Jessica Hausner was born in Vienna on October 6th 1972; her father was the painter Rudolf Hausner. She studied directing at the Vienna Film Academy, where she also shot her short film "Flora" (1996) which was screened on several international festivals and won a prize in Locarno. Her graduation project was "Inter-View", a 50-minute long, semi-documentary portrait of a young man who interviews people on their lives and thereby tries to connect with them, which was lauded at the Cinéfondation in Cannes.

Together with filmmakers Antonin Svoboda and Barbara Albert and cinematographer Martin Gschlacht she founded the production company coop99, which not only became the production base for the films of the four founders, but also for the works of other renowned directors like Michael Glawogger and Hans Weingartner.

In 2001, "Lovely Rita" marked Jessica Hausner's first feature-length film. The drama about an estranged teenage girl who commits a seemingly senseless act of violence premiered in the section "Un Certain Regard" at the Cannes International Film Festival and was awarded the Vienna Film Prize at the 2001 Viennale. Hausner's follow-up, the sublime horror film "Hotel", also premiered in Cannes and went on to win the Grand Prize at the Diagonale in Graz and the "Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver" at the Leeds International Film Festival.

In 2009, Hausner's poetic drama "Lourdes" was invited to the Venice International Film Festival and took home four awards (FIPRESCI, Signis, La Navicella and Brian). This was followed by more awards at the 2009 Viennale and 2009 Warsaw Film Festival and the European Film Award for Best Female Actor (Sylvie Testud).

In 2014, Hausner returned with "Amour Fou", a romantic drama revolving around poet Herinrich von Kleist's love for young mother Henriette Vogel and the couple's suicide. The film premiered at the Cannes IFF. At the Austrian Film Awards 2015, "Amour Fou" was nominated in eight categories, and in the end won the prizes for Best Screenplay and Best Editing. It was released in Germany in January 2015.

Five years later, also in Cannes, Hausner presented her next film: "Little Joe" (AT/GB/DE 2019), a science fiction mystery drama about a newly bred plant that creates feelings of happiness - with side effects. In Cannes, the film's lead actress Emily Beecham won the prize for Best Actress. After further festival participations, "Little Joe" was released in German cinemas at the beginning of 2020.

Jessica Hausner's sister Tanja Hausner is a costume designer, her half-sister Xenia Hausner a stage designer and painter.