In 1739, he became a member of Johann Friedrich Schönemann's (1704–1782) company in Lüneburg, and made his first appearance there on 15 January 1740 as Xiphares in Racine's Mithridate.

From 1751, the Schönemann company performed mainly in Hamburg and at Schwerin, where Christian Ludwig II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin made them comedians to the court.

He resigned this position, however, in favor of H. G. Koch, with whom he acted until 1764, when he joined K. E. Ackermann's company.

Ekhof's reputation was now at its height; Goethe called him the only German tragic actor; and in 1777 he acted with Goethe and Duke Charles Augustus at a private performance at Weimar, dining afterward with the poet at the ducal table.

He was regarded by his contemporaries as an unsurpassed exponent of naturalness on the stage; and in this respect he has been not unfairly compared with Garrick.