Siegfried "Sigi" Zimmerschied – cabaret artist, actor, director, and writer – was born on October 7, 1953, in the Bavarian city of Passau. Raised in a traditionally-minded environment, his formative influences included Catholic kindergarten, elementary school, a classical high school, the local sports club, and serving as an altar boy. He went on to study religious education. In a 2008 interview with Bavarian public broadcaster BR, he reflected on his upbringing: "I grew up in what you might call a typical civil servant family in Passau. But even from early on, there was a kind of mental split in my extended family. My father's side was always the more eccentric, sanguine, funny side. My mother's family, on the other hand, was made up almost entirely of civil servants – mostly police officers, going back generations. So I grew up in this tension between creativity and discipline. I was able to let my imagination run wild, but I always wrote things down, structured them, and dealt with them in a very methodical way. [...] That's something that's stayed with me to this day." 

Zimmerschied's artistic career began in the mid-1970s with his first literary and cabaret performances. In 1975, he co-founded the satirical cabaret group "Die Verhohnepeopler" with fellow performer Bruno Jonas. Their debut play, "Himmelskonferenz" (literally "Heavenly Conference"), sparked immediate controversy: it portrayed a disillusioned God being ousted by the bureaucratic archangel Michael (played by Zimmerschied himself), accompanied by a stoned Jesus (Jonas) and a drunken Holy Spirit. The piece caused a public scandal and even led to a blasphemy trial – though Zimmerschied was ultimately acquitted. That same year, he staged "Die Konferenz", another sharp satire targeting the Church. He joined the Rationaltheater in Munich and published the satirical newspaper "Hirtenbrief". A second legal case – this time for allegedly insulting the state – also ended in acquittal. 

In 1980, he premiered the program "A ganz a miesa, dafeida, dreckiga Dreg san sie" (in Bavarian dialect, roughly: "They're a damn rotten, miserable bunch"), for which he won the prestigious German Cabaret Award (Deutscher Kleinkunstpreis). The program was published in book form in 1982. That same year, he received Best Actor at the Locarno Film Festival for his role as Adi in Josef Rödl's "Grenzenlos" ("Without Borders"), which also won the festival's Young Cinema Award. In 1983, he had a small role as a blind war veteran in "Peppermint Frieden" ("Peppermint Peace") by Marianne Rosenbaum – a film that looked at postwar Germany through a child's eyes. That same year, Zimmerschied founded the Passauer Volkstheater, a deliberately political grassroots theater. 

In the decades that followed, he created numerous acclaimed solo stage programs, including "Betondeppen" (1986), "Ausschwitzen" (1990), "Reißwolf" (2011 – winner of the Austrian Cabaret Prize), "Tendenz steigend" (2015), "Der siebte Tag" (2017), "Heil – vom Koma zum Amok" (2019), "Maskenball" (2021), "Dopplerleben" (2023), and "KEIN THEMA. Eine deutsche Antwort" (2025). Over the years, he also published several books, including "Kleinstadtbrevier" (1978), "Klassentreffen" (1989), the satire collection "Die Stachelbeersträucher von Saigon" (2013), and the novel "Der Komparse" (2017). 

Since 2008, Zimmerschied has also become a familiar face on German film and television screens, often portraying gruff, dialect-speaking characters. He appeared in several episodes of the crime series "Polizeiruf 110", including "Sumpfgebiete", directed by Hermine Huntgeburth and co-starring Jörg Hube and Matthias Brandt. He won the German Actors' Award (Deutscher Schauspielerpreis) for his performance in the episode "Schuld" (2014), directed by Hans Steinbichler. His TV credits also include roles in the long-running "Tatort" crime series – such as "Freies Land" (2018, directed by Andreas Kleinert) – and in the award-winning ZDF series "Unter Verdacht" with Senta Berger, as well as Max Färberböck's "Sau Nummer Vier – Ein Niederbayernkrimi." 

In Matti Geschonneck's TV mini-series "Sturm kommt auf" ("Storm Is Coming," 2025), he played a key role as the grumpy uncle of the female lead (Verena Altenberger). 

Zimmerschied has also taken on numerous film roles over the years. He appeared in Marcus H. Rosenmüller's "Räuber Kneißl" and "Die Perlmutterfarbe" ("Little White Lies", both 2008), as well as in Markus Goller's 2011 comedy "Eine ganz heiße Nummer" ("Hot Line"). 

In 2018, he starred alongside his nephew David Zimmerschied in the offbeat war satire "Kill Me Today, Tomorrow I’m Sick!," set during a farcical peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. The two had previously collaborated on the film satire "Schartl" (1995), written and directed by Zimmerschied, and on "Sturm kommt auf." In 2019, he played a grumbling mayor in Josef Vilsmaier's romantic comedy "Der Boandlkramer und die ewige Liebe," alongside comedians Michael "Bully" Herbig and Hape Kerkeling. 

Since 2012, Zimmerschied has portrayed the rule-obsessed police chief Moratschek in Ed Herzog's hugely popular, nearly annually released cinema adaptations of the Eberhofer detective novels – rural Bavarian comedies that have become box office hits. His appearances include "Dampfnudelblues" ("Sweet Buns Blues", 2012), "Winterkartoffelknödel" ("Winterpotato Dumplings", 2014), "Sauerkrautkoma" ("Sauerkraut Coma", 2018), "Kaiserschmarrndrama" ("Kaiserschmarrn Drama", 2019), and "Rehragout-Rendezvous" ("Venison Stew Rendezvous", 2023).

In 2025, "Karli & Marie" was released in German cinemas – a Bavarian feel-good comedy with Zimmerschied in a leading role. The film follows the turbulent and often humorous connection between a supposedly battle-hardened army veteran (Zimmerschied), who in reality makes a living as a slot machine hustler, and a former beauty queen (Luise Kinseher).

For his wide-ranging contributions to the arts, Zimmerschied has received numerous honors, including the Ernst Hoferichter Prize (1984), the Ludwig Thoma Medal (1986), the Grand Karl Valentin Prize (2017), and the Bavarian Culture Award (2016).
Sigi Zimmerschied lives and works in Passau and Munich.