In 2021, Schweighöfer appeared in the Netflix film Army of the Dead, directed by Zack Snyder, as Ludwig Dieter.

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.

[1] Schweighöfer portrayed Lieutenant Franz Herber in Valkyrie, a 2008 film dramatizing the failed 20 July assassination and political coup plot to kill Adolf Hitler.

In 2017, he directed, produced and played the lead role in You Are Wanted, Amazon Studios' first non-English-language TV series.

[4][5] In 2021, Schweighöfer appeared in the Netflix film Army of the Dead, directed by Zack Snyder, as Ludwig Dieter.