Sabine Thalbach was born August 4, 1932, in Berlin. She attended actor"s training at Annemarie Steinbeck"s drama school and made her debut as an actress in 1949 in the role of mute Kathrin in Bertolt Brecht"s production of "Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder" ("Mother Courage and Her Children") at Berliner Ensemble. From 1951 on, she was also seen in numerous movie and TV productions.

In 1951, Thalbach made her debut on the movie screen in the role of innocently seduced Agnes Göpel in Wolfgang Staudte"s film "Der Untertan" ("Man of Straw", 1951). She subsequently starred in the film "Die Millionen der Yvette" (1956), in the co-production "Die Hexen von Salem" ("The Crucible", 1957, based on Arthur Miller"s play), also starring Simone Signoret and Yves Montand, and in "Die Premiere fällt aus" (1958). Besides further feature-length DEFA films, Sabine Thalbach also starred in several short films, including "Der vorbildliche Kunde" (1954) and "Vorübergehend geschlossen" (1960).

Sabine Thalbach met director Benno Besson at Berliner Ensemble. In 1954, their daughter Katharina was born who later also became an actress. In 1963, mother and daughter starred together in the TV movie "Der Neue. Teil I", directed by Gerhard Respondek.

During the 1960s, Sabine Thalbach mainly appeared in smaller or supporting roles on the movie screen. Still, she always remained true to the theatre, and Brecht"s Berliner Ensemble, in particular, until her premature death. Sabine Thalbach played her last role in Hans-Joachim Kasprzil"s TV movie "Kleiner Mann – was nun?". She died on September 30, 1966, in Berlin at the age of only 34 years.