Conrad Veidt was educated at the Berlin high School. He studied under Max Reinhardt for the stage and made his debut in 1913, he played with Emil Jannings in Berlin.
His film debut came in 1916 and he soon rose to stardom, most notably in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. Several starring roles that followed ensured his world reknown and in the late 1920s he went to Hollywood where he made several films.

The arrival of sound saw him return to Germany where he continued to make talking pictures, but the rise of the Nazis forced him into exile in Britain as his wife was Jewish.While in England he made many notable films including; Rome Express, 1932. Jew Süss, 1934. The Passing of the Third Floor Back, 1935. and Contraband, 1940. to name but a few. On a visit to Germany in 1935 the Nazis held him on the excuse that he was too ill to travel and Gaumont British Studios had to send their own doctors to rescue him.
In 1939 he became a British Citizen and in 1940 returned to Hollywood where he remained until his early death in 1943.