Max Obal early concentrated to the direction of movies and he shot his first movie with "Der Höflichkeitsabend" (1911).
His last movies as a director came in the 30s into being.
At the age of 20 he made his artistic debut as a chorus singer in Hamburg and at this time he already used his pseudonym Max Obal.
After a so-called bourgeois education for optic and fine mechanics Max Obal turned towards acting and he got acting lessons at the Schauspielhaus Hamburg.