Katja von Garnier was born December 15, 1966, in Wiesbaden as the daughter of a colour designer. In 1989, she started studying directing at the Academy for Television & Film (HFF) in Munich. Her breakthrough came in 1993 with the 60-minute student graduation film "Abgeschminkt" ("Making Up!"). The romantic comedy, starring a then widely unknown Katja Riemann, attracted one million viewers. Her first feature-length film, "Bandits" (1998), told the story of four female prison inmates who form a band. Despite conflicting reviews, the road movie turned out to be a respectable hit at the box office.

In 1999, Garnier moved to Hollywood. After some rather silent years, the renowned pay TV channel HBO entrusted her with the direction of "Iron Jawed Angels", a drama movie about the women's suffrage movement in the United States. In 2007, she returned to the big screen with the U.S.-produced vampire drama "Blood and Chocolate".

Five years later and just about 15 years after her box office hit "Bandits", Katja von Garnier shot another movie in Germany. The teen film "Ostwind" ("Windstorm") tells the story of a teenager who discovers her talent as a horse whisperer, while spending the summer on her grandmother's ranch. The film was released in German theatres in spring 2013. At both the Bavarian and the German Film Awards 2014 "Ostwind" won Best Children's and Youth Film. Katja von Garnier also helmed the sequel "Ostwind 2" ("Windstorm 2") in 2015.

The same year, her documentary "Scorpions – Forever and a Day (2011-15) which covered the perennial "farewell tour" of the rock group "The Scorpions" was released in movie theatres. Subsequently, von Garnier continued her successful horse saga with "Ostwind - Aufbruch nach Ora" ("Windstorm - And The Wild Horses", 2017).

At the end of 2019, Garnier began shooting her next feature film, the coming-of-age drama "Fly". The film is about a twenty-year-old who finds herself through a dance program while serving a prison sentence, but then threatens to get caught up in her past again. The film was released theatrically in October 2021.