
Gnädinger erlernte den Beruf eines Schriftsetzers, bevor er in Zürich am Bühnenstudio seine Schauspielausbildung begann. In der Folge arbeitete er an verschiedenen Bühnen. Das letzte feste Engagement hatte er in Berlin an der Schaubühne. Er ist seit 1988 freischaffender Schauspieler. In seiner bisherigen Laufbahn wirkte er in 130 Theaterstücken und über 70 Filmen für Kino und Fernsehen mit.
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His last big journey took him from Stein am Rhein to faraway Japan. Theo Plakoudakis and Marco Salituro had developed the script especially for Mathias Gnädinger. And so the popular actor filled the role of "Big Summer" with a lot of heart: The former wrestling king Anton Sommer is forced by the ten-year-old boy Hiro to accompany him to Japan. Hiro wants to become a sumo wrestler like his father. Zurich-based Stefan Jäger has staged a modern fairy tale that becomes an endearing homage to Mathias Gnädinger. He died on Good Friday 2015.

When Hans looks back, he must say: That was a good life! He saw the world, loved his wife Martha and yes, two, three things went wrong. But that doesn't need to be talked about. And now? Two years ago Martha died, Hans can barely manage his daily routine anymore, and after a visit to the vet his beloved dog Miller doesn't return home. Hans is tired. Basically he can't be bothered anymore. He wants to die. But one doesn't talk about this. At best maybe with Willi, his friend. He trusts in him, he considers him as his ally, who should help him implement his plan...

Even in retirement, Hunkeler cannot give up investigating. In Basel, a theater director is murdered, and his body is found with its eyes missing.

Hunkeler's last official act went awry: a diamond courier evaded surveillance, the goods ended up in the Basel sewage system, and Lüdi suffered life-threatening injuries. Plagued by guilt, pensioner Hunkeler goes in search of the "silver pebbles". Ultimately, even as a retiree, he is ahead of the pack with his sense of the longings of the little people.

The story of two pensioners, Max Wanner and Fritz Pollatschek. Wanner needs a new liver, Pollatschek a new heart. But how are two men in their seventies supposed to get hold of a donor organ? A hair-raising and eventful search begins...

Swiss allotment gardener Livius is murdered in his garden on French soil. The case must therefore be investigated by both the Swiss and French police. This leads to friction between the two forces. To make matters worse, Hunkeler has to cut short his vacation.

Two dead with their earlobes slashed. Inspector Hunkeler believes that the brothel owner Garzoni is the culprit. However, his colleagues Madörin and Lüdi are researching the drug milieu. Then prosecutor Suter withdraws Commissioner Hunkeler from the case because of bias. Has Hunkeler grown old? The third film adaptation of a case with the Basel inspector Hunkeler based on the novel by Hansjörg Schneider.

The psychiatrist Simon embarks with his newly wed Paula on a wedding trip to Marmorera, the home of his ancestors. The body of a young woman is found on the shore of the reservoir. A little later, the same woman - alive but without an identity - was taken to the Psychiatric University Clinic Burgholzli in Zurich, where Simon works. The idea of the film is based on a true story: in 1954 the entire old Marmorera was demolished and flooded to prevent protests against the planned dam above the village. Only the cemetery with the bones of the dead was moved.

A daft road movie about two aging thesps in search of Klopfenstein himself.

A summer of the century in Basel – but no vacation for Inspector Hunkeler. Instead of spending time with his partner Hedwig in Alsace, he has to take on a murky case: his family doctor, a liberal politician well known in the city, has been found murdered in her practice. A few drug addicts who had been supplied with methadone by her come under suspicion. But Hunkeler's instinct for the depths of the human psyche leads him unerringly down a different path.
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