Holger Tappe, born in Hanover in 1969, attended a technical college for photography before studying "Design für Neue Medien" (New Media Design) at Hanover Polytechnic from 1993 to 1996. As a director and cinematographer, Tappe produced commercials. In addition, he designed cyber games, projections for large-scale displays und trade show appearances. Together with Lenard F. Krawinkel, he established a production company called Ambient Entertainment GmbH and produced and directed "Back to Gaya", the first computer-animated movie entirely produced in Germany.

On the following three films, Tappe was not only the producer, but also shared the director's chair with Reinhard Klooss: The animation features "Urmel aus dem Eis" (2006) and "Urmel in voller Fahrt" (2008) as well as the Erich Kästner adaptation "Die Konferenz der Tiere" (2010) all turned out to be box-office hits. "Die Konferenz der Tiere" garnered nominations for the German, as well as for the European Film Award. The film won the 2001 Bavarian Film Award for Best Children's Film and took home the Children's Jury Award at the Goldener Spatz Festival.

Commissioned by the Europa Park Rust, an entertainment park in Germany, Tappe made the animated shorts "Das Geheimnis von Schloss Balthasar" (2011) and "Das Zeitkarussell" (2015), both starring the park's official mascot Euromaus. He also served as associate producer on "Tarzan 3D" (2011-2014), which was directed by Reinhard Klooss.

Tappe's next animated feature film "Happy Family", in which a family is turned into classic movie monsters by a witch, was released theatrically in summer 2017.