Collin Schiffli was born and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana. From an early age, he developed a passion for drawing, painting, music, and storytelling. Throughout high school, Collin won multiple awards in fine arts. He won "Best Feature Film" twice in a local film festival and finished sixth in the state of Indiana with a short film in the Project XL Farm Bureau Contest. In 2005, Collin received the Presidential Scholarship to attend Columbia College Chicago. Over the course of his college career, he won multiple awards for short films entered in Chicago area festivals. Collin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Film Directing and continues to pursue the art of filmmaking along with screenwriter and brother, Brandon Schiffli.In 2014, Collin's feature film debut, Animals, won a special grand jury award at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival and was awarded best feature, best director and best actor at The Midwest Independent Film Festival's BMAs in Chicago. ANIMALS also took home top prizes at the Virginia Film Festival and Chicago Critics Film Festival.