Sandor Jesse was born in Hungary in 1953. He studied history and film until 1976. He then trained as an animator at the Pannonia Film Studio in Budapest. In 1985 Jesse moved to Cologne, where he worked as an animator for Egenolf & Jeske Film- und Medienproduktion until 1989. Among the films in which he was involved during this time are numerous Janosch adaptations, including "Oh, wie schön ist Panama" (1986), "Das Seepferdchenrennen" (1986) and "Ade, kleines Schweinchen" (1986) as well as the Andersen fairytale adaptation "Der standhafte Zinnsoldat" (1989).

In 1989 Jesse became director and studio manager of Studio88 Werbe- und Trickfilm GmbH in Baden-Baden. There he directed the feature-length animated films "Der kleine König Macius" ("Little King Macius", 2007, together with Lutz Stützner) and "Geheimagent Morris - jagt das Phantom" (2012, together with Norbert Maier). He achieved a great box-office success as co-director of Ute von Münchow-Pohl with "Der kleine Rabe Socke" ("Raven the Little Rascal", 2012), based on the children's book series of the same name. Together with Münchow-Pohl he also directed the sequel "Der kleine Rabe Socke 2 - Das große Rennen" ("Raven the Little Rascal - The Big Race", 2015). For the third part, "Der kleine Rabe Socke - Suche nach dem verlorenen Schatz" ("Raven the Little Rascal - Hunt for the Lost Treasure", 2019), Jesse teamed up with Verena Fels as directors.