Matthias Schweighöfer

Born in Anklam, Western Pomerania, at the time part of the communist East Germany, Schweighöfer attended Berlin's renowned acting school Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts, but dropped out after one year. Nevertheless, the son of actors had already worked with established directors such as Peter Greenaway. His first role in a feature film was Changing Skins (1997), directed by Andreas Dresen. In the following years, he appeared in projects such as Soloalbum (2003), Off Beat (2004), Eight Miles High (2007) and Rabbit Without Ears. Schweighöfer portrayed Lieutenant Franz Herber in Valkyrie, a 2008 film dramatizing the failed 20 July assassination and political coup plot to kill Adolf Hitler. The international release of Valkyrie and the all-star cast (including Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Terence Stamp and Bill Nighy) not only allowed Schweighöfer to be recognized abroad, it provided an opportunity for him to be cast in other English speaking roles.

In 2009, Schweighöfer founded the fashion label German Garment with TV presenter Joko Winterscheidt.

In 2010, he made his debut as film director with the romantic comedy What a Man, followed in 2013 by his second movie Break Up Man. In 2017, he directed, produced and played the lead role in You Are Wanted, Amazon Studios' first non-English-language TV series.

In 2021, Schweighöfer appeared in the Netflix film Army of the Dead, directed by Zack Snyder, as Ludwig Dieter. He reprised his role in the prequel film, Army of Thieves, which he also directed.

In 2021/2022, he took on the role of real-life music producer Frank Farian in the biopic Girl You Know It's True about the scandalous pop duo Milli Vanilli, written and directed by Simon Verhoeven, produced by Wiedemann & Berg Film. The film was released theatrically by Leonine in December 2023.

In 2023, he portrayed physicist Werner Heisenberg in the Christopher Nolan biopic Oppenheimer.