Til Schweiger's career in pictures

Four years ago, Til Schweiger celebrated a huge success at Germany's box office with Head Full of Honey, which he directed, and in which he also performed. The leading role was played by German cabaret artist Dieter Hallervorden. The comedy-drama centering on a man with Alzheimer's disease was watched by more than 7 million people when it came out in cinemas in 2014.

After achieving his breakthrough as a good-looking beau in the German TV series Lindenstrasse, Til Schweiger made his film debut in 1991. In the comedy Manta, Manta, which pokes fun at owners of the cult German Opel Manta cars, he exuded youthful charm on the big screen.

In 1994, the young actor once again got to show off his toned body in the comedy The Most Desired Man (also titled, Maybe ... Maybe Not in the US). The film was based on comics by Ralf König, who's renowned for his successful cartoons dealing with the daily experiences of homosexuals.

Early on in his career, Schweiger developed a strong instinct for picking roles in films that would do well at the box office. In 2004, he got together with the popular comedian Michael "Bully" Herbig in the comedy titled (T)Raumschiff Surprise – Periode 1, a spoof of the 1960s American TV series Star Trek. The German movie was a commercial success.

By the late 1990s, Til Schweiger decided to work on both sides of the camera and started producing and directing films. His directorial debut was the 1998 film Der Eisbär (The Polar Bear), in which he starred alongside Karina Krawczyk.

Til Schweiger has become a household name in Germany. His works draw millions of fans to movie theaters. Despite his success, film critics do not always agree with the broad audience. Schweiger's 2005 comedy, Barefoot, for instance, also obtained several bad reviews; the star's relationship with film critics is therefore rather tense.

Ignoring the bad reviews, the star continued to direct entertaining films, and his box office results have proven his critics wrong. In the 2006 comedy Where is Fred, he played a young man pretending to have a handicap in order to achieve his goals.

In the following years, Til Schweiger continued to be commercially successful not only as an actor, but also as a director — especially with female audiences. The 2007 romantic comedy Rabbit Without Ears remains one of the top 10 box-office hits in Germany. The award-winning work was praised by critics as well.

Aspiring to go beyond the German film market, Schweiger finally got his chance by appearing in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 alternate history war film, Inglourious Basterds. The star played the role of sergeant Hugo Stiglitz, a German soldier who murdered 13 Gestapo officers.

Nevertheless, Schweiger remained close to the German film scene. In 2009, he played a role in the comedy Men in the City, directed by Simon Verhoeven, which turned out to be a critical and commercial success. In the film, Schweiger's character goes from one short-lived affair to the next one, usually with women, but he also ends up in bed with schlager singer Bruce (Justus von Dohnanyi).

Schweiger, who has been very busy as an actor, director and producer, also got members of his family involved in his films. For some years now, he has been working with his daughters in front of the camera — for example in the comedy Kokowääh.

In 2013, Schweiger also took on the role of detective Tschiller in Germany's popular TV crime series, Tatort. One episode, called Off Duty, even made it onto the silver screen. Its commercial success, however, was rather limited.

Along with Til Schweiger, another young German actor has recently become a top-selling name in the German film market: Matthias Schweighöfer. They both worked together in Wolfgang Petersen's 2016 crime comedy, Vier gegen die Bank (Four Against the Bank).

Til Schweiger's latest German production was his 2018 movie Hot Dog. Schweiger starred once again alongside Matthias Schweighöfer, as well as Anne Schäfer, in the action-comedy directed by Torsten Künstler. It was a critical flop.