Michael Klier was born in Karlsbad (today: Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic) on 16 January 1943. In 1947 the family fled to East Germany to the Soviet occupation zone, from there to the Federal Republic in 1961. After training as a theatre painter, Klier lived in Paris for several years. There he made his first short film in 1963: the cinephile love story "Probeaufnahmen", with Jürgen Jürges as Director of Photography and Rolf Zacher in a supporting role. Through this film François Truffaut became aware of Klier and invited him to sit in on the shooting of "La peau douce" ("The Sweet Skin", FR 1964). With these experiences Klier returned to Germany in 1965 and shot four short films for a TV series of the regional public broadcaster SFB: "Ferrari", "Das Abitur", "Projekt Katz und Maus" and "Yeah Yeah". He also wrote the screenplays for Robert van Ackeren's short films "Wham" (1965) and "19. September" (1965, also editing). In 1969 Klier began studying philosophy and history in Berlin and only rarely worked in film for a few years. In 1978 he played three leading roles in Harun Farocki's "Zwischen zwei Kriegen" ("Between Two Wars"), an experimental reflection on industrial history and the Nazi era.  

It was not until the beginning of the 1980s that Michael Klier finally returned to filmmaking. He shot TV portraits about Godard’s cameramen ("Godards Kameramänner", 1980) and directors such as Joseph Losey, Roberto Rossellini, Wim Wenders and Francois Truffaut as well as the essayistic documentary "Der Riese" (1983) on the subject of video surveillance. Most of his works were created for the public broadcaster ZDF. This includes the semi-documentary feature film "En Passant" (1984), realized with amateur actors, about three Berlin teenagers and their affinity for music, computers and videos. With "En Passant", Klier was invited to the Forum of the Berlinale in 1985.  

Also for the ZDF, Klier realised "Überall ist es besser, wo wir nicht sind" (1989), about a young Pole who gets stuck in West Berlin on his way to America. The film was awarded the Hessischer Filmpreis and the Preis der deutschen Filmkritik for Best Feature Film. "Ostkreuz" (1991, TV), about a 15-year-old (Laura Tonke), who fled the GDR with her mother and wants to start anew in West Berlin, also won several awards. At the Munich Film Festival, Klier was awarded the German Film Promotion Prize in the Director category; at the Locarno Film Festival, he won the FIPRESCI Prize. Klier was also awarded Best Director at the Bavarian Film Prize in 1992 and he won a bronze Grimme Prize for "Ostkreuz". Klier then shot the documentary "Out of America" (1995), about four black GIs who stayed in Germany for family reasons after the Allies left.  

With "Heidi M." (2001) Klier completed his Berlin trilogy: The story focuses on a 50-year-old, lonely kiosk owner from East Berlin who gets the chance to start over in her private life. The film received very positive reviews and was nominated for the Grimme Prize. For her performance in "Heidi M.", the lead actress Katrin Saß was awarded the German Film Prize and the German Film Critics' Prize. "Farland" (2004), about a young woman (Laura Tonke) who watches over her sister in hospital and falls in love with a man in a similar situation (Richy Müller) was also reviewed positively.  

Together with Karin Åström, Klier wrote the script for Dominik Graf's highly acclaimed GDR drama "Der Rote Kakadu" ("The Red Cockatoo", 2006). He then directed the tragicomedy "Alter und Schönheit" ("Age and Beauty", 2008), about three men over 50 (Henry Hübchen, Armin Rohde, Burghart Klaußner) who want to fulfill the last wish of a terminally ill friend (Peter Lohmeyer).  

Between 2011 and 2013, Klier realised three short films under the title "Dresden 1-2-3", which are set in Dresden: The relationship story "Kurztrip" with Felix Klare and Nicolette Krebitz; "Hung", about a Vietnamese war veteran who wants to open a snack bar in Dresden despite racism; and the autobiographical "Filmtagebuch", about the Elbe river and cinema in Dresden.  

In addition to his work as a filmmaker, Klier also taught directing at the film schools of Berlin (DFFB), Munich (HFF) and Babelsberg (HFF Konrad Wolf). It was not until 2019 that another feature-length film by him was released in cinemas: "Idioten der Familie" ("Family Idiots") is about four siblings that decide to move their youngest, mentally handicapped sister to a home.

At the Hamburg Film Festival in October 2023, Klier presented his next feature film: "Zwischen uns der Fluss", which explores the evolving relationship between a militant environmental activist sentenced to community service and an Asian woman who was a victim of a racist attack. The film was released in cinemas in April 2024.