Dirk Heinrichs, born 1965 in Leverkusen, finished high school before he became one of the founding members of "Theater an der Herzogstraße", an off theatre, in 1985. Heinrichs made his first appearances there and until 1995 returned several times between his engagements at theatres in Cologne, Bochum, and in Solingen.

During the mid-1990s, Heinrichs made his first appearances on TV, mainly in TV crime film series like "Tatort" or "Der Fahnder". He made his breakthrough on TV in the leading role of inspector Winkler in the successful TV crime series "Die Sitte" (2001 to 2006) that was nominated for the Grimme award in 2004. After a key supporting role in the film "Der Clown" ("The Clown", 2005, based on the TV crime series by the same name), Heinrichs returned to the movie screen in 2009 in a leading role in the ensemble drama "Kopf oder Zahl".

In late 2005, Dirk Heinrichs set up "Sprache gegen Gewalt", an initiative that supports the promotion of moral courage and social responsibility.