Born with the name of Corinna Meffert on the 16th of October, 1954, Corinna Harfouch grows up in Großenhain (Saxony). After finishing high school, she does an apprenticeship as a nurse and starts her studies in textile engineering at the technical university in Dresden in 1975. From 1978 to 1981 she is enrolled at the Berlin drama school. Taking on various theatrical engagements – among them at the Berliner Ensemble and the Deutschen Theater – in the years that follow she plays a number of roles in various cinema and television productions.

Already in 1985, she catches the eye of the cinema-going public with her performance in Roland Gräf"s Friedrich Wolf film adaptation "Das Haus am Fluß". She receives several awards for her performances in two main roles in 1988. In Siegfried Kühn"s film "Die Schauspielerin", she plays Maria Rheine, who renounces a promising acting career under the Nazis, becoming Jewish instead in order to stay together with her lover. In Michael Gwisdek"s first film as director, "Treffen in Travers", she plays the wife of the revolutionary Georg Forster. For this highly intensive role, she receives an award for her performance at the very last film festival to take place in the GDR.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, she takes on various roles, including the twin mother in "Charlie & Louise – Das doppelte Lottchen" (1994), a GDR fugitive citizen in "Das Versprechen" (The Promise, 1994), a prison doctor in the black comedy "Sexy Sadie" (1996), a beautiful murder suspect in "Solo für Klarinette" (Solo for Clarinet, 1998) and a psycho-therapist in Bernd Eichinger"s film "Der große Bagarozy" (The Great Bagarozy, 1999).

She achieves particular success with her role both in the children"s film "Bibi Blocksberg" (2002) as well as its sequel "Bibi Blocksberg und das Geheimnis der blauen Eulen" (Bibi Blocksberg and the Secret of the Blue Owls, 2004), where she plays a witch. For the first of the two she receives a German Film Award for best actress in a supporting role. She also attracts widespread attention for her performance in Oliver Hirschbiegel"s film "Der Untergang" (Downfall, 2004), where she plays the role of Magda Goebbels. For this performance she is again nominated for the German Film Award.

In the following years Harfouch plays in such ambitious films like the adaptation of Houellebecqs novel "Elementarteilchen" (Elementary Particles, 2006) by Oskar Roehler, in Tom Tykwers adaptation of Patrick Süsskinds "Das Parfum" (Perfume, 2006) and also in smaller productions like Franziska Meletzkys "Frei nach Plan" (According to the Plan, 2007). In 2008 she stars in the new film by Caroline Link, "Im Winter ein Jahr" (A Year Ago in Winter).

Later she could be seen in a number of ambitious television plays, for example in Mark Schlichter's drama "Tod einer Schülerin" (2010) or Jan Ruzicka's crime comedy "Schmidt & Schwarz" (2011). At the end of 2011 "Auf der Suche" ("Looking for Simon"; D: Jan Krüger) hit the cinema screens, a by and large independently produced drama about a mother who is looking for her missing, gay son in Marseille.