Uwe Ochsenknecht was born January 7, 1956, in the Hessian city of Biblis and grew up in Mannheim. He became attracted to acting already during his school days and was able to focus completely on acting after being expelled from school. From 1974 on, he attended drama school in Bochum and starred in some minor roles in several TV series. Ochsenknecht then became known to a wider public with his performance in "Das Boot" ("The Boat").

He then starred in "Der Rekord" ("The Record", 1984) und "Vergesst Mozart" ("Forget Mozart", 1984) but suddenly became a newcomer star with his part in Doris Dörrie"s comedy "Männer" ("Men", 1985): Ochsenknecht won the German Actors award as best young actor. In Helmut Dietl"s contemporary satire "Schtonk!", Ochsenknecht made a dashing performance as the clever forger of the Hitler diaries.

At the beginning of the 1990s. Ochsenknecht also started a career in the music business and published several albums. He then again starred in several TV and movie productions such as "Die Sache ist gelaufen" (1985), "Fussball ist unser Leben" ("Soccer Rules!", 2000), "Dune – Der Wüstenplanet" ("Dune", 2000), "Die wilden Kerle" ("The Wild Soccer Bunch", 2003), "Luther" (2003), "Vom Suchen und Finden der Liebe" ("About the Looking for and the Finding of Love", 2005), "Die Wilden Kerle 2" ("The Wild Soccer Bunch 2", 2005), and "Die Bluthochzeit" ("The Wedding Party", 2005).

In 2006, Ochsenknecht appeared in Oskar Roehler"s film adaptation of Michel Houellebecq"s "Elementarteilchen" ("Elementary Particles"). He also starred in the movie "Die wilden Kerle 3" ("The Wild Soccer Bunch 3") and in the satire "Tollpension", a TV production.