Christine Hartmann was born in 1968 in Landshut. She studied theatre in Munich and completed a film class at the American Film Institute, Los Angeles. After returning to Germany, she worked as an assistant director and dramatic advisor for theatre and television. Since 1996, she has been working as an author and scriptwriter for several TV stations. She penned several TV movies and series episodes, and in 2000 made her debut as director with the made-for-TV comedy "Es geht nicht immer nur um Sex". The following years, she helmed several TV productions, many of which were based on her own scripts. In 2010, she directed her first cinema release with "Hanni and Nanni", an adaptation of the popular childrens' book series.

More TV movies were to follow like the psychological drama "Das dunkle Nest" (2011) starring Christian Berkel as a priest who is suspected of having abused a girl, and "Tsunami – Das Leben danach" a drama based on actual events in which a German woman loses her husband and kids during the flood disaster in Thailand in 2005.

For her second theatrical release, Hartmann chose something more low-brow and light-hearted: The comedy "Frisch gepresst" ("Freshly Squeezed", 2012), a best selling novel made into film, tells the story of a woman who does not want kids but gets pregnant without being sure who the baby's father is.