Oliver Alexander Reinhard Petszokat (born August 10, 1978, in Berlin), better known by his stage name Oli P., is a German actor, singer, and presenter. Oliver Petszokat was born and raised in Berlin-Spandau. He is the son of a policeman who worked as an instructor at a police school. His mother passed away in 2021 at the age of 69. At the age of ten, he began competitive dancing; his greatest dancing success came in 1995 as a participant in the winning team for the Youth Team Cup of the North Rhine-Westphalia Dance Sport Association. In 1999, Petszokat married former Unter uns actress Tatiani Katrantzi. They have a son together, Ilias (born February 1999). The couple separated in November 2007 and divorced in 2009. Since 2009, he has been in a relationship with his new partner, former figure skater Pauline Schubert, whom he married on August 7, 2014. The two own a delicatessen store for dogs in Cologne's Südstadt. Schubert underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor in early 2020. Television He achieved his first successes as an actor starting in 1996 in the daily soap opera Alle zusammen – jeder für sich, which aired on RTL II. Through his role as Ricky Marquart in the RTL series Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten, which he played from 1998 to 1999, he quickly became a heartthrob. In 2002, Petszokat founded the internet platform 23HeadZtorms GmbH in Berlin. In 2003, he played a leading role in the German film Motown and was a jury member on the ZDF casting show Die deutsche Stimme 2003. From March 2, 2004, to March 1, 2005, Petszokat, alongside Ruth Moschner and Christian Möllmann, co-hosted the fifth season of Big Brother. He also co-hosted the sixth season starting from March 1, 2005, alongside Ruth Moschner and Jochen Bendel, replacing Möllmann. From June 6, 2005, he co-hosted the Big Brother village weekly show with Bendel, replacing Moschner, who left the show at her own request. From March to August 2006, Petszokat hosted the daily game show 5 gegen 5 on the private broadcaster RTL II, succeeding the long-running successful family duel on RTL. In the fall of 2006, Petszokat moved to the private broadcaster ProSieben, where he participated in the ice skating show Stars auf Eis and won with his partner Kati Winkler. He also appeared on the comedy show Gott sei dank … dass Sie da sind! and hosted the finals of the fifth and sixth seasons of the casting show Popstars. From January to March 2007, he co-hosted the ProSieben game show marathon with Oliver Pocher. In October 2007, he participated in the ProSieben show Das große Promi-Pilgern alongside Katy Karrenbauer, Charlotte Engelhardt, Ingo Naujoks, and Claude-Oliver Rudolph. From December 2007, Petszokat co-hosted the second season of the ProSieben show Stars auf Eis with Katarina Witt and Charlotte Engelhardt. In 2008, he appeared alongside Jeanette Biedermann on ProSieben in the funny movie Dörte's Dancing. From September 9, 2008, he co-hosted the show Singing Bee with Senna Guemmour, which was also broadcast on ProSieben but was discontinued in November 2008 due to poor ratings. On April 11, 2010, he appeared on the VOX show Das perfekte Promi-Dinner alongside Benjamin Boyce, Yvonne de Bark, and Kelly Trump. In August 2010, he got a tattoo on the RTL II show "Tattoo Attack - Stars stechen zu". From October 2010 to September 2011, Petszokat played a leading role in the daily soap opera Hand aufs Herz, which aired on Sat.1 and sixx. Since 2016, he has appeared in the telenovela "Rote Rosen" as dance instructor René Siegel. In September of the same year, he became a brand ambassador for Family TV with his song "Wie früher". In spring 2019, Petszokat hosted thirteen episodes of the ARD upcycling show Hallo Schatz – Vom Plunder zum Prachtstück. From October 13, 2019, until the end of the year, he worked as a reporter for the WDR show Tiere suchen ein Zuhause, and since early 2020, he has been a co-host there. In January 2022, Petszokat participated as the "Monkey" in the ProSieben show The Masked Dancer and won. Theater From February 1, 2013, he played the confused Kjell Bjarne in "Elling – Zwei gegen den Rest der Welt" at the Comödie Dresden. He performed alongside Miriam Pielhau, Tobias Schenke, and Christian Kühn until the end of April 2013 at the Dresden theater. Music In the summer of 1997, he released his first single, a cover version of the song "Liebe machen" by the hip-hop duo Vereinigte Arroganz. His second single, "Eivissa," recorded with the group Paradise Love Squad, reached number 32 in Germany and remained in the charts for a total of nine weeks. After becoming one of the stars of Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten, he released his third single in the fall of 1998 with co-singer Tina Frank, a rapped cover version of the hit "Flugzeuge im Bauch" by Herbert Grönemeyer from 1984. The single reached the top position in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In Germany, it received a triple platinum record for over 1.5 million units sold. Until 2017, "Flugzeuge im Bauch" by Oli P. was the best-selling German-language single since 1975. For this success, Petszokat was awarded the Echo Pop German Music Award in 1999 for the most successful national rock/pop single. The follow-up single, "I Wish," reached number two on the charts. His second number-one hit was achieved in the fall of 1999 with a cover version of the song "So bist du," sung with Naima, which Peter Maffay had also reached number one with in the charts in 1979. In 2000, Petszokat was heard with rap inserts in the song "Immer noch" by Jeanette Biedermann. In April 2011, Petszokat made his debut at the Bierkönig in Mallorca. On August 15 of the same year, he performed for the first time at the cult discotheque Oberbayern. Since then, the singer, popular with Ballermann vacationers, has had regular performances at these venues. At the end of 2017, he went on a concert tour with Mia Julia throughout Germany. In July 2023, the eighth studio album "Hey Freiheit – Das Album" was released. It is Petszokat's third top-10 album and his highest-charting album in Germany. Additionally, it reached the charts in Austria and Switzerland for the first time since 1999.