Michael Herbig, born in Munich on April 29, 1968, was trained as a photographer. 1992-96 he created the comedy character of "Bully" for Radio GONG and Radio Energy. At the same time Herbig played in 800 episodes of the radio series "Die Bayerncops". Then he directed, produced, wrote and played in the TV series "Bullyparade" (1997-2002) and "Bully & Rick" (2004).

His feature film debut "Der Schuh des Manitu" ("Manitou's shoe", 2001), recipient of numerous awards, was the greatest boxoffice hit in post-war Germany. "(T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1" ("Dreamship Surprise") attracted more viewers than any other German film in 2004.

After playing the title role in the ghost comedy "Hui Buh – Das Schlossgespenst" ("Hui Buh – The Goofy Ghost"), that also featured his longtime friends and fellow comedians Rick Kavanian and Christoph Maria Herbst, Herbig turned to another movie project. But the animation film "Lissi und der wilde Kaiser" ("Lissi and the Wild Emperor"), a parody of the "Sissi" films of the 1950s, did not meet the box office expectations and was not received as well by critics as his former genre parodies.

In 2008, Herbig played the Grim Reaper in Joseph Vilsmaier's "Die Geschichte vom Brandner Kaspar" (2008). He also started his next movie project, a feature film for the big screen of Runer Jonsson's "Wickie und die starken Männer" ("Vicky the Viking"), that is once again an adaptation of an pop culture classic.

Herbig then primarily focused on acting. After a cameo in Dani Levy's "Das Leben ist zu lang" (2010), he starred in Leander Haußmann's tragicomedy "Hotel Lux" (2011) and Helmut Dietl's "Zettl" (2012). In 2013, he featured alongside Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi and Jim Carrey in the showbiz comedy "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" (US).

Also in 2013, he ran a six-part TV comedy program called "Bully macht Buddy", a (fictitious) making-off of his (real) feature film "Buddy" which was released at the end of the same year. In the comedy about a hapless guardian angel, Herbig was director, author, producer and star at the same time. Although the film turned out a respectable success, selling almost 800,000 admissions, it could not match Herbig's box office hits that preceded it.

Over the next years, Michael Herbig withdrew from the big screen with the exception of guest features in the horror film "Unknown User" (US 2014) and in the comedy "Traumfrauen" (2015). It was only by the end of 2016 that he returned in a starring role, playing a sacked bank consultant in Wolfgang Petersen's crime caper "Vier gegen die Bank". The same year, in the summer, he had already begun shooting "Bullyparade – Der Film", which is scheduled for a release in the summer of 2017, when the correspondent TV comedy series celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Herbig then turned to a serious subject: In "Balloon," he told of the spectacular escape of two families from the GDR to West Germany with a homemade hot-air balloon - based on a true story. The film was awarded the Friedenspreis des Deutschen Films 'Die Brücke' in 2019. In Joseph Vilsmaier's "Der Boandlkramer und die ewige Liebe" (2019), Herbig acted as lead actor, screenwriter and producer - he won the Bavarian Film Award for the screenplay in 2021.

In 2021, Herbig began work on his next work as director: "1000 Zeilen" is based on the scandal surrounding "Spiegel" journalist Claas Relotius, who fabricated numerous reports; the lead role is played by Jonas Nay.