Uwe Boll, born June 22, 1965, in Wermelskirchen, made his first short films on Super-8 and video already as a teenager. After studying film directing in Munich and Vienna, he also finished further studies in the departments of business administration and literary studies at the universities of Cologne and Siegen. In 1994, he earned his PhD degree with a dissertation about "Die Gattung der Serie und ihre Genres".

At this point in time, Boll had already released his first films, the comedy "German Fried Movie" (1991), and the conspiracy drama "Barschel – Mord in Genf" (1992) which aroused the interest of critics because of the topic"s media attention. In 1991, Boll set up his own film production company with his friend and business partner Frank Lustig, BOLU Filmproduktions- und Verleih GmbH. Since 1998, Boll is BOLU"s sole owner. From 1994 to 2000, he also worked as a producer, director, and general manager for the Wiesbaden-based TaunusFilm GmbH.

After directing the campus comedy "Das erste Semester" ("The First Semester", 1997), Boll only worked as a producer during the following years. He did not return as a director until 2002 for the Canadian-German co-production "Blackwoods". Since then, Boll, who lives alternately in Vancouver, Canada, and in Mainz, has realized almost all of his films as US-German or Canadian-German co-productions, while the post-production often takes place in Germany.

Thematically, Boll has specialized in adaptations of video games such as "House of the Dead" or "BloodRayne" that are produced with a rather small budget, but nevertheless with stars like Jason Statham or Til Schweiger in the films "Im Namen des Königs" ("In the Name of the King") or "Far Cry". Boll"s films have most often been mocked and despised by critics and film fans alike. Time and again, Boll has been called the "new Ed Wood" or "worst director of all time" – but that did not do any harm to the profitability of his films. And in a way, the campaigns that were intended to stop him from directing films as well as the partly over-damning reviews - together with his often self-ironic approach - have given Boll the status of a "cult director". In 2008, Boll finally succeeded to direct a film, the ambitious Vietnam War drama "1968 Tunnel Rats", that received favorable reviews at least from some critics.