Peter Thorwarth was born in Dortmund on June 3 1971. Growing up in Unna, he started shooting Super 8 horror shorts with his friends as a teenager. While studying dentistry in Munich, he – at first unsuccessfully – applied at the Münchner Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen (HFF). He had various jobs in film school productions, including being a driver on Katja von Garnier's "Abgeschminkt", and also briefly studied communications in Augsburg. In 1994, he again applied at the HFF – and this time, he was accepted. During his studies, he directed the 15 minute short "Was nicht passt, wird passend gemacht" (1996), which was nominated for the Student Academy Award and the German Short Film Award. He also helmed the pilot episode of the TV show "Die zwei Beiden vom Fach".

In 1998, Peter Thorwarth made his feature film debut with the comedy "Bang Boom Bang", which he shot in his hometown Unna. A popular and critical success, the film marked the beginning of his "Unna Trilogy", which was continued in 2001 with the feature-length remake of his short "Was nicht passt, wird passend gemacht" ("If It Don't Fit, Use A Bigger Hammer"). He also directed several commercials and music videos, including a clip for the song "Kein Alkohol ist auch keine Lösung" by German rock group Die Toten Hosen which won him the 2002 Comet Award.

In 2005, Thorwarth completed the "Unna Trilogy" with the comedy "Goldene Zeiten". Moonlighting as an actor, he starred alongside Fabian Busch and Wotan Wilke Möhring in "Video Kings". Together with Dennis Gansel, he wrote the screenplay for the successful drama "Die Welle" ("The Wave").

Early 2014 saw the theatrical release of Thorwarth's comedy "Nicht mein Tag", in which the life of a mousy bank clerk is turned upside down when he is taken hostage by a wannabe gangster. As co-producer he was involved in the adolescence story "Radio Heimat" (2016), a film adaptation of Frank Goosen's novel of the same name. He also made advertising and image films for Sky Go, Evonik and Mercedes Benz.  

Since his long-cherished feature film project "Blood Red Sky", a mixture of action and horror film, did not get beyond the promotion and preparation phase for years, Thorwarth accepted another directing assignment in 2018: A film adaptation of the successful TV series "Der letzte Bulle" with Henning Baum in the title role. The action comedy was released in German cinemas in November 2019.