Patrick M. Knapp Schwarzenegger

Patrick Mario Knapp-Schwarzenegger (born February 2, 1968) also known as Patrick Knapp, is an Austrian-American attorney, businessman, and investor based in Los Angeles, California.

Patrick Knapp-Schwarzenegger was born in Munich, West Germany.

On May 20, 1971, Patrick’s father Meinhard Schwarzenegger died in a car accident in Kitzbühel, Austria, when Patrick was three years old.

Patrick was raised by his mother and grandparents in Austria and Germany.

In 1981 at age 13 he moved to Portugal, first to Beja, Alentejo, where he played football and after to Lisbon, Portugal, where he played football for S.L. Benfica and attended the German School of Lisbon.

In 1987, Patrick graduated with a German Abitur High School diploma and then emigrated to the United States to attend college with the help of his uncle, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 1991, Knapp-Schwarzenegger graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with degrees in economics and political science and briefly worked for Congressman Lee H. Hamilton (D-Indiana), Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Between 1992 and 1995 Knapp-Schwarzenegger attended law school, graduating in May 1995 with a Juris Doctor from the University of Southern California School of Law.

His legal experience includes work in the Sony Music legal department in New York under the helm of Tommy Mottola in 1994, and during his last year of law school Knapp-Schwarzenegger worked at the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office.

He is the only child of Erika Knapp (died in 1999) and Meinhard Schwarzenegger, elder brother and only sibling of former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 1999, Knapp-Schwarzenegger's mother Erika Knapp died at the age of 53 following a two-year battle with cancer.

That same year he was admitted to practice law in California and joined the Beverly Hills based entertainment law firm Bloom, Dekom & Hergott (in its latest incarnation known as GSB), becoming a partner in 2001.

On April 30, 2005, Knapp-Schwarzenegger married Bliss Ellis, a publicist and former model from Texas.

The couple resides in Los Angeles with their four children: Valentina, Franziska, Leonardo, and Mario.

In 2006, Knapp-Schwarzenegger became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Before he gained his U.S. citizenship, he asked the Austrian government for the right to keep his Austrian citizenship, as they do not usually allow dual citizenship; his request was granted.

In 2017, Knapp-Schwarzenegger served as an advisor to his uncle Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Season 8 of the Mark Burnett-produced NBC television show The New Celebrity Apprentice, with some of the other advisors being Tyra Banks, Warren Buffett, Jessica Alba, and Steve Ballmer.

Knapp-Schwarzenegger served as a producer on various productions, including Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Wonders of the Sea, Deals and Visions, and the Kate Winslet narrated award winning Dreamscapes.

Knapp-Schwarzenegger is also known to be active as investor and shareholder in various startup companies such as the international award winning premium tequila brand Padre Azul and E-mobility innovator Kreisel Electric.

In 2022, Kreisel Electric was acquired by US based and New York Stock Exchange traded John Deere, representing one of the largest Austrian M&A transactions of that year.

In 2020, Knapp-Schwarzenegger (as a partner of GSB) merged with Stone, Genow, Smelkinson, & Christopher, LLP, to form legal powerhouse GGSSC, LLP, which represents some of the top talent in Hollywood.

Knapp-Schwarzenegger’s legal practice focuses on the transactional representation of TV and motion picture actors, writers, directors and producers.