Lisa Wagner, born 1979 in Kaiserslautern, studied at the Bavarian Theatre Academy August Everding from 1999 to 2003. While still a student, she became a member of the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel's (Bavarian State Theatre's) ensemble from the 2001/2002 season onwards. In 2002 she was awarded the Kurt Meisel Prize (together with the other choir actresses) for her performance in the 'Choir Trojan female prisoners of war' in the play "Hekabe". In 2003 she received the Förderpreis of the Verein der Freunde des Bayerischen Staatsschauspiels and the Bayerischer Kunstförderpreis.   

Lisa Wagner made her debut as a film actress in 2006 in the main ensemble of Ralf Westhoff's speed dating comedy "Shoppen" as a shy, lonely nurse. Afterwards she focused again completely on her work on stage - until she received much attention for her intensive performance in the "Tatort" episode "Nie wieder frei sein" (broadcasted in December 2010): Her portrayal of an ambitious, seemingly ice-cold public defender of a rapist and murderer was critically acclaimed and earned her the Grimme Award and the Bavarian TV Award. She was also nominated for the German Television Award and the Deutscher Schauspielerpreis (German Actors' Award).   

In 2011 Wagner left the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel and concentrated entirely on her film and television career. After supporting roles in TV movies such as "Ein Drilling kommt selten allein" ("A Triplet Rarely Comes Alone", 2012), she received the title role in the then new crime series "Kommissarin Heller" in 2013, for which she received the Hessischer Fernsehpreis (Hessian Television Prize) in the same year. From 2014 to 2016 Wagner had another regular role in a series, playing the head of operative case analysis in the Munich episodes of the popular crime series "Tatort". In the third and fourth season of the TV series "Weissensee" (2015-2018) she appeared as an investigative journalist.    

In addition to these series roles, Wagner also took part in numerous TV movies. She played a lawyer in the highly acclaimed abuse drama "Einfach die Wahrheit" (2013) and the pregnant wife of a blackmailed public prosecutor in Friedemann Fromm's "Momentversagen" (2014). In "Letzte Ausfahrt Gera - Acht Stunden mit Beate Zschäpe" (2016) she impersonated the NSU terrorist Beate Zschäpe. For this role as well as for her portrayal of a suburban wife in the comedy "Vorstadtrocker" ("Bikers of Suburbia"), she was nominated for the Bavarian TV Award. Wolfgang Murnberger's tragicomedy "Nichts zu verlieren" (2018), about the members of a group of mourners who are taken hostage by two robbers, also received much critical praise.   

On the big screen, however, Wagner appeared during all these years in only one small role in Marcus H. Rosenmüller's "Beste Chance" ("Best Chance", 2014). In 2019 she did stand in front of the camera for her first leading role in a feature film: In "Das Glaszimmer" (theatrical release: 2020) she stars as a single mother in 1945, whose eleven-year-old son is about to be seduced by Nazi propaganda shortly before the end of the war.