Matthias Schweighöfer

Matthias Schweighöfer (; born 11 March 1981)

Career His first role in a feature film was (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 . 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.

Personal life Between 2004 and 2012, Schweighöfer dated Ani Schromm, and they got together again in the summer of 2013. They have a daughter born in 2009 and a son born in 2014. Schweighöfer and Schromm later separated, and as of 2018 Schweighöfer has been in a relationship with his Army of Thieves co-star Ruby O. Fee. The couple were married in January 2026. Schweighöfer lives in Berlin.

Awards

2000: German Television Prize – Promotional Award for the performance in 2002: Günter Strack TV Award – Best Young Actor for the performance in 2003: Golden Camera – "Curt Jürgens Memorial Camera" for best newcomer and performances in Friends of Friends & 2003: – For the performance in Friends of Friends 2003: New Faces Award – Best Actor 2004: Bavarian Film Award – Best Young Actor 2004: Baden-Baden TV and Film Festival – Special award for the outstanding performances in and Cold Spring 2005: Undine Award – Best Young Actor (TV) for the performance in The Young Schiller 2006: DIVA-Award – Best Actor for the performances in , The Young Schiller and Polly Blue Eyes 2007: Undine Award – Best Young Actor (feature film) for the performance in Eight Miles High 2007: Bambi Award – Film – National – Male 2009: Golden Camera – Best German Actor for the performance in The Author of Himself: The Life of Marcel Reich-Ranicki 2010: Jupiter Award – Best Male Actor (TV) for his performance in The Author of Himself: The Life of Marcel Reich-Ranicki 2011: GQ Man of the Year – Film National

Selected filmography Director Year Title Director Producer Writer 2011 What a Man 2013 2014 Joy of Fatherhood 2015 The Manny 2017 You Are Wanted 2021 Army of Thieves

Actor

1999: Dr. Stefan Frank, season 4, episode 10, als Ingo 2000: , as Ben Simon 2000: Trust Me , as Speedy 2001: Babykram ist Männersache, as Malte 2001: (Herz im Kopf), as Dirk 2002: (Nachts im Park), as Hansen 2002: (TV film), as Gregor 2002: FeardotCom, as Dieter Schrader 2003: Soloalbum , as Ben 2003: , as Felix 2004: Baal (TV film), as Baal 2004: (, TV film), as Ben 2004: Off Beat , as Crash 2004: Gold – The Tulse Luper Suitcases 2005: (TV film), as 2005: , as Ronny Helske 2006: Lulu (TV film), as Jack the Ripper 2007: Eight Miles High , as Rainer Langhans 2007: (TV film), as Felix 2007: Fata Morgana, as Daniel 2007: Rabbit Without Ears, as Moritz 2008: The Red Baron , as Manfred von Richthofen 2008: , as Jan Winter 2008: Valkyrie, as Lieutenant Herber 2009: (TV film), as Marcel Reich-Ranicki 2009: Night Train, as Frankie 2009: 12 Paces Without a Head, as Gottfried Michaelsen 2009: Rabbit Without Ears 2, as Moritz 2010: Friendship!, as Tom 2011: What a Man, as Alex Nowak 2011: , as Alexander Honk 2012: Russian Disco, as Wladimir 2013: , as Paul Voigt 2013: Frau Ella, as Sascha 2013: Kokowääh 2, as himself 2014: Joy of Fatherhood, as Felix 2015: The Little Prince, as the Fox (German version) 2015: The Manny, as Clemens 2016: The Most Beautiful Day, as Andi 2016: Vier gegen die Bank, as Max 2017: The Price, as Jonas 2017: You Are Wanted (TV series), as Lukas Franke 2018: Hot Dog, as Theo 2018: A Jar Full of Life, as Erik Ruge 2018: 100 Things, as Toni Katz 2018: Kursk, as Pavel 2019: Playmobil: The Movie, as Rex Dasher (German version) 2020: Resistance, as Klaus Barbie 2021: Army of the Dead, as Ludwig Dieter 2021: Army of Thieves, as Ludwig Dieter/Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert 2022: The Swimmers, as Sven 2022: Hinterland, as Josef Severin 2023: Oppenheimer, as Werner Heisenberg 2023: Heart of Stone 2023: Family Switch, as Rolf 2023: Girl You Know It's True, as Frank Farian 2025: Elio, as Ambassador Tegmen (English and German versions) 2025: Amrum, as Theo 2025: , as Tim TBA: Play Dead, as TBA

Theatre 2004: One, Two, Three – Otto Ludwig Pfiffl, Hebbel Theatre, Berlin 2007: North, directed by Frank Castorf, , Berlin

Audiobooks 2008: Slam by Nick Hornby, 2008: Die Traumnovelle by Arthur Schnitzler,