Carl Schenkel was born on May 8, 1948 in Berne, Switzerland. He relocated to Frankfurt, Germany and worked as a journalist while studying for a degree in sociology. Schenkel broke into the movie industry in the mid 70s as a script collaborator and assistant director before making his feature debut as both writer and director with the lowbrow horror comedy outing "Dracula Blows His Cool" in 1979. Carl's 1984 thriller "Abwarts" won several award s at various film festivals. Schenkel went on to direct a handful of motion pictures and made-for-TV features as well as episodes of the TV series "The Hitchhiker" and "Profiler." Outside of his movie and television work, Carl also wrote advertising copy and directed TV commercial s. Schenkel died at age 55 of heart failure at his home in Los Angeles, California on December 1, 2003.

Made his directorial debut under the name Carlo Ombra.