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Klaus Stern was born in 1968 in Schwalmstadt-Ziegenhain (then: Ziegenhain). After training as a postman (1984-87), he worked in Stadtallendorf before doing his civilian service in 1988. He then went on to study business education and politics at the University of Kassel, graduating with a degree in business education.
Klaus Stern entered the film industry through an internship at Hessischer Rundfunk in Frankfurt, where he made his first independent film contribution for the talk show "Live aus Alabama" in 1999. As a self-taught filmmaker, he realized numerous documentaries in the following years, mostly for public broadcasters.
His debut, the medium-length documentary "Der Austausch - Die vergessene Entführung des Peter Lorenz" (2000, co-directed with Klaus Salge), was nominated for the Grimme Prize in 2001. In the same year, he received nominations for the German Television Award and the Hessian Film Award for the medium-length documentary "Unschuldig - Schuldig? Die Geschichte des Peter Pompetzki" (2001).
The 45-minute documentary "Andreas Baader – Der Staatsfeind" (2002), about the titular RAF (Red Army Faction) terrorist, also garnered significant attention: in addition to a Grimme Prize nomination, Stern received the main prize at the 2002 Dokfest Kassel and a German Television Award in 2003 for this film.
Stern made his cinematic debut with the feature-length documentary "Weltmarktführer – Die Geschichte des Tan Siekmann," which depicted the rise and fall of New Economy entrepreneur Tan Siekmann. This film earned Stern the Herbert Quandt Media Prize and the Grimme Prize in 2005. Similarly, ""Lawine - Leben und Sterben des Werner Koenig" (2008), depicting the tragic fate of a New Economy protagonist, received the 2nd Prize in Documentary Film at the Hessian Film Prize.
The documentary feature "Henners Traum" (2008), about the plans of a provincial mayor in Hesse to build a massive holiday resort in his town, brought Stern another Grimme Prize and the Hessian Film Prize. "Versicherungsvertreter" (2011), a film about the remarkable rise and fall of insurance broker Mehmet Göker, also explored themes of ambition and shattered dreams, earning Stern the 1st Prize of the Helmut Schmidt Journalist Award. In 2015, he released a sequel titled "Versicherungsvertreter 2 – Mehmet Göker macht weiter".
Together with Frank Marten Pfeiffer, Stern directed the documentary "Die Autobahn - Kampf um die A 49" (2022), focusing on the controversy surrounding the Dannenröder Forest in North Hesse. As the opening film of the DOK.fest München 2024, Klaus Stern's "Watching You - Die Welt von Palantir und Alex Karp," which delves into the developer Alex Karp and his comprehensive surveillance software "Gotham," was screened. The theatrical release took place in June 2024.