Tonio Schneider was born on 12 May 1991 in Freiburg im Breisgau. As a teenager he appeared in dance theatre productions and musicals at the Young Theatre in Freiburg. After graduating from high school, he studied acting at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) from 2012 to 2015. During this time he had guest performances at the Neumarkt Theatre and the Rigiblick Theatre; he also appeared in several student short films, including the multi-award-winning comedy "Zimmer ohne Aussicht" (CH 2014).   

After graduating, Schneider took some time out and travelled through Colombia. After his return, he became a permanent member of the ensemble at Theater Freiburg for the 2016/17 season, but left again due to a change of artistic director. As a freelance actor, he has appeared on stage at the Theater an der Rottstraße Bochum and the Ruhrtriennale. The production "Diamante" was invited to the Wiener Festwochen and resumed at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele in 2019. During the 2018/19 season Schneider was a member of the ensemble at the Theater für Niedersachsen (TfN) Hildesheim. As a director he made the experimental short film "Voyage", which was screened at the Hofer Filmtage in 2018.   

Tonio Schneider made his debut on the big screen in 2019 in Julia von Heinz' antifa drama "Und morgen die ganze Welt" ("And tomorrow the Entire World"), in a central role as a convinced antifa activist. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in autumn 2020. The German theatrical release took place in October 2020.