Valerie Koch, born September 24, 1975, in Kirchheim, started acting as a teenager in a school theatre group. After finishing school, she moved to Berlin and was admitted to Ernst Busch drama school in 1996. In 2000, Koch successfully graduated from drama school and in the period following performed at several of the most renowned German theatres, including Berlin's Maxim Gorki Theater, Hamburg's Deutsches Schauspielhaus, and Stuttgart's Staatstheater.

Koch made her movie debut in 2001 in a leading role in the elaborate two-part TV movie "Sophie – Sissis kleine Schwester" ("A Passionate Princess"). But in the following years, Koch mainly focused on her theatre work. In the meantime, she only sporadically appeared in film or TV productions, yet starred in striking roles, for instance in the melancholic satire "Sie haben Knut" ("They"ve Got Knut", 2003), and the TV thriller "Ein toter Bruder" ("2005), both by director Stefan Krohmer. In 2007, Koch starred in another leading role in the highly praised drama "Die Anruferin" ("The Calling Game"), alongside Esther Schweins. For her portrayal of an emotionally torn woman who pretends to be a young girl in anonymous phone calls with strangers, Koch won an actor's award at the 2007 Munich film festival.