Thomas Nicolai is a German actor and voice artist known for his work in dubbing foreign-language productions, including animated series and films, for the German market. Born in Leipzig, Germany, on December 8, 1963, he initially trained and worked as a pastry chef before pursuing a career in the performing arts. After being turned away from the Theaterhochschule Leipzig, he successfully applied to the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch in Berlin, where he studied acting from 1987 to 1991.

In the early 1990s, Nicolai performed on various Berlin stages, including the Berliner Ensemble and the GRIPS-Theater. Since 1994, he has worked as a freelance comedian and performer, creating comedy programs with a focus on parody and music, and developing stage personas such as the Saxon character Patrick Schleifer. He has also been a regular host at the Quatsch Comedy Club. Alongside his stage work, Nicolai has been active as a speaker for audio plays, audio guides, commercials, and synchronization, which is the German term for dubbing foreign-language content.

In the realm of anime and animation dubbing, Thomas Nicolai provides the German voice for characters in several series. He is the German voice of Lennox Gallagher in the Netflix original anime series Hero Mask, appearing in all 21 episodes of the show. His other notable anime dubbing roles include voicing Zhivago in the German version of The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of The Commandments and taking on a role in the German dub of Ingress. Beyond anime, his voice work extends to dubbing characters in animated films, such as providing the German voice for the character Tom Pinkerton in Hell on the Border and for the Pinguin in Batman und Superman: Kampf der Supersöhne.