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Andreas Prochaska was born on December 31, 1964, in Vienna, Austria. After dropping out of his studies in journalism and theater studies, he began working as a sound editor, production assistant, editing assistant, and assistant director on film and television productions. As an editing assistant, he was part of the teams working on Michael Haneke's films "Benny's Video" (AT/CH 1992) and "71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls" ("71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance," AT/D 1994). He was then the editor on Haneke's "Das Schloß" ("The Castle," AT 1997, TV) and "Funny Games" (AT 1997) and later on "Code: Unbekannt" ("Code: Unknown," (F/D 2000).
Prochaska made his directorial debut in 1998 with the children's book adaptation "Die 3 Posträuber" (AT), for which he also wrote the screenplay. His second film, "In 3 Tagen bist du tot" ("Dead in 3 Days", AT 2006), an American-style horror thriller, became the most successful movie of the year in Austria and won the award for "innovative production" at the 2007 Diagonale film festival, among others. The sequel, "In 3 Tagen bist du tot 2" ("Dead in 3 Days 2", AT), was not quite as successful in 2008, but Prochaksa scored another big hit with the black comedy "Die unabsichtliche Entführung der Elfriede Ott" ("The Unintentional Kidnapping of Mrs. Elfriede Ott", AT 2010). The film received rave reviews and won the Austrian Film Award "Romy" for Best Feature Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Music.
In addition to his cinema work, Prochaska has also directed numerous television projects. Among other things, he directed numerous episodes of the crime series "Sinan Toprak," "Kommissar Rex," and "KDD – Kriminaldauerdienst." For the environmental drama "Der erste Tag" (AT 2008), the crime thriller "Spuren des Bösen" ("Anatomy of Evil," AT/D 2010, TV) with Heino Ferch, the thriller "Vermisst – Alexandra Walch, 17" (AT/D 2011) and the family drama "Das Wunder von Kärnten" ("A Day for a Miracle," D/AT 2011) he received nominations for the prestigious Grimme Award. For "A Day for a Miracle," he was also awarded the Bavarian Television Prize for Best Director in 2012.
Andreas Prochaska's alpine western "Das finstere Tal" ("The Dark Valley") premiered at the Berlinale in 2014 and tells the story of a mysterious stranger who confronts the inhabitants of a remote mountain village with a dark chapter from their past. The film received Bavarian Film Awards for Best Director and Best Actor (Tobias Moretti). At the 2014 German Film Awards, "Das finstere Tal" received nine nominations—winning all but the Best Director category, including Best Film (in silver). At the 2015 Austrian Film Awards, "Das finstere Tal" was honored as Best Feature Film and Best Director.
Despite this major success, Prochaska did not return to theatrical projects for quite some time, instead devoting himself fully to television work. Among these were the historical three-part series "Maximilian – Das Spiel von Macht und Liebe" (2017), about the life of Maximilian, Archduke of Austria; the first season of the hit series "Das Boot" (2018); and the two-part drama "Im Netz der Camorra" (2021). For the genre-blending series "Love Sucks" (2024)—part drama, part horror, part love story—he received the Bernd Burgemeister Television Award at the Munich Film Festival.
Ten years after "Das finstere Tal," Prochaska began shooting a new feature film in May 2024: "Welcome Home Baby," a psychological thriller about a woman who confronts the demons of her past during a trip through Austria. The film premiered in the Berlinale Panorama section in 2025 and was released in German cinemas in November of the same year.