Thando Walbaum was born on September 8, 1985, in Hamburg, Germany. He is the son of musicians Bethina Walbaum and Dumasani Mabaso. His mother is German, while his father is a South African of Zulu descent. He has two older half-brothers in South Africa. He grew up in Hamburg's Schanzenviertel district and still lives there today. He also spends time in South Africa.

Walbaum had his first TV role for Studio Hamburg in 1999 in an episode of the children's series Die Pfefferkörner. In the movie Emil und die Detektive, he played Hassouna. In 2005, he got his first leading role in the film adaptation of the book Neger, Neger, Schornsteinfeger! with Veronica Ferres. He played the role of real-life Hans-Jürgen Massaquoi as a mixed-race teenager in Nazi Germany. The film was nominated for the Golden Camera.

In 2013 he played the drummer Lukas in the feature film Systemfehler - Wenn Inge tanzt. In 2015-2016 he appeared as Amar Akram in 45 episodes of Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten.

Walbaum also plays drums and percussion professionally, performing together with his parents with the musical group Dube which focuses on traditional South African township music.