Damian Hardung

Damian Hardung is a German actor whose career has moved from youth television into internationally visible streaming productions. He was born on September 7, 1998, in Cologne, Germany. Hardung first gained broad attention through the Vox medical drama Club der roten Bänder, known internationally as The Red Band Society. The series, which follows teenagers receiving treatment in a hospital oncology ward, cast him as Jonas, a young cancer patient. The role placed him in an ensemble built around friendship, illness, fear, and resilience, rather than making him a conventional lone protagonist. The program became a major German television success and won recognition including the Grimme-Preis for its first season.

Hardung later appeared in the historical drama series The Name of the Rose, based on Umberto Eco’s novel and starring John Turturro and Rupert Everett. He also became part of the cast of How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast), Netflix’s darkly comic coming-of-age series about teenagers operating an illegal online drug business. In that show he played Daniel Riffert, a character connected to the school and social world surrounding the central scheme.

His most prominent international breakthrough to date is Maxton Hall: The World Between Us, released in 2024 on Amazon Prime Video, a streaming service. The series adapts Mona Kasten’s novel Save Me and follows Ruby Bell, a scholarship student at the elite Maxton Hall private school. Hardung plays James Beaufort, heir to a wealthy family and an apparently self-assured student whose conflict with Ruby develops into the show’s central romance. His performance helped make the adaptation a breakout hit beyond Germany, and the series was renewed for a second season.

What distinguishes Hardung’s screen work is the contrast between these roles: Jonas is defined by vulnerability within a hospital community, Daniel belongs to an irreverent ensemble shaped by digital entrepreneurship, and James begins as a privileged antagonist before revealing greater emotional complexity. Together, these parts show a progression from German youth drama to streaming romance.

Hardung has worked in film and television projects including the German film Club der roten Bänder: Wie alles begann, a prequel connected to the television series. His roles often explore youth, social pressure, and difficult transitions. Maxton Hall made him recognizable to viewers outside the German-speaking market, while Club der roten Bänder remains the work that established his early profile. His career illustrates how German productions can create international visibility before a globally marketed adaptation.