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 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. His latest big screen appearance was as Hugo Stiglitz in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. 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.

Personal life

Schweiger married American model Dana Carlson 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.

Schweiger was in a relationship with model Svenja Holtmann from 2010 to October 2013.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes and awards
1991	Manta, Manta	Bertie	First film in which he was the lead actor
1993	Ebbies Bluff (de)	Rudy	Max-Ophüls-Preis Best Actor Newcomer Award
1994	Der bewegte Mann	Axel Feldheim	Bambi
1995	Bunte Hunde	Pepe Brenner
1996	Männerpension	Steinbock	Bambi; DIVA-Award
	Das Superweib (de)	Hajo Heiermann
1997	Knockin' On Heaven's Door	Martin Brest	Also Writer and Producer 20th Moscow International Film Festival - Best Actor; Jupiter Best Actor; Goldene Kamera Best Actor
	Bandyta (Bastard)	Brute	Polish Film Festival (Polish Oscar) Best Actor; Bravo Otto Best Actor
1998	The Replacement Killers	Ryker
	Judas Kiss	Ruben Rubenbauer
	SLC Punk!	Mark
	Der Eisbär (de)	Leo	Also Director and Producer
1999	Der große Bagarozy (de)	Stanislaus Nagy
2000	Magicians	Max
2001	Driven	Beau Brandenburg
	Investigating Sex	Monty
	What to Do in Case of Fire?	Tim
2003	Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life	Sean
2004	In Enemy Hands	Captain Jonas Herdt
	King Arthur	Cynric
	(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1	Rock Fertig Aus	Bambi Best Actor
	Les Dalton	Lucky Luke
2005	Barfuss	Nick Keller	Also Writer, Director and Producer Bambi Best Film
	Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo	Heinz Hummer the Gigolo with the most below
2006	One Way	Eddie Schneider	Also Producer
	Wo ist Fred?	Fred Krüppers	Jupiter Best Actor
2007	Body Armour	John Ridley
	Keinohrhasen	Ludo Decker	Also Writer, Director and Producer Ernst-Lubitsch-Preis Best Comedy ; Bambi Best Film; Deutscher Comedypreis Best Comedy; Jupiter Best Film; 2x DIVA-Award Best Film
	Already Dead	The Man
2008	The Red Baron	Werner Voss	Bravo Otto
	Far Cry	Jack Carver
	1½ Knights - In Search of the Ravishing Princess Herzelinde	Ritter Lanze	Also Director and Producer
2009	Phantomschmerz	Marc
	Inglourious Basterds	Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
	Männerherzen	Jerome Ades
	Zweiohrküken (Keinohrhasen 2)	Ludo Decker	Also Writer, Director and Producer Deutscher Comedypreis Best Comedy
2011	Kokowääh	Henry	Also Writer, Director and Producer
	The Three Musketeers	Cagliostro
	Männerherzen 2	Jerome
	New Year's Eve	James Schwab
2012	This Means War	Heinrich
	The Courier	FBI agent
	Schutzengel	Max	Also Director and Producer
2013	Charlie Countryman	Darko
	Kokowääh 2	Henry	Also Writer, Director and Producer
2014	Muppets Most Wanted	German Cop
	Honig im Kopf	Niko Rosenbach	Director
2016	Tschiller: Off Duty	Nick Tschiller

Television

Year	TV Show	Role	Notes and awards
1989-1992	Lindenstraße	Jo Zenker
1994-1996	Die Kommissarin	Nick Siegel
1996	Adrenalin	Stefan Renner
	A Girl Called Rosemary	Nadler
	Die Halbstarken	Freddy
2002	Joe and Max	Max Schmeling
2013-2016	Tatort	Nick Tschiller	Tatort in Hamburg (4 episodes)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]