Mark Schlichter, born 1962 in Münster, started acting while he was still at school. After dropping out of school, Schlichter attended actor's training in Berlin. He then played in several film and theatre productions but started to work as a director in 1985 and staged plays in Austria and Switzerland in the following two years. In 1988, he started to study at Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB). During his time at DFFB, Schlichter worked for several film productions and assisted Jean-Luc Godard's "Allemagne neuf zéro" and Dani Levy's "Ohne mich" among others.

Schlichter has only been acting in a few films since, for example in Christian Petzold's "Cuba Libre" or in Dani Levy's "Stille Nacht" ("Silent Night").

In 1995, Schlichter finished his studies at DFFB with his graduation film, the thriller "Ex", and subsequently made several successful TV movies in different genres, such as several episodes of the "Tatort" spinoff "Schimanski", the comedy "Der Elefant in meinem Bett" ("How to Hide an Elephant"), and the drama "Liebe und Verrat" which was nominated for a Grimme prize in 2001. In 2003, Schlichter made his movie debut as a director with "Cowgirl", a dodgy romantic comedy starring Alexandra Maria Lara, Wotan Wilke Möhring und Peter Lohmeyer.

Despite positive reviews for "Cowgirl", Schlichter then worked for TV again. With Heikko Deutschmann and Esther Zimmering in the leading roles, he shot the much-praised drama "Blindes Vertrauen" (2005) about a playboy who is thrown off track by an accident. He then realized the comedies "Heiratsschwindlerin mit Liebeskummer" ("Double Trouble", 2006, again with Heikko Deutschmann) and "Freundschaften und andere Neurosen" (2008).

Overall, however, Schlichter’s main genre remained crime film. His "Tatort" episodes "Strahlende Zukunft" (2007), about murderous intrigues of the mobile phone industry, and "Familienaufstellung" (2009), about a supposed honour killing in a Turkish family, received much praise from critics. The drama "Tod einer Schülerin" (2009), starring Matthias Brandt and Corinna Harfouch, and the police thriller "Rottmann schlägt zurück" (2011), starring Heino Ferch in the title role, were also reviewed positively. He then made "Tatort: Altes Eisen" (2011), followed by the first two episodes of the crime series "Zorn" (2014 & 2015).

In the summer of 2018 Mark Schlichter started shooting his first feature film since "Cowgirl". The children's film "Alfons Zitterbacke - Das Chaos ist zurück" ("Alfons Zitterbacke"), is an adaptation of the popular GDR children's book series about a ten-year-old outsider who wants to prove what he's made of by building a gigantic rocket model. The film was released in cinemas in April 2019.