Maria Hofstätter was born on March 30 1964 in Linz. She made her stage debut at the age of 19, and subsequently performed at several theatres in Austria and Germany, as well as in stand-up shows (some of which she directed herself). Being an autodidact, she and fellow actor Dietmar Nigsch took over the management of the Projekttheater Vorarlberg in Feldkirch, Austria in 1995. In 1993, she made her screen debut as a bullied innkeeper in Paul Harather's scathing tragicomedy "Indien". She then was featured in  Michael Glawogger's comedy "Die Ameisenstraße" (AT 1995), and after several more screen appearances, she was lauded for her portrayal of  a reckless hitchhiker in Ulrich Seidl's "Hundstage" (2001). The performance eventually won her the Special Prize of the jury at the Gijón International Film Festival.

She was featured in films by Michael Haneke ("Wolfzeit", 2003), Marc Rothemund ("Sophie Scholl – die letzten Tage", 2004) and Elisabeth Scharang ("Mein Mörder", AT 2005, TV). Apart from that, she also continued her successful stage career: In 2006, she was awarded the prestigious Nestroypreis for her work as producer and actor in the play "How much, Schatzi", which was performed at the Projekttheater.

In  2007, she memorably played a frustrated and envious caretaker in Ulrich Seidl's drama "Import/Export", and after stints in films like "Wie man leben soll" (AT 2011), she teamed up with Seidl again for "Paradies: Glaube" (2012): In it, Hofstätter plays a devout Catholic who happens to be married to a Muslim and who goes from to door to door in order to spread her gospel with missionary zeal.  Also in 2012, she appeared in the Austrian TV miniseries "Braunschlag". In March 2013, Maria Hofstätter was honoured with the Actor's Award at the Diagonale Film Festival in Graz.