Matthias Bundschuh was born in Gütersloh in 1966. From 1987 on, he studied acting at the Royal Holloway College in London, the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst "Ernst Busch" in Berlin, from which he graduated in 1994.

He then began a prolific stage career, both as a regular cast member and featured player, and has since performed and worked at renowned theatres like the Staatstheater Cottbus, the Deutsche Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, the Münchner Kammerspiele and the Schauspielhaus Zürich. In 2013, Matthias Bundschuh returned to the Deutsche Schauspielhaus as a regular cast member.

After making his screen debut in the 1992 TV movie "Lenz", he guest-starred in several television dramas and series. Among the theatrical releases he appeared in are the acclaimed comedy "Shoppen" (2006) and the biopic "Hannah Arendt" (2012). In 2014, he had a supporting role in the comedy "Wir sind die Neuen" (2014) and was one of the leads of the satire "Freiland".

Along with his acting career, Bundschuh is a patron of puppet theatre and one of the founders of the Michaelis Puppentheater in Cottbus. Moreover, he wrote and directed the 2009 short "Wohin ist, der ich war und bin", which is based on a story by Franz Werfel and is enacted with string puppets.