André Höhl

André Höhl was born on 29 May 1967 in Leipzig and grew up near the city. After his Abitur he received a classical training in ballet, pas de deux and jazz dance, together with Spanish folk dance, at the State Ballet School in Leipzig. While still a student he was given a range of stage roles at the Leipzig Opera and took part in several dance competitions within the GDR.

He completed his training with a state examination in practical dance, and he also passed a second state examination in literature.

After his studies Höhl joined the Leipzig Opera in 1986 on a permanent contract, staying for three years. In the summer of 1989 he moved to the Deutsches Fernsehballett of GDR television, the ensemble that gave Saturday night shows such as Ein Kessel Buntes their glamour, and he was soon promoted to soloist. He worked with the choreographers Emöke Pöstenyi, Ophelia Vilarova and Jana Torneva.

When GDR television ended in December 1991 his future with the ballet was in doubt, but the company was relaunched under MDR at the start of 1992 and he continued as a soloist in productions for MDR, ARD and ZDF. With the ballet he danced with Marika Rökk, as her last dance partner, and with Ute Lemper, Dagmar Frederic, Petra Kusch-Lück, Helga Hahnemann, Marlène Charell, Helene Fischer, Dagmar Koller and Stefanie Hertel. He also choreographed programmes for young dance ensembles.

In March 2007 he showed his comic side as an actor in an edition of MDR's Langer Samstag. He appeared alongside the cabaret artist Katrin Weber in the MDR New Year's Eve show of 2007, and in February 2008 performed as a cabaret artist on Der große Witze-Abend with Tom Pauls, Bernd-Lutz Lange, Gunter Böhnke, Thorsten Wolf and Dieter Bellmann. In July 2008 he was René Koch's sketch partner in the MDR show Rote Lippen soll man küssen, and from early 2009 he was, with Madeleine Lierck, one of the regular guests in the MDR sketch show Wie witzig, Frau Weber!

Höhl lived in Berlin, in the district of Friedrichshain. Little about his private life was made public.

André Höhl was found lifeless by friends in his flat in Berlin-Friedrichshain on 25 October 2026. He was 59. The cause of death and the exact date of death were not made public; German Wikipedia gives 22 October 2026 as the probable date. News of his death was reported from 27 October by the Berliner Kurier, RTL, OK! Magazin and Promiflash, and stars of German Schlager music, among them Stefanie Hertel, publicly mourned him.

Höhl is remembered as one of the leading soloists of the Deutsches Fernsehballett across the transition from GDR television to MDR, a dancer who partnered many of the best known entertainers of German television over more than two decades. In his later career he also became a familiar comic face on MDR, particularly in Katrin Weber's sketch shows.