20 July 2020

Jo Weil

Jo Weil (1977) is a German actor and TV presenter. He is best known for his role as Oliver Sabel in the soap-opera Verbotene Liebe/Forbidden Love. He had played the character for 15 years before trying out other pursuits, including releasing 2 singles, acting in a musical, and several films.

Jo Weil
German autograph card.

Jo Weil
German autograph card.

Jo Weil
German autograph card. Photo: Nadine Dilly.

The impact of a young bisexual waiter


Johannes 'Jo' Hermann Bruno Anton Weil was born in 1977 in Frankfurt, Germany. He is the son of a Degree in Business Administration owner and a physiotherapist. He grew up with a brother, Michael, who is three years younger and a lawyer, in Petersberg.

Jo finished his high school diploma at the Freiherr-vom-Stein-Schule in Fulda. After high school and community service, he attended drama school in Cologne and took private acting and singing lessons.

He made his screen debut in the romantic drama series Geliebte Schwestern/Beloved sisters (1997), but the series was a flop. Then, throughout 1998 through 2006, he studied in drama workshops at the Arturo Drama School. Weil played in TV productions and on the stage. He also took over modelling (including his own calendars) and guest appearances jobs and worked as a (synchronous) speaker or voice-over artist.

In 2000, Jo Weil started playing a young bisexual waiter Oliver Sabel, a lead role in the evening drama series Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love). Oliver later falls in love with his roommate Christian Mann (Thore Schölermann), and with whom he has formed one of the leading couples of the series since 2007.

The impact of Christian and Oliver's stories has spread outside Germany via the Internet, such as Brazil, the United States, Canada, Spain, China, and other countries, even though the series is not broadcast outside of German-speaking countries. They were also invited to attend ski resort Whistler in Canada for the Winterpride. He attended fashion shows and was in the jury for the election of Mr. Gay World.

Jo Weil
German autograph card.

Jo Weil
German autograph card.

Jo Weil
German autograph card, 2017.

The 'most beautiful lovers' award


From November 2007, Jo Weil, after a five-year break, returned to the role of Oliver. In September 2010, Oliver married Christian in a church wedding. In 2011, he and co-star Thore Schölermann won the 'most beautiful lovers' award at the German Soap Awards and he won the 'Fan Price Male' award. In 2012, he won 'Fan Prize Male' again at the Soap Award in Berlin, Germany.

In August 2012, due to other commitments, Thore Schölermann left the show, breaking up "Chrolli", as the couple was called by fans. Weil then left the show in February 2015.

Since 2009, Jo Weil wrote his own star column in the English lifestyle magazine reFRESH. He volunteers as an ambassador for the Aidshilfe Köln. From 2002-2004, he portrayed the character of Florian Lenz in the television series, Medicopter 117/Medicopter, about rescue operations.

In 2010, Weil participated in the cooking show The Perfect Celebrity Dinner. He also appeared in such films as Das Leben ist keine Autobahn/Life is not a highway (Dennis Albrecht, 2011), Sodom (Mark Wilshin, 2017), and the horror film The Toymaker (Andrew Jones, 2017).

Since August 2016, Weil presents the format Lifestyle with Jo Weil, on the online channel Wirtschaft TV. In 2017, he participated with Mirja du Mont as a dance partner on the program Dance Dance Dance. In that year, he also starred in the film comedy Oskar - leave on a high note (Thomas Schwedler, 2018).

From autumn 2018, he took over the role of Frank Farmer in the stage musical 'The Bodyguard' at the Ronacher Theatre in Vienna. Since then he appeared in multiple productions of 'The Bodyguard' in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.

Jo Weil lives in Cologne, Germany, when not working elsewhere. Following 21 years of declining to comment on his personal life, Weil came out as gay in an interview with the German magazine Bunte in April 2020. He revealed that he has been in a longterm relationship for more than a decade. He declared: "I finally want to live a free and normal life without having to put a filter in front of reality and give spongy answers."

Jo Weil
German autograph card.

Jo Weil
German autograph card.

Jo Weil
German autograph card, 2017.

Jo Weil
German autograph postcard by Joweil.de. Photo: Weil / Holthausen.

Sources: Law & Lawyer Journals, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

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