Tobias A. Schliessler

Schliessler was born in Baden-Baden, Germany, to documentary filmmaker and artist Martin Schliessler (1929–2008) and editor Anemone Schliessler (née Heim). His brother, Jochen, is a documentary filmmaker, and his sister, Tina, is a film producer, photographer, and painter.

Schiessler grew up in Baden-Baden. In 1979, he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, where he later studied film at  Simon Fraser University. After graduating as a cinematographer, he started to work on documentary films and advertisement spots. In the late 1980s, he began to work for Canadian television productions. In 1997, he moved to Los Angeles, where he worked on the production of movies like Dreamgirls, Hancock and Battleship. He often works with the directors Bill Condon and Peter Berg. He is a member of the American Society of Cinematographers.