Sam Erenberg was born in Los Angeles in 1943 and grew up in the Baldwin Hills neighborhood. Inspired by exhibitions of Dali and Hard-edge painting, he began drawing and enrolled in the Chouinard Art Institute in 1965. He and his wife moved to an artist's colony in Woodstock, Connecticut in 1968, where he made his film Time. The Erenbergs moved back to California in 1969, settling in the fertile artistic environment of Topanga Canyon. He received his BA in Art from California State University, Northridge, and an MFA from the University of California Santa, Barbara. In Santa Barbara, he worked in performance, video and artist's books and became involved with curating the Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum.

Erenberg's films, installations, books and paintings have been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Central America and are included in numerous collections worldwide including the Museum of Fine Arts, Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland; Akademie fuer Sozialarbeit, Bregenz, Austria; Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford, Ireland; Art Metropole Collection, National Gallery of Canada; Smithsonian Library; UCLA Armand Hammer Museum; New Mexico Museum of Art; San Diego Museum of Art; Santa Barbara Museum of Art and the Skirball Cultural Museum among others. He is a recipient of grants from the Durfee Foundation and the California Arts Council. Erenberg lives and works in Santa Monica, California.