Andreas Giebel was born on June 4, 1958, in Munich. After finishing school, he first trained as a decorator with the goal of becoming a set designer. He then worked briefly as a masseur and later as a janitor at the Dom-Pedro elementary school in Munich.

Giebel made his cabaret debut at the age of 21. His first full-length solo program, "Der Mensch ist sein Fehler!," premiered in 1984 and earned him the prestigious newcomer award "Passauer Scharfrichterbeil." Between 1984 and 2011, he created nine more solo shows and appeared regularly on political cabaret shows on television, including in "Neues aus der Anstalt," "Ottis Schlachthof," and "Die Komiker." Over the years, he received numerous accolades, such as the City of Munich Cabaret Prize (1996), the German Cabaret Prize (1997), the Bavarian Cabaret Prize (2001), the main German Cabaret Prize (2005), the Morenhoven Lupe (2006), and the Bavarian Poetentaler (2018).

Alongside his work in cabaret, Giebel began appearing occasionally in film and television productions during the 1990s. His first lead role came in 1993, portraying a violent pimp in the Munich-based "Tatort" film "Alles Palermo." However, it wasn't until the early 2000s that he began acting regularly. In Marcus H. Rosenmüller's Bavarian small-town trilogy - "Beste Zeit" ("Best Times," 2007), "Beste Gegend" (2008), and "Beste Chance" ("Best Chance," 2014) - he played the father of Anna Maria Sturm's character. He also portrayed a priest in Rosenmüller's historical drama "Räuber Kneißl" ("Robber Kneißl," 2008) and was part of the titular gang in the comedy "Ossis Eleven" ("Accidentally in Ossi," 2008).

From 2004 to 2016, Giebel starred in the popular TV series "München 7" as a gruff police sergeant, a role that brought him widespread recognition. Concurrently, from 2006 to 2011, he played a lead detective in the crime series "Die Rosenheim-Cops."

He received the German Actor Award as part of the ensemble cast of the "Polizeiruf 110" film "Schuld" (2012). In Wolfgang Murnberger's TV comedy "Wer hat Angst vorm weißen Mann?" (2013), Giebel’s performance as a xenophobic butcher earned him a nomination for the Bavarian TV Award. From 2017 to 2019, he had a starring role as an ambitious organic farmer and butcher in the satirical series "Hindafing."

Starting in 2019, Giebel took on the lead role in the popular crime series "Watzmann ermittelt" and made guest appearances in shows like "Um Himmels Willen," "SOKO München," and "Hubert ohne Staller."

On the big screen, Giebel appeared only occasionally in recent years—for example, in a supporting role in Josef Bierbichler's family epic "Zwei Herren im Anzug" ("Two Men In Suit," 2018). Director Dani Levy cast him in a lead role in "Kochschule Schwarz," a tragicomedy based on true events and set to be released in 2026. Giebel plays a Jewish restaurateur in 1938 Nazi Germany who opens a cooking school in an effort to help others flee the country.