André Erkau was born August 17, 1968, in Dortmund. Before he attended his four-year actor's training in Hamburg, he had already performed as a guest actor at Bremen's Schauspielhaus, where he had set up "Junges Theater" in 1993 together with several companions. From 1994 to 1997, Erkau attended actor's training at Hamburg's Schauspielstudio. In 1997, Erkau moved to Esslingen to become a cast member of Württembergische Landesbühne, where he stayed until 2001. He then studied film directing at Cologne's Kunsthochschule für Medien for four years. His graduation film "37 ohne Zwiebeln" won the Max Ophüls prize in the category "Short Film", the award of the Interfilm jury, and Studio Hamburg's promotional award for "Best screen play". Furthermore, Erkau's full-length debut, the feature film "Selbstgespräche" ("Come in and Burn Out"), won the 2008 Max Ophüls prize.

Erkau's second feature, the tragicomedy "Arschkalt" ("No More Mr. Ice Guy") starring Herbert Knaup and Johannes Allmayer was released in Germany in Summer 2011. The same year, he appeared in a supporting role in Andi Rogenhagen's "Ein Tick anders" ("Alive and Ticking"). Then he co-wrote "Mann tut was Mann kann", directed by Marc Rothemund and directed his next bitter-sweet comedy "Das Leben ist nichts für Feiglinge" (2012) starring Wotan Wilke Möhring and Rosalie Thomass. After helming the "Tatort" entry "Wahre Liebe", he directed the children's film "Winnetous Sohn" (2015) in which a shy ten-year-old auditions for a coveted stage part in order to reconcile his separated parents.

Over the next few years Erkau worked alternately for television and cinema: The  episode "Schwanensee" (2015) of the popular German crime series "Tatort" was followed by the feature film comedy "Happy Burnout" (2017), about a punk (Wotan Wilke Möhring), who is shaking things up in a burnout therapy group. After the TV comedy "Liebe auf den ersten Trick" (2018) with Veronica Ferres and Dieter Hallervorden in leading roles, he realized the road movie tragicomedy "Gott, du kannst ein Arsch sein! " ("God, You're Such a Prick", 2020), about a schoolgirl suffering from cancer who sets off on an adventurous and meaningful journey to Paris with a chance acquaintance (Max Hubacher).