Biographie

Because of Schweiger's very real disdain for all things Nazi, he accepted a role in Inglourious Basterds (in which he wears a Nazi uniform in several scenes) only after finding out that his character gets to kill Nazi soldiers throughout the film.

Turned down the role of the German soldier, who shoots Tom Hanks's character (Captain John H. Miller) in Il faut sauver le soldat Ryan (1998) because he had reservations about the role's effect on his image at the American audience.

He runs his own production company Barefoot Films in Berlin.

He and his wife Dana Schweiger have 4 children: Valentin Schweiger (b. 17 September 1995), Luna Schweiger (b. 11 January 1997), Lilli Schweiger (b. 17 July 1998) and Emma Schweiger (b. 26 October 2002).

Although being a box office hit in Germany, his movie Keinohrhasen (2007) wasn't nominated for a German Film Award. The reason for this was that the German Film Academy didn't accept watermarked DVDs for the jury. But Warner Bros. does not distribute copies to juries without anti-piracy measures. Thus, he angrily left the German Film Academy, but finally decided to re-enter some weeks later (2008).