Andreas Schmidt was born November 23, 1963, in Heggen in the Sauerland. After finishing school he studied German philology and philosophy but then turned to acting and attended several seminars for directing and acting. He made his first professional experiences at theatres in Mannheim, Dortmund, Bonn, and Berlin. In 1987, Schmidt made his debut on the big screen in the hyped-up crime comedy "Peng! Du bist tot!". Then, Schmidt played a minor role in the musical "Linie 1".

After numerous roles in short films and in TV movies, Schmidt caused a stir in 1998 in the role of Alex in Eoin Moore's film "Plus-Minus-Null" ("Break Even"). Schmidt also starred in Moore's next two films, as Axel in Conamara" (2000), and as Laxe in "Pigs will fly" (2002). For his part in "Pigs will fly", Schmidt was nominated as "Best actor" for the German film award. He also won a nomination as "Best supporting actor" for the German film award for his highly praised performance in Andreas Dresen's successful film "Sommer vorm Balkon" ("Summer in Berlin").

Schmidt also played distinctive parts in the youth story "Bin ich sexy" (2004), in the tragicomedy "Im Schwitzkasten" ("No Sweat", 2005, again directed by Eoin Moore), and in the box office hit "Rennschwein Rudi Rüssel 2" ("Rudy - The Return of the Racing Pig", 2007), directed by Peter Timm. For his leading role in the much noticed tragicomedy "Fleisch ist mein Gemüse" ("Krauts, Doubts & Rock 'n' Roll") Andreas Schmidt was awarded the German film award in 2009.

In the years that followed, he again appeared primarily in numerous TV dramas and series, including supporting roles in Ute Wieland's historical drama "Die Rebellin" (2009), Eric Friedler's docudrama "Aghet - Ein Völkermord" (2010), Bernd Böhlich's crime comedy "Krauses Braut" (2011) and Wieland's GDR drama "Deckname Luna" (2011).

For his lead role as a highly sensitive soul comforter in the tragicomedy "Ein guter Sommer" ("A Good Summer"), Schmidt was awarded a special jury prize at the 2011 Hessian Television Awards together with his co-stars Jördis Triebel and Devid Striesow; the following year, the trio received the Grimme Award together with Edward Berger (screenplay & direction) and Michael Schenk (screenplay).   

On the big screen, Andreas Schmidt played the poet Guillaume du Bartas in Jo Baier's historical epic "Henri 4" (2010), among others, and a slave hunter in Hermine Huntgeburth's "Die Abenteuer des Huck Finn" ("The Adventures of Huck Finn", 2012). In the highly acclaimed children's film "Sputnik" ("Mission: Sputnik", 2013), he had the important supporting role of a shopkeeper in the GDR who helps a girl build a futuristic machine; in Christian Alvart's thriller "Banklady" (2013), he played a factory worker who leads a double life as a bank robber.   

In 2012/13 Schmidt collaborated with Stefan Ruzowitzky again, as a narrator in the documentary "Das radikal Böse" ("The Ultimate Bad"). In "Auf das Leben!" ("To Life!", 2014), he played the therapist of a former Jewish cabaret singer (Hannelore Elsner) who can't cope with the move to a retirement home; in the children's film "Ente gut! Mädchen allein zu Haus" ("Fortune Favors the Brave", 2016) he played a man who is confronted with his fatherhood by his adolescent daughters. In 2015, Schmidt again appeared in a film directed by Andreas Dresen: In the remake of the classic "Timm Thaler oder das verkaufte Lachen" ("The Legend of Timm Thaler or The Boy Who Sold His Laughter"), Schmidt took on the role of a henchman for the evil Baron Lefuet. 

In addition to the numerous feature films and TV productions Andreas Schmidt acted in,  he was also the lead singer of the rock band "Lillies große Liebe," and a successful theater director in Berlin.

"Die Unsichtbaren - Wir wollen leben," a feature film about Jews living in hiding in Berlin after the Nazi purges during World War II, was to be his last film. Before the official German theatrical release in October, Andreas Schmidt passed away in Berlin on September 28, 2017.