Michael Ostrowski was born to two school teachers on January 3, 1973 in Leoben, Austria as Michael Stockinger. During the time he studied English/American Studies and French at the University Graz he started to act in a theater group and instead of writing his dissertation he wrote the script for "Nacktschnecken". His first acting role in a feature film was in Nogo (2002), but his breakthrough was the already mentioned Nacktschnecken (2004) which was directed by Michael Glawogger and with Ostrowski in a main role. Further milestones were: Slumming (2006), Contact High (2009) (both also directed by Glawogger) and Die unabsichtliche Entführung der Frau Elfriede Ott (2010).