Thomas Kinne was born in 1961 in Rhineland-Palatinate. Kinne talks about his school days in an interview on the YouTube channel “Circle Quiz”: “I was more the class clown than the best in class.” Hard to believe: he could already read at the age of four. And since the young Thomas Kinne was bored in his German class at school, he was studying English in the back row with a book his teacher gave him. Thus began a passion that will define his whole life.
After graduating from high school in Neuwied and doing military service, he studied at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and at the San Francisco State University American Studies, English Studies, Hispanic Studies, Journalism and Film. In 1994, Kinne finally received his doctorate magna cum laude. In his dissertation he wrote over 600 pages about the elements of Jewish tradition in the work of the American filmmaker Woody Allen.
One notices: Languages and the moving image are Dr. Thomas Kinne’s thing – or rather his calling. Because smart as the “quiz doctor” is, he combined his two passions and built an impressive career from them: Already during his studies, Kinne worked as a Translator and editor for various TV stations and production companies. He translated the screenplays of US series such as the popular sitcom “Cheers” and the successful police series “Polizeievier Hill Street” into German. Conversely, he did the same for Export versions of German series (“Coast Guard”, “Our Charly”), Films and documentaries (“Terra X”), which he made accessible to an English-speaking audience with his translations.
After completing his studies, Thomas Kinne initially worked at the Seychelles Tourist Office and in tourism marketing before starting to work as a became a freelance translator for television and for non-fiction books in the areas of film and comics. He also writes and edits travel guides about the Seychelles and illustrated books. His book “Dr. Kinnes Clinic: Thoughts about language, people and the world” was only published in 2020, in which he collected facts ranging from general knowledge to curious facts.
In addition to an Emmy for the ZDF film “Das Drama von Dresden” in 2006 as best documentary, his work on the volume “75 Years of DC Comics” also won him the renowned Eisner Award in 2011.
