Sonja Henrici was born and raised in Bavaria, Germany, and moved to Britain in 1994 to study at Sussex University, where she became involved in filmmaking. She worked at Edinburgh International Film Festival for five editions, and then joined Scottish Documentary Institute at its inception in 2004. She founded and led its production arm, SDI Productions (2007), making many award-winning films and putting Scottish documentaries on the map. She led the institute from 2013-2020. In 2021 she set up Sonja Henrici Creates Ltd in order to focus on her own creative and production work, producing films with flexibility, ambition and scale - in collaboration with various partners and companies. She enjoys working with new and established talent worldwide from her base in Edinburgh.

She is an international BAFTA nominated producer of multiple international feature documentaries: TIME TRIAL, a film with ex-cyclist David Millar (world premiere, IDFA 2017, SXSW); BECOMING ANIMAL (CPH DOX/EIFF 2018); the multiple award-winning DONKEYOTE (2017) (BAFTA Scotland nomination: Best Feature 2017; EIFF Best Feature Documentary, Festival Malaga Audience Award); SEVEN SONGS FOR A LONG LIFE (SXSW 2016, POV); FUTURE MY LOVE (2012) (nominated for the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature; Green Dox Award) and "One of the year's most moving films." (Hollywood Reporter): I AM BREATHING (2013). She also exec-produced FREEDOM FIELDS (TIFF 2018), NAE PASARAN, PABLO's WINTER and WHERE YOU'RE MEANT TO BE, and more than 50 short documentaries.

She has co-produced with the USA, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland. Her films have screened across festivals, cinema, TV, VOD, and DVD, on all continents, in over 60 countries.

She is a member of AMPAS, BAFTA and PACT.