Renate Müller was born in Munich on April 26th 1906. In 1914, the family moved to Danzig, where Müller started taking singing lessons. After relocating to Berlin in 1925, Müller enrolled in the drama class ath the Reinhardt-Schule, where G. W. Pabst was one of her teachers. Graduating in 1925, she gave her stage debut under Pabst's direction at the Harzer Bergtheater in Thale, and subsequently played at several theatres throughout Germany.

In 1928, Müller was discovered by film director Reinhold Schünzel, with whom she made some of her most memorable movies. Being a trained singer, Müller easily made the transition to sound cinema and quickly rose to stardom as an actress capable of doing drama and comedy as well.

Müller's remarkable comic talents were highlighted by peak performances in the classic travesty romp "Viktor und Viktoria" and the comedy of manners "Die englische Heirat". Her persuasive female heroes used charm and wit, and thereby often proved to be much more in control than their male counterparts, as witnessed in "Das Flötenkonzert von Sanssouci" and "Eskapade".

While her career was amazing, her personal life became a tragedy: In the mid-1930s, Renate Müller suffered from her rapidly deteriorating health and finally had to quit filmmaking. She passed away in a sanatorium in Berlin on October 7th 1937.