- Born
- Birth nameTilman Valentin Schweiger
- Height5′ 9½″ (1.77 m)
- Actor, producer, writer, and director Til Schweiger is Germany's best-known actor and also the country's most successful director. With more than 51 Million admissions no other German filmmaker drew more people to cinemas. He runs his own production company Barefoot Films based in Berlin, Germany.
Til Schweiger (born December 19, 1963) was raised along with his two brothers in his hometown Giessen. In his early years, Schweiger began studying German and Medicine. He decided to drop out of university to pursue his career as an actor and went to drama school from 1986-1989. After graduation, he played at several theaters as a stage actor to gain more experience.
In 1991, Schweiger landed his first lead role in Manta, Manta (1991) following his big breakthrough role on Maybe... Maybe Not (1994) with the support of Germany's renowned film producer and mentor Bernd Eichinger. In 1996, Til Schweiger founded his first film production company Mr. Brown Entertainment together with business partner and film producer Tom Zickler. Schweiger debuted as producer with Knockin' on Heaven's Door (1997) winning several Festival Awards. The road movie remains a cult favorite with audiences worldwide. Within the same year, Schweiger was the first foreign actor to win the "Polish Oscar" at the International Warsaw Film festival for his performance in in Bandyta (1997). He has since built up acting credits in dozens of German movies including Der Eisbär (1998), where Schweiger made his debut as director.
Judas Kiss (1998) was Schweiger's first role in an international film. He then appeared in several internationally acclaimed movies including SLC Punk! (1998), The Replacement Killers (1998), Driven (2001), Intimate Affairs (2001), Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life (2003), King Arthur (2004), New Year's Eve (2011), and many more.
To this day, Schweiger has delivered a series of German-language hits and won numerous Awards as actor/writer/director/producer: Barefoot (2005) grossed about $7,7 million with 1,5 million admissions, Rabbit Without Ears (2007) was up to 2014 Schweiger's most successful film and earned some $74 million locally, followed by the sequel Rabbit Without Ears 2 (2009). In 2011, Schweiger wrote, produced and directed Kokowääh (2011), which grossed $43 million, starring alongside his youngest daughter Emma. A sequel hit theaters in 2013.
As an actor, he received widespread critical acclaim and further recognition for his portrayal as the legendary Hugo Stieglitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009).
In December 2014, Til Schweiger released the family-friendly dramedy Head Full of Honey (2014) , which he co-wrote, directed, produced and starred in. It is his most successful film to date breaking the 6, 3 million admissions barrier of his 2007 hit Rabbit Without Ears (2007).
Schweiger, who started his career in German TV, plays the lead role on hit local crimes series Tatort (1970)(Hamburg) (Scene of the Crime). His debut generated the best ratings for the long-running procedural in 20 years.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Barefoot Films
- SpouseDana Schweiger(June 19, 1995 - May 15, 2014) (divorced, 4 children)
- Children
- Parents
- RelativesSibling(Sibling)
- Often casts at least one of his kids for his films.
- Speaks hard to understand German.
- Because of Schweiger's very real disdain for all things Nazi, he accepted a role in Inglourious Basterds (in which he wears a Nazi uniform in several scenes) only after finding out that his character gets to kill Nazi soldiers throughout the film.
- Turned down the role of the German soldier, who shoots Tom Hanks's character (Captain John H. Miller) in Saving Private Ryan (1998) because he had reservations about the role's effect on his image at the American audience.
- He runs his own production company Barefoot Films in Berlin.
- He and his wife Dana Schweiger have 4 children: Valentin Schweiger (b. 17 September 1995), Luna Schweiger (b. 11 January 1997), Lilli Schweiger (b. 17 July 1998) and Emma Schweiger (b. 26 October 2002).
- Although being a box office hit in Germany, his movie Rabbit Without Ears (2007) wasn't nominated for a German Film Award. The reason for this was that the German Film Academy didn't accept watermarked DVDs for the jury. But Warner Bros. does not distribute copies to juries without anti-piracy measures. Thus, he angrily left the German Film Academy, but finally decided to re-enter some weeks later (2008).
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