Vera Chekhova was born in Berlin, the daughter of actress and film manager Ada Chekhova and doctor Dr. Wilhelm Rust. Her grandmother was the actress Olga Chekhova. She attended the Academy of Arts to become a stage designer, but soon transferred to a Munich drama school.
In 1959 Vera Chekhova acted under the direction of Rudolf Noelte and then with Erwin Piscator at the Freie Volksbühne in Berlin. There she continued to take acting lessons with Marlise Ludwig; in Munich she studied with Ernst Fritz Fürbringer. Her stage stations from 1962: Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Festspiele Bad Hersfeld, Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf, Basler Theater, Stadttheater Konstanz, Staatstheater Braunschweig and Theater Loeben.
Ms. Chekhova began her film career with the film WITWER MIT FÜNF TÖCHTERN (1956). Since then, she has appeared in over 40 TV and feature films, such as: NOCH MINDERJHÄHRIG (1958), Vittorio de Sica's MARIETTO, CAMILLA UND DER LIEBE GOTT (1958), DAS BROT DER FRÜHEN JAHRE (1962, Bundesfilmpreis), ZEIT DER EMPFINDSAMKEIT (1977, Goldene Kamera) and, directed by her husband Vadim Glowna, in DESPERADO CITY (1981, Caméra d'Or in Cannes).
More recently, Vera Chekhova has emerged primarily as a director of cinematic portraits. Her previous works are: SCHEWARDNADSE (1992), HANS-DIETRICH GENSCHER - MEIN HALLE (1993), KLAUS-MARIA BRANDAUER - ANSICHTEN EINES RÄUBERHAUPTMANNS (1994) and KATJA RIEMANN - ICH HAB ERST HALBZEIT (1995), ARMIN MUELLER-STAHL - JETZT IST SONNTAG ANGESAGT (1996), ANTHONY QUINN (1997). After finishing two films about THE CREATIVE FRIENDSHIPS OF MICHAEL BALLHAUS - ROBERT REDFORD/MARTIN SCORSESE, he made a film about ANG LEE. SALAM CINEMA, a film about THE MAKHMALBAF FILM FAMILY was completed in 2006 and opened a showcase of the family's work at the Munich Film Festival. In 2007/08 the work MICHAEL BALLHAUS- EINE REISE DURCH MEBEN was produced.