Jörg Adolph was born in Herford in 1967. From 1988 to 1994, he studied Contemporary German Literature and media studies in Marburg. After his graduation, Adolph went to Munich’s Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen (HFF) to study TV journalism and documentary film. His final film "Klein, schnell und außer Kontrolle", a cooperation with ZDF and 3sat, won the Deutscher Fernsehpreis in 2001. Jörg Adolph works as an independent documentary filmmaker, as a TV critic for the German newspaper taz and as a lecturer at HFF Munich.

In two movies, Adolph documented creative processes: "On/Off the Record" covers three months in the making of German pop group "The Notwist"’s highly praised album "Neon Golden". For "Houwelandt - Ein Roman entsteht", Adolph accompanied author John von Düffel for 15 months and was thus able to document the process of writing the novel as well as the marketing and the sale of the book.

His TV documentary "Kanalschwimmer" about swimmers crossing the English channel won him the Deutscher Fernsehpreis (German TV Award) in 2005. For editing Maximilian Plettau's documentary feature "Comeback" (2007), he received a nomination for the Deutscher Kamerpreis (German Camera Prize).

Among Adolph's own documentary features are "Die Reproduktionskrise" (2008) about couples wanting to have a baby and "How to Make a Book With Steidl" (2010, together with Gereon Wetzel) for which he accompanied art book publisher Gerhard Steidl to his meetings with Karl Lagerfeld, Jeff Wall, Robert Frank and other celebrities. The film won Best Documentary at the Duisburger Filmwoche and at the DOK Leipzig festival. For his multi-award-winning documentary feature "Die große Passion" (2011), Adolph accompanied the preparations and performances of the Oberammergau Passion Play for several years.

Together with Anja Pohl, Adolph realized "Making of »Heimat«" (2013) about Edgar Reitz' "Die andere Heimat" ("Home from Home: Chronicle of a Vision"). With Gereon Wetzel he shot "Carlos Saura – Fotograf" (2016). He then co-directed "Leben – Gebrauchsanleitung" (2016, "Life - Instruction Manual") with Ralf Bücheler, a former student of his at the HFF, who had already contributed to some of Adolph's previous films. The two collaborated again on the documentary feature "Elternschule" (2018), which premiered at the DOK.fest in Munich. The film focuses on parents who have to learn how to best set boundaries for their children.

In his next two films, Adolph focused on nature and ecology: In "Das geheime Leben der Bäume" ("The Secret Life of Trees"), a documentary about Peter Wohlleben's bestseller of the same name, he accompanied the forester, activist and successful author to readings, guided tours and other events. For "Vogelperspektiven" (2022), Adolph accompanied Norbert Schäffer, chairman of the Bavarian Society for Bird and Nature Conservation (LBV), to various events on the subject of bird protection. 

Together with Edgar Reitz, Adolph realized the documentary "Filmstunde_23" (2024), about a project by Reitz from 1968, when he taught film aesthetics and filmmaking as an independent subject at a Munich girls' high school. The world premiere of "Filmstunde_23" took place at the Berlinale 2024 in the Berlinale Special section.