A coating apparatus and method are disclosed in which even if poor coating occurs in a lower-layer, no poor coating occurs in an upper-layer formed on the lower-layer. A pre-wet liquid coating device is disposed between a first coating device at the upstream side of a support web conveying direction, and a second coating device disposed at the downstream side. When an uncoated portion is formed by the first coating device, a pre-wet liquid is coated by a pre-wet liquid coating device, and the coating liquid can be reliably coated by the second coating device. When the pre-wet liquid coating device is removed from the support web, first, the pre-wet liquid coating device is brought into liquid-running out state, and thereafter, removed from the support web. Accordingly, the pool of pre-wet liquid is eliminated and occurrence of a thickly coated portion on the support web can be prevented.