Matti Geschonneck was born in Potsdam-Babelsberg on May 8th 1952. The son of actors Erwin Geschonneck and Hannelore Wüst, began studying film direction at the Sergej-Gerassimov-Filminstitut (VGIK) in Moscow, but after two years was forced to leave the school by GDR officials because he had voiced his solidarity with the exiled singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann. In 1987, Geschonneck used a work visa to relocate to West-Germany, where he gathered practical film experience working as an assistant to directors like Thomas Langhoff und Eberhard Fechner.

In 1982, he made his screen debut as a director with the surreal drama "Moebius", which is based on a short story by American astronomer A.J. Deutsch. For a long time, it remained Geschonneck"s only cinema release, since he focused on television instead. Over the course of 18 years, he helmed numerous, multi-award-winning TV productions, including the comedy "Matulla und Busch" (1995) starring his father Erwin, as well as the dramatic thrillers "Der Mörder und sein Kind" (1995) and "Die Mutter" (2002). Garnering Grimme and German Television Awards, "Die Nachrichten" (2005) is the story of a popular news reporter, who is confronted with his past as an informer for the Stasi , East Germany"s infamous secret police. Critics also praised his thriller "Todsünde", in which Hanns Zischler und Lisa Potthoff play two police detectives searching for a missing child.

2010 marks Matti Geschonneck"s return as a movie director with the tragicomic working class comedy "Boxhagener Platz".