Dieter Mann was born June 20, 1941, in Berlin, where he attended school from 1947 to 1955 and graduated from an apprenticeship as a lathe operator in 1958. After finishing his high school degree at Arbeiter- und Bauernfakultät "Friedrich Engels", Mann made his stage debut in several smaller roles at Berliner Ensemble while still attending drama school at Staatliche Hochschule für Schauspielkunst "Ernst Busch" between 1962 and 1964.

During his stay at drama school, his teacher Friedo Solter already signed him for Deutsches Theater where he celebrated his first success in a production of Viktor Rosow's play "Unterwegs". After countless stage performances in classic roles, he finally became a Berlin theatre star in the role of the singing and dancing waiter Jean in the revue "Zwei Krawatten" (1976). From 1984 to 1991, Mann was the theatre director of Deutsches Theater, occasionally directed plays and was seen all over Germany in guest performances of key roles.

Dieter Mann had already made his movie debut in Gerhard Klein's film "Berlin um die Ecke" in 1965. But the shooting of the film that tells the story of Olaf, a young worker of a large metal-working plant who opposes against the poor working atmosphere together with his friend Horst was interrupted by the SED. Party leaders thought that the film was too critical towards the problem of the generation gap. Thus, the film did not premiere until 1987.

Besides smaller roles in "Ich war Neunzehn" ("I Was Nineteen", 1968), directed by Konrad Wolf, in "Wie heiratet man einen König" (1969), directed by Rainer Simon, in Lothar Warneke's film "Leben mit Uwe" ("Life with Uwe", 1974), or in Egon Günther's Thomas Mann adaptation "Lotte in Weimar" (1975), Mann played the leading role in Horst E. Brandt's adaptation of Franz Josef Degenhardt's novel "Brandstellen" ("Scenes of Fires"). He was also praised by critics and movie goers alike for his performance in Herrmann Zschoche's film "Glück im Hinterhaus" (1980). In the film, Mann starred alongside Jutta Wachowiak.

Mann played one of his most important roles in the two-part TV movie "Auf der Suche nach Gatt" (1976), based on a novel by Erik Neutsch that portrays an individual fate against the backdrop of social upheavals. Mann stars in the role of mine worker Eberhard Gatt who aims at starting a career as a contributing editor and journalist and who meets his future wife during an evening class. After their marriage and later separation the film describes a reunion of serious consequences that takes place several years later and sets off a personal crisis for Gatt.

Mann also made appearances as a TV host, for instance, in "Nacht der Prominenten". In 1981, he was voted "Favourite person on TV". After the end of the German Democratic Republic, he starred in the TV series "Stubbe – Von Fall zu Fall", "Rosa Roth", "Bella Block", or in "Der letzte Zeuge", where he played alongside Ulrich Mühe and Jörg Gudzuhn.

In addition to occasional appearances on the movie screen for example in the role of Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel in "Der Untergang" ("Downfall", 2004) by Oliver Hirschbiegel and Bernd Eichinger, Mann later toured mainly with readings and worked as a dubbing artist. On his 40th stage anniversary in 2004, Mann was made an honorary member of the Deutsches Theater Berlin. In the 2000s and 2010s, in addition to several TV appearances, he continued to appear on stage, playing Hagen at the Nibelungen Festival in Worms in 2007, for example. In 2020, Mann was awarded the Deutsche Schauspielpreis for his lifetime achievement.

Dieter Mann, who had made his Parkinson's disease public in 2016, passed away in Berlin on 3 February 2022.