Born August 27, 1885 in Raudnitz an der Elbe, the son of a station master grew up in Vienna where he started to attend actor's training in 1902. From 1904 on, he performed at theatres in Zurich, St. Gallen, Salzburg, Dortmund, Nuremberg, and in Vienna. In 1910, he went to Deutsches Theater in New York as actor and director. In 1914, on his return to Europe, he was detained by the French as a foreign enemy for the duration of the war near Brest where he organized the detention camp's theatre. At the beginning of 1919, he went to Vienna and became the artistic director of the avant-garde Neue Wiener Bühnen in 1920.

In 1921, Pabst observed the shooting of Carl Froelich's film "Im Banne der Kralle" and played his only role in a movie. He became an associate of Froelich"s production company and accompanied him to Berlin where made his debut as a director in 1922 with "Der Schatz" ("The Treasure"). While filming "Gräfin Donelli" (1924), starring Henny Porten in the leading role, Pabst met assistant director Mark Sorkin. He became one of Pabst's closest assistants and encouraged him to make "Die freudlose Gasse" ("The Street of Sorrow"), starring Asta Nielsen, Greta Garbo, Werner Krauß, and Valeska Gert, in 1924: In the film, the city of Vienna that is shaken by the inflation serves as the background to a realistic panorama of poverty and waste, sexuality and violence – themes that dominated the works of Pabst.

In 1926, he finished the "psycho-analytical chamber drama" "Geheimnisse einer Seele" ("Secrets of a Soul") for Ufa's cultural department. The adaptation of Ilja Ehrenburg's "Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney" ("Lusts of the Flesh", 1927) that linked the Russian revolution with Parisian flair ranks among the master pieces of Weimar cinema, not least because of the Fritz Arno Wagner's expert camera work and its imaginative editing.

For "Die Büchse der Pandora" ("Pandora’s Box", 1929), based on Frank Wedekind's "Lulu" dramas, Pabst gave the leading role to the US actress Louise Brooks. She made a brilliant performance alongside Fritz Kortner in this film about passion and crime. Brooks also played the leading role in "Tagebuch einer Verlorenen" ("Diary of a Lost Girl", 1929). This film about a "fallen woman" became a case for the film censors because of its "corruptive effects". It has – like several other films by Pabst – survived only in parts.

After co-directing Arnold Fanck's mountain drama "Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü" ("The White Hell of Pitz Palu", 1929), Pabst finished his first sound film "Westfront 1918" ("The Western Front 1918", 1930). This realistic war movie gave him the nickname "Red Pabst" because of its pacifist tendencies, just like in the bilingually filmed mine drama "Kameradschaft" ("Comradeship", 1931), a plea for the friendship between the Germans and the French.

Between the two films, Pabst directed the German and the French version of the German-American production "Die 3-Groschen-Oper" ("The Threepenny Opera", 1931), based on Kurt Weill's and Bertolt Brecht's successful musical. The shooting of the film was overshadowed by legal controversies that were incited by Brecht and that negatively affected the perception of the subtle and atmospheric film version. In 1932, Pabst then finished the desert adventure "Die Herrin von Atlantis" ("Queen of Atlantis"), starring Brigitte Helm, in three language versions for Seymour Nebenzahl whose production company Nero-film produced Pabst's most important films between 1928 and 1933.

Pabst witnessed Hitler's accession to power while shooting the film "Don Quichotte" in France. In late 1933, he directed "A Modern Hero" (1934) for Warner Bros. in Hollywood. But in May 1936, Pabst returned to France after he had experienced problems with Hollywood's production methods. Until 1939, he directed several atmospheric entertainment movies in France, including "Jeunes filles en détresse" ("Girls in Distress"), that won Pabst a Bronze medal at the Venice film festival. He rejected offers to return to Germany. Shortly before his planned return to the USA during a personal visit to "annexed" Austria, Pabst was surprised by the outbreak of war. In addition, his attempts to get to the USA via Rome failed. Eventually, Pabst stayed in Germany which later damaged his reputation when he was called an opportunist. At first, Pabst had difficulties to be accepted to Reichsfilmkammer. He then finished two films until 1945, the elaborate, somewhat stiff period films "Komödianten" ("The Comedians", 1941) und "Paracelsus" (1943).

After the end of the war, Pabst finished "Der Prozeß" ("The Trial") in the Soviet sector of Vienna in 1948. The film, an older project, dealt with medieval anti-Semitic prejudices and modern anti-Semitism. Pabst subsequently finished twelve films – partly self-produced – in Austria, Italy, and in West Germany but was not able to link them to his hugely successful films of the Weimar era. His post-war films include "Cose da pazzi" (1953), a mental asylum satire, the crime film "Das Bekenntnis der Ina Kahr" ("Afraid to Love", 1954), and the melodrama "Rosen für Bettina" ("Ballerina", 1956), but also two films that dealt with Germany's Nazi past: "Der letzte Akt" ("The Last Ten Days", 1955) showed Adolf Hitler's last days in the "Führerbunker" and "Es geschah am 20. Juli" ("It Happened on July 20th", 1955) tried to give a documentary account of the resistance group around Graf Stauffenberg.

After finishing his sole film in technicolor, the "romantic symphony" "Durch die Wälder, durch die Auen" ("Through the Forests and Through the Trees", 1956), Pabst retired and retreated to Austria because of his already deteriorating health. He died May 29, 1967 in Vienna.