Andreas Dresen was born August 16, 1968, in Gera. He grew up in Schwerin and started shooting his own amateur movies since the late "70s. After receiving his university-entrance diploma, he worked as a sound engineer at the theater in Schwerin and completed a traineeship at the DEFA Studio for Feature Films where he also worked as an assistant director to his later mentor Günther Reisch. From 1986 until 1991 Dresen studied directing at the "Konrad Wolf" Academy of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Since 1992, he has been working as a freelance author and director. He lives in Potsdam.

Andreas Dresen"s features for TV and cinema have won him several awards. His debut movie "Stilles Land" ("Silent Country", 1992) earned him both the Hessen Film and Cinema Prize and the German Critics" Award. His breakthrough came with the episodic film "Nachtgestalten" ("Night Shapes"), which ran at the Berlinale in 1999. The movie won several awards, including the German Film Award in Silver and the German Critics" Award.

Two years later, "Halbe Treppe" ("Grill Point") turned out to be a great success, winning him the Silver Bear at the Berlinale, the German Film Award in Silver and directing awards at the festivals in Ghent and Chicago. In 2005, the movie version of Christoph Hein"s novel "Willenbrock" was awarded the "Internationaler Literaturfilmpreis" as Best International Literature Adaption.

Dresen celebrated his greatest popular success so far when "Sommer vorm Balkon" ("Summer in Berlin") was released in 2006. Amongst other awards, the movie received an Ernst Lubitsch Award and the Bavarian Film Prize for Best Director. Dresen also shoots documentary films ("Herr Wichmann von der CDU", 2002) and continues to work at theaters such as the Schauspiel in Leipzig and the German Theater in Berlin ("Kasimir und Karoline" by Ödön von Horváth, 2006). In February 2006, he made his successful debut as an opera director at the Theater Basel with Mozart"s "Don Giovanni".

His next film project after "Sommer vorm Balkon", the drama "Wolke 9" ("Cloud Nine", 2008) about the late love affair of a 69 year old married woman and the dramatic consequences also won several prices, among them the German Film Award in three categories. With "Whisky mit Wodka" ("Whisky with Wodka") which opens in autumn 2009, Dresen presents an comical portrait of the film business. Henry Hübchen stars in the lead role as an aging film star.

Dresen is a member of the Academy of Arts Berlin-Brandenburg, the European Film Academy and founding member of the German Film Academy.