Peter Schneider, born in Leipzig in 1975, studied music at Leipzig's Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" from 1995 to 1998. During this time, he also performed as an actor on stage, for instance in the role of McMurphy in a production of "One flew over the cuckoo"s nest". After his graduation, Schneider went to drama school, also at the Bartholdy university, until 2002. Schneider then performed in numerous plays at Halle's Thalia Theater and at Schauspiel Chemnitz.

In the beginning of his career, Schneider only occasionally appeared in movies or on TV – for instance as young Albert Speer in Heinrich Breloer's "Speer und Er" ("Speer and Hitler: The Devil's Architect") or in "Heimat 3" ("Heimat 3 - A Chronicle of Endings and Beginning") by Edgar Reitz. In 2007, Peter Schneider stars in his first leading role in Michael Schorr's melancholic comedy "Schröders wunderbare Welt" (Schroeder"s Wonderful World).