Biolek was born in Freistadt (Fryštát) in Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic), into a Sudeten German family.

Living in the city, Biolek underwent a radical change and distanced himself from his previous conservative mindset.

He took part in the bohemian community in Munich, and belonged to filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder's social circle.

[7] From 1963, Biolek worked as an assessor in the legal department of the new public German TV channel ZDF where he soon switched to editorial tasks.

[10] From 1970 to 1973, he was head of the main entertainment department at the Bavaria film and television production company in Munich.

[3] In 1974, he developed for the broadcaster WDR in Cologne, together with Rudi Carrell, the show series Am laufenden Band [de].

[2] While visiting the UK in the early 1970s, Biolek caught notice of the British comedy troupe Monty Python, and excited by their innovative, absurd sketches, he invited them over to Germany in 1971 and 1972 to write and act in two special German episodes of their show Monty Python's Flying Circus.

[6] He supported the intercultural work of the American Field Service Deutschland, with which he spent a year abroad in the US as one of the first German exchange students in the 1950s.

[20] On 10 December 1991, the director and activist Rosa von Praunheim outed Biolek, among other celebrities, as gay during a TV show.