Born in Timisoara, Romania. Director in film and television who entered the business as a documentary filmmaker with THE CHILDREN OF THEATRE STREET (1977), which was about the youngsters training at the Kirov Ballet school and was narrated by Princess Grace of Monaco. It was nominated for an Academy Award®. Other notable credits include SHE DANCES ALONE (1981), REARRANGED (1982), DIGITAL DREAMS (1983, TV), ECHO PARK (1986), COLD FEET (1989), "Fatal Deception: Mrs. Lee Harvey Oswald" (1993, TV), A FURTHER GESTURE (1996), DER UNFISCH / THE UNFISH (1997), and THE VENICE PROJECT (1999). In the 2000s, Dornhelm has worked exclusively in television: "Anne Frank: The Whole Story" (2001 -- for which he received an Emmy® nomination), "Sins of the Father," "RFK" and "Rudy!" (all 2002), "Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story" (2003), "Spartacus", "Suburban Madness" and "Identity Theft: The Michelle Brown Story" (all 2004), "Into the West" (2005, mini-series), "The Ten Commandments" and "Kronprinz Rudolf" (both 2006), and "War and Peace" (2007 mini-series).  Nominated for Documentary (Features) 1977: THE CHILDREN OF THEATRE STREET - Producer (w. Earle Mack) 1 nomination