We show how the string amplitude phi(z) defined on the fifth dimension in AdS5 space can be precisely mapped to the light-front wave functions of hadrons in physical space-time. We find an exact correspondence between the holographic variable z and an impact variable zeta, which represents the measure of transverse separation of the constituents within the hadrons. In addition, we derive effective four dimensional Schrödinger equations for the bound states of massless quarks and gluons which exactly reproduce the anti-de Sitter conformal field theory results and give a realistic description of the light-quark meson and baryon spectrum as well as the form factors for space-like Q2. Only one parameter which sets the mass scale, lambda(QCD), is introduced.