Filip Dimitrov was born on March 31, 1955 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

He studied in the First English Language School in Sofia. He graduated with a law degree from the Sofia University in 1977, and then undertook further study in the field of individual and group psychotherapy using the psycho-dynamic approach.

He worked as an attorney in Sofia between 1979 and 1990, serving as Secretary of the Bulgarian Attorneys' Union from 1989 onwards.

Dimitrov was active in the Union of Democratic Forces, a broad coalition against continued rule by the Bulgarian Communist Party. He became a member of its National Coordination Council in 1990, and was its chair from December that year until December 1994. He has been a member of the Executive Council of the UDF since February 1997.

Dimitrov became Bulgaria's Prime Minister in 1991, but remained in office for only about a year, after losing a vote of confidence that he called for himself.

The term in office (until the end of 1992) of his government marked the start of functioning of Bulgaria's new democratic institutions work. His cabinet started an ambitious set of democratic political and economic reforms, the latter still controversial. Under his administration, observance of human rights was affirmed an irrevocable legal and ethical norm and previous ethnic tensions were toned down.

Foreign policy focused on integration into Europe and the West. Bulgaria was the first country in the world to recognize Macedonia unconditionally as a sovereign state.

His government allowed the possibility for a free market system, which literally transformed most Bulgarian cities within half a year. It also made possible the swift restitution of citizenship and property rights for all Jewish Bulgarian emigrants.

Dimitrov is seen by some as responsible for the collapse of Bulgarian agriculture after 1991 by restoring the land of the state-owned cooperative farms to its legitimate owners immediately instead of allowing a gradual transition from state-owned to private-owned agriculture.

He served in the 36th, 37th, and 40th legislatures of the National Assembly, having been elected in Sofia for the UDF on each occasion. In 2005, he was elected Deputy Speaker of the 40th National Assembly.

Dimitrov was a member of the Bulgarian Parliamentary Delegation for Relations with the European Parliament. In January through June of 2007 he was a member of the European Parliament and Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs.

His inability to compromise led to vetoing his candidacy both for President (fall of 2006) and Leader of the list of candidates for the European parliament (spring of 2007). He was rejected by the government as a candidate for the position of Judge at the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (fall of 2007). In July 2008, he declared that he is voluntarily leaving politics for good.

In April 1997 he was appointed Ambassador of Bulgaria at the UN, New York and from August 1998 to January 2002 he was Ambassador of Bulgaria to the US. In 2004 he was a Special Envoy of the President of the CSCE for Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Dimtirov is member of the Board of the New Bulgarian University, Honorary Chairman of the board of the George Marshall Association – Bulgaria and Program Director at the Bulgarian Institute for Legal Development.

In September 1999, Dimitrov was granted the Truman-Reagan Freedom Award for his contribution to overcoming Communism. During the 2008-2009 academic year, Dimitrov held a position as a visiting professor at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia.

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