Til Schweiger

Early life

Schweiger was born in Freiburg, West Germany, to two teachers. He grew up in Heuchelheim near Giessen in Hesse, where he went to school. Later he took acting lessons at Der Keller in Cologne and graduated in 1989.

Career

Schweiger's debut as a producer and (uncredited) director came in 1997 with Knockin' on Heaven's Door. He also directed and produced Der Eisbär (The Polar Bear) in 1998. Schweiger won a Bambi Award for Barfuss (Barefoot) in 2005, which he wrote, directed, and starred in. He also won a Bambi for his lead role in Traumschiff Surprise – Periode 1. In 2007, Keinohrhasen (this literally translates to "no ear rabbit" while the English title is Rabbit Without Ears), written, produced, and directed by Schweiger, became the most successful film in German theaters with a box office result of USD 62,000,000. The film won a Bambi, a Bavarian Film Award, the German Comedy Award, two DIVA Awards, a Jupiter Award and the Ernst Lubitsch Award. The sequel, Zweiohrküken (Rabbit Without Ears 2, literally "two ear chicks"), was released the following year with over 4.2 million viewers and a box office collection of USD 45,000,000. Schweiger then went on to direct, produce and star in 1½ Knights – In Search of the Ravishing Princess Herzelinde, which also proved a huge cinema hit on its release in 2008.

The movie Kokowääh debuted in German cinemas in February 2011. Schweiger's daughter Emma stars beside him, and the movie is also directed, co-written and produced by him. Schweiger and Emma reprised their roles as Henry and Magdalena, respectively, in its sequel, titled Kokowääh 2. The film was released on 7 February 2013. In 2012 Schweiger made a film alongside his daughter Luna named Schutzengel.

Onscreen, Schweiger first appeared as an actor in 1989 in the TV series "Lindenstraße". His first film role came in 1991 with Manta, Manta. Additional TV and film roles followed, including Der bewegte Mann (Maybe, Maybe Not), Männerpension (Jailbirds), Das Mädchen Rosemarie (A Girl Called Rosemary), Bastard (Bandyta), Bang Boom Bang, Der große Bagarozy (The Devil and Ms. D.), Was tun, wenn's brennt (What to Do in Case of Fire?), Les Daltons vs. Lucky Luke, The Red Baron, Wo ist Fred (Where is Fred?), Phantomschmerz (Phantom Pain), Männerherzen, and others.

Schweiger has also appeared as supporting actor in American films, including Already Dead, King Arthur, In Enemy Hands, Magicians, Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Driven, SLC Punk!, Investigating Sex, Joe and Max, The Replacement Killers and New Year's Eve. Schweiger then appeared in the US productions The Courier with Mickey Rourke, This Means War (2012), with Chris Pine and Reese Witherspoon and more recently in 2013 as Darko in The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman with Shia LaBeouf among others. He also made an appearance in 2014's Muppets Most Wanted. His latest big screen appearance was in David Leitch's Atomic Blonde.

Personal life

Schweiger married American model Dana Carlsen on 19 June 1995. They have four children: Valentin Florian Schweiger (born 17 September 1995), Luna Marie Schweiger (born 11 January 1997), Lilli Camille Schweiger (born 17 July 1998), and Emma Tiger Schweiger (born 26 October 2002). Schweiger and Carlson separated in 2005 and were divorced in 2014.

Awards