Jochen Horst finished at the state College in Graz, Austria, the Music Academy of Performing Arts with "summa cum laud" in 1986. Because of his bilingual upbringing (his Grandfather is from Chicago) he went to London for further training at the Lee Strasberg Institute to deepen his studies in different acting techniques, especially in the so called "Method".
While he stayed in London and Australia for many years, he played in films in Italy, England and France. He also did many plays in the theater. He was awarded in 1989 with the "O.E.Hasse-Award" a most prestigious award for best newcomer in the theater in Germany and the "Grimme Award" for best actor in 1996, and a couple of nominations in the following years for his film work.