Dietrich Kuhlbrodt was born on October 15, 1932, in Hamburg, Germany. While studying law, he began writing film and theater reviews in 1957. As a prosecutor at the Hamburg Regional Court, the doctorate-holding jurist was responsible for prosecuting Nazi criminals for many years. In the 1960s, he also worked at the Central Office of the State Justice Administrations for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes in Ludwigsburg. 

Kuhlbrodt's personal passion had always been film—both behind and in front of the camera. In addition to numerous reviews, including for epd Film magazine, he wrote the courtroom scenes for Werner Schroeter's "Liebeskonzil" (1982) and co-directed the TV documentary "Wild auf Kino. Eine Reise durch den allerjüngsten deutschen Film" (1987) with Michael Kötz. He also supported the Berlin-based artist group Die Tödliche Doris, contributing as an author to their music and book project "Naturkatastrophen" and the Super 8 film book "KINO". 

A long-standing friendship and collaboration connected Kuhlbrodt with performance artist and filmmaker Christoph Schlingensief (1960–2010). As an actor, he appeared in several of Schlingensief's films, including "100 Jahre Adolf Hitler. Die letzte Stunde im Führerbunker" ("100 Years of Adolph Hitler", 1989, as Joseph Goebbels), "Das deutsche Kettensägenmassaker" ("The German Chainsaw Massacre", 1990), "United Trash" (1995), and "Die 120 Tage von Bottrop" ("The 120 Days of Bottrop", 1997). He also performed in several of Schlingensief's theater productions, such as "Attabambi-Pornoland", based on Elfriede Jelinek, at Schauspielhaus Zürich (2004). Additionally, he was a member of Schlingensief's satirical political party Chance 2000. 

In 2002, Kuhlbrodt published his memoirs, followed by the book "Deutsches Filmwunder – Nazis immer besser" (2006), a critical examination of how German cinema portrays the Nazi era. From 2003, he co-edited the online magazine Filmzentrale, which curated selected film critiques from various media outlets. In 2011, he joined the artist collective HGich.T under the pseudonym Opa16, appearing in videos for works by Heinz Strunk, among others. 

In February 2021, Kuhlbrodt was one of 185 lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, non-binary, and trans* signatories of the #actout manifesto, taking part in a mass coming-out featured on the cover of Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin. The initiative called for greater visibility, diversity, and an end to discrimination of LGBTIQA+ people in the theater, film, and television industries. 

Kuhlbrodt remained highly active as an actor throughout the years. He appeared in Dietrich Brüggemann’s satire "Heil" (2015) and starred in multiple films by Arne Körner, who ultimately made a documentary about Kuhlbrodt: "Nonkonform", which premiered at the Hof International Film Festival in 2024 and was released in theaters in February 2025.

Dietrich Kuhlbrodt is the brother of actor Rüdiger Kuhlbrodt and lives in Hamburg.