Josef Tratnik is a German actor and voice artist born on January 18, 1947, in Münster. He grew up in Gelsenkirchen and completed his schooling with the Abitur in 1966. Tratnik then moved to Cologne to study theater studies, philosophy, and Germanistics, concurrently undergoing acting training at the theater Der Keller from 1967 to 1970. After passing his state examination in German and philosophy in 1974, he worked as a freelance teacher at vocational colleges before returning to the theater in 1977 with an engagement at the Westfälisches Landestheater in Castrop-Rauxel. It was at this time that he also began his work as a speaker for radio and television, primarily with broadcasters such as Deutschlandfunk, Deutsche Welle, and Westdeutscher Rundfunk, contributing to radio plays and features. Since 1994, he has been active as a freelance actor, voice actor, and speaker based in Cologne. His on-camera work includes appearances in television films and crime series, such as the long-running German crime series Tatort.

In the realm of anime and animation dubbing, Tratnik has lent his voice to a variety of characters. A notable recent example is his role as Thulim in the German dubbed version of the 2022 animated film The Deer King, for which the dialogue was directed by Daniel Käser at KÖLNSYNCHRO. His extensive dubbing work also includes the character of the narrator in the Dragonball series for RTL2 in a production by Splendid Synchron in Cologne. He is also credited as the German voice for characters in numerous other animated films, such as Grunt in Ozzy - Ein Held auf vier Pfoten, King in Dragon Nest - Die Chroniken von Altera, and Hirsch in Mission Babybär - Ein tierisches Abenteuer.

While his anime voice roles are a part of his broader career, Tratnik is particularly renowned for his long-standing work as a narrator and speaker in audio productions. He is most famously known as the voice of the Perry Rhodan series, having performed the narrator role for over two decades. His voice can be heard in over 70 editions of the Silber-Edition audiobooks, as well as in other cycles like Lemuria, Andromeda, and the Plophos cycle. In addition to his work in fiction, Josef Tratnik is a familiar voice in German television, frequently providing voice-overs for ARD documentaries and programs on channels like ZDF and ARTE.