Georgy Tovstonogov was born in Tbilisi (now Georgia), or in St. Petersburg on 28 September 1915, to a Russian noble and a Georgian classical singer Tamara Papitashvili.

In 1972, he produced the book The Profession of the Stage-Director, which is the best example of his directing style, and in which he shares his honest opinions on Lee Strasberg and Konstantin Stanislavsky.

On May 23, 1989, Tovstonogov died of heart attack in his car returning home after general rehearsal of his new production The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt.

The prominent members of his troupe include Alisa Freindlich, Zinaida Sharko, Lyudmila Makarova, Tatiana Doronina, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Kirill Lavrov, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Pavel Luspekaev, Yefim Kopelyan, Sergey Yursky, Vladislav Strzhelchik, Yevgeni Lebedev, and Oleg Basilashvili.

His theories continue to have large influence, especially in Russian and Scandinavian theatre education.