Vadim Glowna was born on September 26, 1941, in Eutin. After dropping out of theology studies, Glowna attended actor's training at Hamburg's drama school from 1961 on and subsequently went to Hamburg Schauspielhaus to work with Gustaf Gründgens. From 1963 on, Glowna successfully performed at theatres in Munich, Berlin, and Bremen where he worked together with Minks and Zadek. In addition, Glowna started to play in movie and TV productions from 1964 on. In 1973, he made his debut as a director with the production of Ann Jellicoe's play "Was ist an Tolen so sexy?" at a theatre in Hamburg.

In 1975, Glowna became a film producer, but the movie "Eurydike BA 2037" was a commercial flop and did not attract a large audience. Nevertheless, Glowna started to work on a new movie: "Desperado City", which Glowna directed in 1981, became a noticeable success for his movie director debut. The film displays Glowna's perspective on Hamburg and links the excellent portray of the desperate milieu of petty crooks with an imagery that reminded moviegoers of the American cinema tradition.

Glowna's second film as a director, "Dies rigorose Leben", also takes on the image of a "Land of infinite possibilities" which heavily influenced him in his youth: "Everything that I remember from my childhood is in some way connected to America, either as a cultural influence or in the form of the presence of an occupying power that brought us Coca Cola, music, and films." (Vadim Glowna)

During the 1990s, Vadim Glowna made several TV movies ("Tatort", "Der Alte") and also played in ambitious movie productions such as "Die Unberührbare" ("No Place to Go"), "Baader", "Der alte Affe Angst" ("Angst"), and "Agnes und seine Brüder" ("Agnes and His Brothers"). His last work as director was the 2006 release "Das Haus der schlafenden Schönen" ("House of Sleeping Beauties").

Vadim Glowna died January 24, 2012 in Berlin.