Langhoff's grandmother is of Greek origin, her grandfather is descended from Circassian nobles. Shortly after her birth, she was taken to live with her grandparents in Edremit. In 1978, at the age of nine, she came to Germany to join her mother, who worked as a guest worker at AEG in Nuremberg. After finishing school at Hans-Sachs-Gymnasium, she first completed an apprenticeship as a publishing clerk and then trained as an editor at the publishing house Bildung und Wissen. After a few years at the publishing house, she turned to the film industry and completed a traineeship in film and television production at NDR. She then worked as a recording and production manager, then as a producer and assistant director.

She was married to theater director Lukas Langhoff from 1996 to 2017 and their daughter Rosa was born in 1998.

Langhoff was the director of Ballhaus Naunynstraße in Berlin-Kreuzberg. In 2012, she was appointed artistic director of the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin, succeeding Armin Petras, who moved to the Württembergisches Staatstheater in Stuttgart in summer 2013.