As a member of the stage ballet company in the musical Can-Can, he performed the tumbling acrobatics at the Stadttheater Bremerhaven in his home town.

In 2002, Ferch met Marie-Jeanette Steinle, a National League Member of the military eventing squad, at the Bavarian Television Award celebration.

From 1990 to 1994 he was ensemble player at the Schiller Theatre, Berlin (Die Räuber; Mockinpott; Kasimir und Karoline; As you like it - director: Katharina Thalbach).

In 1992 he appeared at the Theater des Westens in Der Blaue Engel (screenplay after a novel by Heinrich Mann) under the direction of Peter Zadek.

He also appeared as guest actor at the Salzburg Festival (Un re in ascolto; Jedermann; Macbeth; Il ritorno d´Ulisse), at the Scala Milan and at the Burgtheater Vienna (Die Geisel).

In 1987 Ferch made his feature film debut with a brief appearance in Schloß Königswald [de] (directed by Peter Schamoni).

In 1989 he played his first leading part in Wedding [de] (which is the name of a Berlin working class quarter), as runner gone amok Klaus Asmus (director: Heiko Schier).

1997 was the year of his breakthrough as a film actor with his appearance as Jewish singer Roman Cycowski in The Harmonists (director: Josef Vilsmaier), a famous German a cappella singing ensemble of the early 1930s.

In 2001 the TV-mini series The Tunnel (director: Roland Suso Richter) focused on the dramatic escape of 32 persons from the GDR.

Ferch received the Golden Camera award as best actor for his role as Harry Melchior, a fictional figure based on real-life escapee Hasso Herschel.

After the turn of the millennium the German film production company teamworx started a new TV-format: the so-called event movies.

Striking events form German history are combined with semi fictional story telling „making the past come alive" (teamworx-claim) (e.g.