Frank Rheinboldt was born in 1946 in Freiburg, the Black Forest, Germany. In 1962 he left Catholic boarding school, ending his formal studies. In 1963 he gave up studies in technical drawing and electro mechanics. In 1964 he deserted from the army and was arrested by the military for one month. In 1968-71 he took theatre courses with Else Bongers in Berlin and in 1970 trained on the flying trapeze with the Flying Marylees and in 1972 in a flying trapeze school in Cape Town. After realising that he didn't have enough talent to become a good trapeze artist, he gave up these studies. Between 1972-76 he had lead acting roles in several low budget German movies. He began his first drawings and discovered photography in Berlin 1973. Willi Fleckhaus, an art director, and his friend Gerd Nickstadt took notice of his work and introduced him to the photo and art-business. He was awarded the Kodak prize for a photobook in 1983. His first works in photocollage were done in 1987. Frank Rheinboldt has lived and worked in Paris since 1987.

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