Welcome to Germany!
Introducing Til Schweiger
Til Schweiger is a German actor, director and producer, and has won four BAMBI awards. (The BAMBI is the most important award in German cinema.)
Til Schweiger was born on 19 December 1963 in Freiburg im Breisgau. He left university, where he was studying to become a teacher, to attend a drama school in Cologne. He graduated in 1989.
After his film debut in the comedy “Manta, Manta”, he won an award for Best Young Actor at the 1993 Max Ophüls Festival. He has since built up acting credits in dozens of German and international movies, in addition to work as a writer, director, and producer. Some of his career highlights: “Der bewegte Mann”, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, “Tomb Raider II”, “Inglorious Basterds”, “Der Grosse Bagarozy”, “SLC Punk”.
He married American model Dana Carlson in 1995 and they have had four children together. They lived in the USA until 2004, then moved to Hamburg and separated in 2005. Til now lives in Berlin, Dana and the children live in Hamburg.
Facts on Germany
Year of EU entry: Founding member
Political system: Federal republic
Capital city: Berlin
Total area: 356 854 km²
Population: 82.5 million
Currency: Euro
Official EU language: German
Germany stretches from the North Sea and the Baltic in the north to the Alps in the south and is traversed by some of Europe’s major rivers such as the Rhine, Danube and Elbe.
After the Second World War, Germany was divided into the democratic West and the Communist East (German Democratic Republic). The Berlin Wall that separated both states fell in 1989 and Germany was reunited a year later.
German is the most widely spoken first language in the European Union.
Germany is the second largest producer of hops in the world and the country is known for its quality beers. Wine is produced in the Moselle and Rhine valleys.
Germany is the world’s third largest economy, producing automobiles, precision engineering products, electronic and communications equipment, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Find out more about Germany:
Q&A
Q: Is David Hasselhoff German? Did he really help end the Cold War?
A: No, David Hasselhoff is not German. He was Baltimore, Maryland. He has some German relatives and can speak German fluently.
Hasselhoff was already a pop star in Austria and Switzerland when his song “Looking for Freedom” the song raced up the charts in the late summer of 1989, just as a wave of revolt began sweeping through Eastern Europe. Hasselhoff performed on the Berlin Wall on New Year’s Eve 1989.
David Hasselhoff says about Germany: [the Americans] “have no idea how beautiful Europe is and how rich it is in culture and fun and warmth”.
Sascha Tauber, who runs The Hasselhoff Foundation, David’s Munich-based official fanclub, says “Did David Hasselhoff help bring an end to the Cold War? No, I think this is just a joke.” (more information)
