Barbara Romaner was born in Bozen in 1978. She studied acting in Munich, and debuted in 2004 in the role of Celia in a festival staging of "As You Like It". For her performance, she received the festival"s young talent award. She continued to play in theatres in Würzburg, Fürth and Augsburg, before becoming an ensemble member at the Münchner Volkstheater in 2007. There, she appeared in stagings of "Peer Gynt", "Faust", "Hamlet" and in the title role of "Alice in Wonderland". In 2008, she was nominated for the Merkur Theatre Award, and also received a nomination for the Award for Best Newcomer by the magazine Theater-Heute.

In 2002, Barbara Romaner appeared in the experimental short "Cyberheidi", and in 2009, she made her feature film debut in Wolfgang Weigl"s "blindlings". The poetic drama premiered at the Munich Film Festival and garnered Romaner a nomination as "Best Actress". The following year, she starred as famous muse Alma Mahler in "Mahler auf der Couch", directed by Percy and Felix Adlon.