Florian Köhler was born in Göttingen and grew up in Hesse and Styria. After a stint at theatre.wozek, he completed his acting studies at the Max Reinhardt Seminar, also in Vienna.

From 2009 to 2023, Florian Köhler was permanently employed at Schauspielhaus Graz, where he worked with Oliver Frljić, Theater im Bahnhof, Christiane Pohle and András Dömötör, among others. Köhler played Faust in the Austrian premiere of Werner Schwab's Faust :: Mein Brustkorb : Mein Helm (director: Claudia Bauer) in 2017. As a puppeteer, he has worked with Nikolaus Habjan, including in Das Missverständnis, which was nominated for the Nestroy Theatre Prize in 2015. He has an ongoing collaboration with Jan-Christoph Gockel, including in Der Auftrag: Dantons Tod (Nestroy Prize 2017) and Die Revolution frisst ihre Kinder (Nestroy Prize 2019), as well as with Alexander Eisenach, including in Vernon Subutex and Der letzte Mensch. In 2020, he was nominated for the Nestroy Award for Best Actor for his wife Zittel in Heldenplatz by Thomas Bernhard (director: FX Mayr).

Florian Köhler also works for radio, film and television. He also composes and writes songs, which he records, sings and plays with the band KÖHDER.

Florian Köhler has been a member of the Deutsches Theater Berlin ensemble since the 2023/24 season.