Andi Niessner was born in Munich on February 25, 1967. He graduated from school in 1986 and following his mandatory civil service, he helmed stage productions of the musicals "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Othello". Around that time, he also began to work in varying functions on film and TV productions, including "Schtonk!" (1992), "Das Geisterhaus" (1993) and Herbert Achternbusch's "Picasso in München" (1997) and "Neue Freiheit – Keine Jobs" (1998).

In 1996, he enrolled in the production class of the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film in Munich. During his studies, he also directed TV and cinema advertisements which garnered several prestigious awards.
Niessner's short "Sabotage" (1999), starring Franziska Petri, Sandra Hüller and Jacques Breuer, was screened at numerous international festivals as part of the omnibus film "Midsommar-Stories". For his next short, "Björn oder die Hürden der Behörden" (2001), Niessner not only provided the script, took on directing duties and played the male lead opposite Jeanette Hain, but also portrayed twelve supporting characters over a runtime of fifteen minutes.

Since 2002, Andi Niessner is working freelance as a director and runs his own production company Niessnerfilm. In 2008, he directed "Achternbusch", a feature-length TV portrait of the filmmaker. Moreover, he also directed the TV comedies "Dörte's Dancing" (2007), "Für immer 30" (2009) and "Ausgerechnet Sex" (2011), and also helmed episodes of the TV series "Jetzt erst recht" (2004), "Um Himmel Willen" ( 2012/2013) und "Alles Klara"  (2011-2013).