Michael Schaerer was born in Aarau, Switzerland on March 17, 1975. In 1996, he began to study film and video direction at the New York School of Visual Arts (SVA), from which he graduated in 2000. His final student film "Warmth" (CH 2000) screened in the short film competition at the Venice IFF and won the gold medal in the category "Alternative" at the 2001 Student Academy Awards.

Michael Schaerer then started to work as an editor for film and television. Among his credits as editor are "Achtung, fertig, Charlie!" (CH 2003), "Die Herbstzeitlosen" (CH 2006), "Tell" (CH/DE 2007) and "Tannöd" ("The Murder Farm", DE/CH 2009). At the same time, he developed his own projects and helmed the 10-part TV documentary "Start up – der Weg zur eigenen Firma" (2007).

Schaerer made his feature-length debut with the hospital drama "Stationspiraten" (CH 2010), which won awards at the Emden Film Festival, the Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis and the Zurich Film Festival. Despite the success, Schaerer focused on his career as an editor during the next years and worked on films like "Clara und das Geheimnis der Bären" (CH/DE 2013) and "Das kleine Gespenst" ("The Little Ghost", DE/CH 2013).

He directed the "Tatort" episode "Zwischen zwei Welten" (CH/DE 2014) and the award-winning TV drama "Lina" (CH 2016), both of which were very well received by critics and audiences. In addition to these projects, Schaerer edited the Holocaust drama "Akte Grüninger" (CH 2014) and the award-winning children's film "Heidi" DE/CH 2015), both directed by Alain Gsponer. His next feature as director was "Die kleine Hexe" (DE/CH 2017), an adaptation of the eponymous children's book by Otfried Preußler.

Apart from his work as a filmmaker, Michael Schaerer also teaches at the Hochschule der Künste in Zurich.