Sabine Timoteo, born Sabine Hagenbüchle in Bern in 1975, grew up in New Mexico, USA, and in Lausanne. From 1991 to 1993, Timoteo studied dance at Schweizerische Ballettberufsschule. She then worked for Heinz Spoerrli at Deutsche Oper in Düsseldorf but left already after two months because she did not want to do classical dance any longer. Instead, Timoteo toured with Carlotta Ikeda's butoh ensemble "Compaigne Ariadone".

Director Philip Gröning then met her in an actor's workshop in Munich and cast her for the leading female part in his film "L'amour, l'argent, l'amour" (Love, Money, Love) that was shot in 1996 but was not released before 2000. In the meantime, from 1997 to 2000 Timoteo became a professional cook in Bern. When the film was finally released, Timoteo both won the Bronze Leopard in Locarno and the Swiss film prize for her role as the prostitute Marie.

In the following years, Timoteo starred in Maria Speth's "In den Tag hinein" ("The Days Between", 2001) or Dominik Graf's drama "Die Freunde der Freunde" which won her a Grimme award. She also received rare reviews for her performance in Christian Petzold's "Gespenster" ("Ghosts", 2005). In Matthias Glasner's controversial film "Der freie Wille" ("The Free Will") Timoteo plays a woman who falls in love with a rapist.

For her performance as the enigmatic girlfriend of Jürgen Vogel's quirky character in the comedy "Ein Freund von mir" ("A Friend Of Mine"), Timoteo received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 2007 German Film Award. The following year, she won the Swiss Film Award for her role in the made-for-TV thriller "Nebenwirkungen".

She continued to embody complex and often withdrawn characters, among them the photographer in the romance "After Effect" (2007), the grandchild of a fugitive Nazi in Michael Glawogger's "Vaterspiel" ("Kill Daddy Good Night") (2007-2009) and the psychiatrist of an unstable woman in "Brownian Movement" (2009/2010).

In 2011, "Die Farbe des Ozeans" ("Color of the Oceans") premiered at the Munich Film Festival. In the film, Timoteo plays a German tourist vacationing on the Canary Islands who is confronted with the plight of African refugees and the indifference of the local authorities. The film was released in Germany in Spring 2012. The same year, she appeared in the drama "Formentera" by Ann-Kristin Reyels. The film premiered in the Forum section of the 2012 Berlin IFF.