Barnaby Metschurat was born September 22, 1974, in Berlin. Metschurat attended actor’s training at Berlin’s drama school "Die Etage". After several smaller appearances in TV series like "Elbflorenz" and "Praxis Bülowbogen", Metschurat landed his first continuous role in the TV series "Unser Lehrer Dr. Specht" where he played the school boy Kaspar Riedel. In the same year, Metschurat gathered his first experience in the film business as an actor in Rudolph Jula’s dffb project "My Private Idahoe".

During the 1990s, Metschurat was more and more often seen in TV and movie productions. In 1998, he played the leading role in Andreas Struck’s ZDF TV drama "Chill Out" that was also shown at the 2000 Berlinale. Other important roles of this period include his role in TV series "Wolffs Revier" and his role alongside Eva Mattes in Frieder Schlaich’s film "Otomo".

Metschurat performed at several theatres in Berlin already from 1994 on. He worked at T.A.T Theater, at Theater Tribüne, at Vagantenbühne, and at Theater Rote Grütze where he was a cast member from 1996 to 1997. In the theatre season 1999/2000, Metschurat played the role of Rosenkranz in Peter Zadek’s production of "Hamlet" at Wiener Festwochen.

In 2002 and in 2003, Barnaby Metschurat played several larger movie roles and became finally known to a larger public. In 2002, he played a film freak and son of Italian migrant workers alongside Moritz Bleibtreu in Fatih Akin’s film "Solino". Furthermore, he played the leading role of young physician Jo Hauser in Stefan Ruzowitzky’s thriller "Anatomie 2" ("Anatomy 2"). In 2003, Metschurat won the Bavarian film award as "Best young actor" for his performances in both films. He also won the award as "Best leading actor" at the 2004 Zimbabwe International Fim Festival for his performance in "Solino".

In 2003, Metschurat also played the German exchange student Tobias in "L’auberge espagnole – Barcelona für ein Jahr" ("The Spanish Apartment"). Metschurat had established the contact to this Spanish-French co-production during the two previous years that he had spent in Andalusia. In 2005, he resumed the role of Tobias in the film’s sequel "Wiedersehen in St. Petersburg" ("Russian Dolls").

Since 2006, Metschurat plays the role of inspector Leo Falckenstein in the ZDF TV crime series "KDD - Kriminaldauerdienst". "KDD" won the 2007 German TV award as "Best TV series". The third season is going to start in January 2010, this time on ARTE.

In 2009, Metschurat continued his career on the movie screen with the male leading role in Friederike Jehn’s drama "Weitertanzen". He is still regularly seen in TV productions: Besides his role in "KDD", he starred alongside Iris Berben and Heino Ferch in the TV miniseries "Krupp – Eine deutsche Familie" ("2009), among other productions.

In "Satte Farben vor Schwarz" ("Colours in the Dark", 2010) he featured as the son of a long-term married couple whose relationship takes a different turn after the father is diagnosed with cancer. The award-winning tragicomedy "Fliegende Fische müssen ins Meer" (CH/DE 2011) featured Metschurat as the first love of a 15-year-old girl who had originally chosen him as a new partner for her mother.

For a couple of years, Metschurat worked exclusively for TV productions. He appeared in guest roles in series like "Der Alte", "Soko Stuttgart", "Tatort" and "Doc Meets Dorf". In the Danish mini-series "1864" (DK 2014) he played Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia. The romantic comedy "Immer wieder anders" (2014) and the widely acclaimed crime film "Mord am Höllengrund" (2014) had Metschurat star as an unfaithful husband and as a village cop respectively. The crime caper "Weihnachten für Einsteiger" (2014) held a minor yet very memorable role as a nasty con artist in store for him.

Lars Kraume's bitter drama "Familienfest" (2015) marks Metschurat's return to the big screen. He plays the gay son of an imperious patriarch (Günther Maria Halmer) who brings his boyfriend to his father's 70th birthday. Shortly after, he featured alongside Oliver Korittke in the slacker comedy "Wie Männer über Frauen reden" as a bar owner and dedicated bachelor who falls in love by accident one day. In the docudrama "Der gute Göring" (2016, TV) which received mainly positive reviews, Metschurat played Hermann Göring's brother Albert who saved the lives of dozens of Jews in WWII. The same year, he also personified Joseph Goebbels in the big screen production "Zeit für Legenden" ("Race", DE/FR/CA 2016) about Jesse Owen's triumph at the Berlin Summer Olympics of 1936.

Metschurat presented his feature-film debut as director at the 2016 Filmfest Oldenburg: The romantic comedy "Hey Bunny", which he made together with Lavinia Wilson and in which he also is the male lead, revolves around a former hacker who is drawn into an absurd cyberspace adventure. The film was released theatrically in the spring of 2017.

Metschurat has a daughter and lives together with Lavinia Wilson in Berlin.