Catrin Striebeck was born in Vienna on April 18, 1966. The daughter of actors Peter Striebeck and Ulla Purr was raised in Hamburg, but later returned to Vienna to study acting at the renowned Max-Reinhardt-Seminar. For 13 years, she was a company player at the famous Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg. During that time, she had memorable roles in a number of classic plays (Gretchen in "Faust 1 und 2", Julia in "Romeo und Julia") and worked with directors like Franz Xaver Kroetz ("Woyzeck"). She also guest-starred in stage productions in Berlin, Mannheim and Bochum. In 2009, she joined the company of the Burgtheater in Vienna.

Striebeck made her screen debut in 1992 with a supporting role in Lars Becker's gangster film "Schattenboxer". The same year, she played an escort girl in Uwe Schrader's acclaimed "Mau Mau" (1992). In 1995, she portrayed a gangster moll and secret mastermind in Lars Becker's "Bunte Hunde" ("The Break").

Since then, she was seen in numerous TV productions, including Bernd Schadewald's "Ein großes Ding" (1999), Uwe Janson's "Wo bleibst Du Baby?" (2005) and Kaspar Heidelbach's "Es liegt mir auf der Zunge" (2009). She also appeared in the cinema releases "Frau2 sucht Happy End" ("Female2 Seeks HappyEnd", 2000), "Tigermännchen sucht Tigerweibchen" (2003), Fatih Akin's award-winning drama "Gegen die Wand" ("Head-On", 2004) as well as in "Soul Kitchen" (2009), again directed by Akin.

After turns in the comedies "Unter Strom" ("Life Wire", 2009) and "Schenk mir dein Herz" (2010), Catrin Striebeck starred in "Ohne Gnade" ("No Mercy", 2012), the directorial debut of actress Birgit Stein. Following her turn in the period drama "Die schwarzen Brüder" ("The Black Brothers", 2013), she played a police detective in the made-for-TV thriller "Seegrund. Ein Kluftingerkrimi" (2013). She next appeared in the fairy tale adaptation "Vom Fischer und seiner Frau" (2013, TV) and in the comedy "Wir machen durch bis morgen früh" (2013).

In the drama "Zwischen den Jahren", Striebeck portrayed the new girlfriend of an ex-convict (Peter Kurth) who is haunted by his past.