devid Striesow.
When I was invited to the casting call, they didn't know right away that I was deaf.
Benjamin Piwko, actor
Now the 41-year-old can be seen in Dirk Kummer's black love-crook-comedy "Whoever dies once is not believed".
On Saturday (April 24th, 8:15 pm) the ARD will broadcast the Hamburg letterbox production.
Piwko plays the bodyguard of a betrayed and fraudulent multimillionaire.
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The excited woman is Julia Koschitz, who in the role of Clara believes that she has lost her husband in a fatal skiing accident. Heino Ferch plays a successful novelist whose wife killed herself but whose body was never found. The two run into each other by chance and discover that their respective spouses have been playing a game together. It's a very enjoyable, sometimes a little over-the-top comedy. Piwko as a nameless bodyguard stays in the background and is still significantly involved in ensuring that everything ends in a pitch-black but good way.
“When I was invited to the casting, they didn't know straight away that I was deaf,” Piwko said in a written interview with WELT.
In fact, he did audition.
When director Kummer and his film crew discovered that Piwko was deaf, they let him sign.
“They found that kind of cooler and I felt more free,” says the actor.
It fits the role of the silent minder perfectly.
The shooting was extremely exhausting, especially for Piwko.
First they were canceled due to Corona, then they were resumed under strict hygiene regulations.
“Because of the masks, I couldn't recognize any emotions at first, nor read them from my lips,” he recalls.
But then the director suddenly got transparent masks for everyone.
“The solution was so simple,” he says.
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Piwko, born in Hamburg in 1980, has been deaf since he was eight months old.
A viral infection led to it.
His mother goes with him to Switzerland so that he can learn to speak from an audio teacher there.
In 1984 the family returned to Hamburg, Piwko attended a school for the hard of hearing, followed by an apprenticeship as a carpenter.
He started martial arts at an early age, worked as a stunt fighter, choreographed combat scenes in films and shows, became a multiple martial arts master, was trained by a grandmaster in Hawaii, and now teaches various techniques at his own school in Ottensen.
Benjamin Piwko kept fighting
Benjamin Piwko is a fighter on the job and in private.
“I have to fight every day to get by in the hearing world,” he says.
At the same time, he says that many things just happen to him, good and bad.
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He is approached if he wants to act, in 2003 he got a supporting role alongside Robert Atzorn in “Tatort”, another in 2006, then in 2015 the leading role alongside Devid Striesow.
It is he who asks RTL if he wants to take part in "Let's Dance".
In 2019 his book “You can only hear well with the heart - What you can learn from the deaf” will be published.
“It all came naturally in my life.
It's a gift, ”says Piwko and understates something.
Because there were also bad times in his life: As a child, he was bullied, also sexually abused, as he told WELT last year. But he keeps fighting. “Sport helps me to find my balance and to calm down inside.” Above all, it gives him this insane presence and willpower. He is currently preparing for a leading role, another book is being planned, he continues to work as a martial arts trainer and he is committed to greater acceptance of the deaf - in society and in film. “Don't just talk about inclusion, do it!” Is his credo. He succeeds in silence.