Niko von Glasow was born in 1960 in Cologne as Niko Brücher. He started his film career with Rainer Werner Fassbinder as a production assistant and worked then with several film distributors, studios and festivals.  He studied Directing at New York University and at the Film Academy in Lódz/Poland. His films include: "Hochzeitsgaeste" ("Wedding Guests", 1990), "Maries Lied" (Marie's Song", 1994), and "Edelweisspiraten" ("Edelweiss Pirates", 2004). He has also co-produced Peter Sempel's "Dandy" (1988) and Tom Tykwer's "Winterschläfer" ("Wintersleepers", 1997).

In his documentary, "NoBody's Perfect", which went on to win the 2009 German Film Award for Best Documentary, von Glasow portrays people who were born as thalidomide children and has them pose as nude models for a pin-up calendar. Notably, von Glasow himself joins them and also poses for the calendar. His next film "Alles wird gut" (2012) chronicles the rehearsals of a stage project he initiated, and features an ensemble of professional as well as amateur actors, some of whom are disabled while some are not. 

"Mein Weg nach Olympia" ("My Way to Olympia", 2013), a documentary on athletes preparing for the 2012 Paraylympics, completed von Glasow's trilogy about the life and sensitivities of disabled persons. The film premiered at the 2013 Berlin IFF and was released in the fall of the same year.