His older brother Rene's tough luck provided Hofschneider's big break. Rene had been cast in the leading role in Agnieszka Holland's "Europa, Europa" (1991), but by the time filming commenced, was too old for the part. Rene was relegated to a supporting part, and Marco played the lead. As Solomon 'Solly' Perel, a young Jew who becomes a Nazi Party member to save his own life and inadvertently becomes a German hero, Hofschneider earned rave reviews. It was a difficult part in a film that teetered from black comedy to tragedy and the young actor handled it beautifully.
In "Le Mirage" (1992), Hofschneider played the son of a dying woman who falls in love with his American tutor. He made his American debut in 1994 with Eva Sereny's "Foreign Student", falling in love with a black girl (Robin Givens) in 1950s Virginia. The film vanished quickly, though Hofschneider made a good impression (the German actor had to speak English with a French accent, no easy task). "Immortal Beloved" (1994) was received somewhat better, though by a limited audience. In this Beethoven biopic, Hofschneider played the composer's hapless nephew. His next film was a disaster: in John Frankenheimer's ill-advised remake of "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (1996), Hofschneider was all but unrecognizable as M'Ling, one of the experimental monsters.
Hofschneider made his US TV debut in the 1994 documentary "Normandy: The Great Crusade" (The Discovery Channel), providing the voice for Rudolph Grabher-Meyer.