Susanne Schneider, born in Stuttgart, studied art at Stuttgart"s Kunstakademie and at Düsseldorf"s Akademie der Künste. She subsequently landed a job as an assistant director at Düsseldorf"s Schauspielhaus and at Schauspiel Frankfurt and later worked as a freelance director at theatres all over Germany and in Switzerland.

Since attending a workshop at Munich"s Drehbuchwerkstatt and working stays at New York University"s Drama Department and at Rio de Janeiro"s Teatro Gloria, Schneider works as a playwright and screenplay writer. She already won the 1992 Bavarian TV award and a Grimme award for her first screenplay that was made into a film, the migration and youth drama "Fremde, liebe Fremde".

Since 1995, Schneider is a member of the team of screenplay writers for the ARD crime film series "Tatort", here mainly for the SWR "Tatort" productions. For the movie screen, Schneider wrote the screenplays to films such as Nico Hoffmann"s thriller "Solo für Klarinette" ("Solo for Clarinet", 1998), starring Götz George and Corinna Harfouch, and Nina Grosse"s award-winning Hölderlin drama "Feuerreiter" ("Fire Rider", 1998), starring Marin Feifel and Ulrich Mühe.

In 2002, Susanne Schneider made her debut as film director with the highly-praised TV drama "In einer Nacht wie dieser" about a high school student who is accused of rape by female schoolmate.

In 2009, Susanne Schneider finished her first film as a director for the movie screen, the family drama "Es kommt der Tag" ("The Day Will Come") about a woman (played by Iris Berben) who suddenly has to deal with her long-gone past as a militant revolutionary.