Niki Reiser was born in 1958 in Reinach, Aargau in Switzerland, the son of a pastor and a nurse.
[1] From 1984 to 1986, Reiser lived partly in Europe, mostly in Switzerland, where he continued his studies in composition in Basel.
In 1986, Reiser moved back to Europe where he met the film director Dani Levy.
This encounter started a lasting friendship, resulting in Reiser composing the music for all of Levy's films.
At that time Reiser joined the klezmer band Kolsimcha as a flutist, and composed several pieces for the group.
In 2005, he was the 12th recipient of the Rheingau Musik Preis, as "a composer who repeatedly and majestically succeeds in meeting the particular dramaturgical needs entailed by film scores, and thus suffusing each individual work with its own unique sound".