In the artist's words:

Willi Weitzel

was born on 13.12.1972 in Marburg an der Lahn and grew up in neighboring Stadtallendorf. Today he lives in Bavaria, is married and has three daughters.

Willi loves asking questions and finding out exciting things. Willi became famous through the TV reportage series Willi wills wissen and is now one of the best-known faces on German children's television. He has received numerous awards for his films, including the Grimme Prize and the Bavarian Television Prize. In recognition of his extensive and varied work in children's media, Willi, one of the most successful reporters in the German children's media landscape, has just been awarded the 2022 Grand Prize of the German Academy for Children's and Young People's Literature.

Willi is not only a roving but also a traveling reporter and has recently made films about the living conditions of children around the world, such as in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Amazonia, Ukraine, Lebanon, India, Bolivia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Peru.
He has been touring Germany with his multivision show since 2012 and is currently presenting his fourth program: Willi live - UND WOVON TRÄUMST DU? As a storyteller, Willi has also been performing live for many years at children's concerts such as Peter and the Wolf, Carnival of the Animals and Hansel and Gretel with renowned orchestras.
From 2018 to 2022, Willi hosted the weekly magazine Gut zu wissen on BR television and ARD. He also writes books such as Der Frieden ist ausgebrochen and Peter, Paula und der Wolf, is the author of the family page of the dm magazine alverde and was a columnist for the monthly environmental column Die Bessermacher in Chrismon magazine. Following the huge box-office success Willi und die Wunder dieser Welt , his second big-screen adventure, Willi und der Wunderkröte , was released in 2022. With the megaherzcampus series Willi macht Schule, he has already published award-winning educational films for school lessons on a wide range of topics such as health, road safety education, forests and racism.

Willi is a UNICEF sponsor, ambassador for the UN Decade, the Blue Angel and the Heraeus Education Foundation, as well as patron of the Young Researchers Initiative and Abenteuer Regenwald e.V..