Urs Rechn was born in Halle / Saale to painter and graphic artist Günther Rechn and his wife Beate, who is a designer.
His artistic and musical training began early: at the age of six, he began playing the cello, at nine, he added the French horn and piano, which he then studied in depth from 1987 at the special school of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Academy of Music in Leipzig/Halle. After transferring to the Cottbus Conservatory, Urs Rechn began playing in the youth symphony orchestra and youth wind orchestra, and received conducting lessons from Hans Hütten.
This period, in the mid-1990s, also saw his first professional experiences at the Cottbus State Theater. He played several roles under the direction of Christoph Schroth and Rainer Flath (including „Ole Bienkopp“ and „Hamlet“), and sang in the State Theater choir in The Magic Flute and Carmina Burana.

After graduating from high school, Rechn enlisted in the Saarland Brigade’s paratroopers, among others, and returned
after extensive training, successfully passing tough exams, and gaining impressive experiences from his deployment
to the renowned Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Academy of Music and Theatre in Leipzig to study acting. 
It was already during his studies that Rechn performed at Staatsschauspiel Dresden.
He finished his Diploma in 2005 by producing a thesis on his contrary guiding figures Brecht and Beckett.
Immediately after his degree in 2005 Rechn got an engagement at the Landestheater Tübingen. He excelled in roles such as – Jason in „Mamma Medea“ by Tom Lanoye
– Orestes in Goethes „Iphigenie“
– Yang Ssun in Brechts „The Good Person of Sezuan“.
Rechns next engagement was at the Städtische Bühnen Chemnitz (2008 – 2013).                        
Remarkable also was his role as Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams‘ „A streetcar named desire“;
Rechn was especially celebrated for his „sudden aggression“ and macho-like dominance,
reminding critics of the acting style of Marlon Brando.

It was during this time in Chemnitz that Rechn did his first successful steps as director:
together with Mario Grünewald and Werner Hasselmann he stage-managed Kafkas „A Report To An Academy“
(and played Rotpeter in it) in 2009.     
Another highlight certainly was his remarkable performance of Peachum in Brechts „Threepennyopera“ in 2011. 

Preliminary height of his cinematic career is his main role in Laszlo Nemes‘ film „Son of Saul“ (2015) which was awarded the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival 2015, the Golden Globe 2016 for Best Foreign Language Film, the Academy Award 2016 in the same category and 2017 the „Stella Award“/EE British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) as „Best Film Not in the English Language“