Eric Braeden (born Hans Jörg Gudegast on April 3, 1941) is a German film and television actor, best known for his role as the dastardly, on-again, off-again villain Victor Newman on the soap opera The Young and the Restless.

Gudegast was born in Kiel, Germany and emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1960. After emigrating, he changed his name to Eric Braeden. While an American citizen, he also considers himself a loyal citizen of Germany, and holds dual citizenship. Braeden has been awarded many German civics awards.

He racked up many TV and film credits during his first two decades in America, most notably a role on the TV series The Rat Patrol (1966-1968), as well as a starring role in the movie Colossus: The Forbin Project (1969).

In 1980, he was offered the role of self-made magnate Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless. He won a Daytime Emmy for his work in 1998.

In the late 1990s, he was offered the role of John Jacob Astor IV in the movie Titanic (1997) as well as a role in the movie Meet the Deedles (1998).