Thomas Sarbacher, born January 25, 1961 in Hamburg, attended actor's training at Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz and was a member of Bremen's Shakespeare Company for five years. He also was a cast member at theatres in Konstanz and Zürich. After his first TV appearances at the end of the 1990s in TV series such as "Freundschaft mit Herz" and "Ärzte" and parts in TV movies like Sharon von Wietersheim's "Ein Scheusal zum Verlieben" (1999) or Claudia Garde's "Mehr als nur Sex" (2002), Sarbacher took the leading role in the SAT1 crime series "Der Elefant – Mord verjährt nie". From 2003 to 2006, he portrayed the melancholic chief inspector Matthias Steiner, convincing viewers and critics alike.

Besides several more TV projects including Matti Geschonneck's "Mord am Meer" (2004) and several episodes of the "Tatort" crime series, Sarbacher continued to perform on stage. He made his debut on the big screen in a supporting role in Christian Zübert's children's film "Der Schatz der weißen Falken" ("The Treasure of the White Falcons", 2005) and played his first leading role in a movie in the comedy "Underdogs", directed by Jan Hinrik Drevs.