Michael Dreher was born in Ruit, a town near Stuttgart, in 1974. He worked as a production manager for a media company in Stuttgart, before enrolling at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film in Munich. During his studies, he and Peter Geyer co-directed "Babyboy".

In 2006, he graduated with his multi-award winning short "Fair Trade". The drama about a childless woman who wants to "buy" herself a baby, won the First Steps Award, the German Short Film Award, the Max-Ophüls-Award for Best Short Film and was also nominated for a student Academy Award. His feature film debut "Die zwei Leben des Daniel Shore" premiered at the 2009 Hofer Filmtage.