Johannes Herrschmann was born in 1959 und studied at Berlin"s Hochschule der Künste (HdK) from 1980 to 1984. In 1983, before graduating from HdK, he co-founded the "Theater zum westlichen Stadthirschen" where he worked as actor and director. Furthermore, he acted as a managing partner of the theatre until 2002 and received rare reviews for his performances at Munich"s Volkstheater or Metropol Theater.

From the late 1980s on, Herrschmann took to the cinema and played various supporting roles. He mainly worked with director Rudolf Thome and played parts in five of his films, the latest being the leading part in "Du hast gesagt, dass du mich liebst". But overall, Herrschmann is only sporadically seen on the big screen. His numerous TV appearances, on the other hand, include serials like "München 7", "Tatort" and "SOKO 5113" as well as TV movies like the elaborate two-piece "Das unbezähmbare Herz".