Jill Suzanne Wagner (born January 13, 1979) is an American actress and television personality. She was the on-field host for the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

game show '' Wipeout'' from 2008 to 2011 and again from 2013 to 2014, briefly leaving during the fifth season in 2012. Since then, Wagner has starred in several made-for-television films for the

Hallmark Channel Hallmark Channel is an American cable television network owned by Hallmark Media, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies. ...

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, and

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. She stars as Bobby in the

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spy series '' Special Ops: Lioness'' (2023).

Early life and education

Wagner was born in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the List of municipalities in North Carolina, fifth-most populous ...

. She was raised primarily by her father, David Wagner, a

U.S. Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

, and her grandmother. She attended Ledford Senior High School in Wallburg, North Carolina. She went to

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

, graduating in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in business management. During her teens, she trained at

Barbizon Modeling and Acting School Barbizon Modeling and Acting School is an international modeling and acting school headquartered in Tampa, Florida. The school provides instructional courses in the domain of modeling and personal development. History The first Barbizon Sch ...

in Raleigh.

Career

After college, Wagner moved to California to pursue a career in entertainment. In 2003, she was selected as a cast member on the

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

series ''

Punk'd ''Punk'd'' is an American hidden camera–practical joke reality television series that first aired on MTV in 2003. It was created by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg, with Kutcher serving as producer and host. It bears a resemblance to both ...

'', participating in several sketches. The following year, Wagner was ranked number 90 on the ''

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'' Hot 100 Women of 2004. She was featured in the July 2006 issue of American '' FHM'' magazine. In 2006, she co-starred in the

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television series '' Blade: The Series'' as Krista Starr. She was a co-host of '' Inside the Vault'' on

WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that operated from November 9, 1978 to February 28, 2021. The service was originally uplinked to satellite by United Video Inc. as a national feed of Chicago independent station WGN-T ...

. Wagner has also had guest roles on a variety of television series, including ''

Quintuplets ''Quintuplets'' is an American television sitcom that aired 22 episodes on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from June 16, 2004, to January 12, 2005. The program starred Andy Richter and Rebecca Creskoff and shared some of their experiences parent ...

'' and ''

Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

''. Her theatrical roles include '' Junebug'' (2005) and the horror film ''

Splinter A splinter (also known as a sliver) is a fragment of a larger object, or a foreign body that penetrates or is purposely injected into a body. The foreign body must be lodged inside tissue to be considered a splinter. Splinters may cause initia ...

'' in 2008. In March 2008, Wagner was announced as the on-field host for the ABC game show '' Wipeout'', which premiered June 24, 2008. In April 2011, Wagner announced that she was leaving ''Wipeout'' after four seasons to focus on her acting career; she was succeeded by

Vanessa Minnillo Vanessa Joy Lachey (née Minnillo; born November 9, 1980) is an American television host, model and actress. She was named Miss Teen USA in 1998. She has been a New York–based correspondent for ''Entertainment Tonight'' and hosted ''Total Req ...

for the series' fifth season. In late August 2012, it was announced that Wagner would return as the co-host of ''Wipeout'' for its sixth season, a role she continued throughout the rest of the series' run. In June 2011, Wagner appeared on the series ''

Teen Wolf ''Teen Wolf'' is a 1985 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Rod Daniel and written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman. Michael J. Fox stars as the title character, a high school student whose ordinary life is changed when he discover ...

'' airing on

. In 2013, Wagner appeared on Rhett and Link's third episode of their YouTube series ''The Mythical Show''; this was in response to an episode of their talk show ''Good Mythical Morning'', where they mentioned they had gone to college with a girl who had caught their interest, but never had the courage to talk to, who was revealed to be Wagner. In 2015, Wagner was tapped to host the original series ''Handcrafted America'' on INSP; the series began its third season in August 2017. Wagner appeared in the Canadian film ''

Braven ''Braven'' is a 2018 action thriller film directed by Lin Oeding and written by Mike Nilon and Thomas Pa'a Sibbett. The film stars Jason Momoa as Joe Braven, with Garret Dillahunt, Stephen Lang, Jill Wagner, and Brendan Fletcher. Principal photogra ...

'' (2018). Since 2015, she has appeared in

made-for-television films, including playing Amy Winslow on the '' Mystery 101'' movie series on the

Channel in 2019. Since December 2021, Wagner has appeared in

made-for-television films, including ''A Merry Christmas Wish'', which premiered in December 2022. In 2023, Wagner appeared as a main cast member, playing CIA operative Bobby, in the first season of Taylor Sheridan's '' Special Ops: Lioness'' series.

Personal life

In April 2017, Wagner married Canadian former

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

(including AHL, CHL) ice hockey player David Lemanowicz, after they had announced their engagement earlier in 2016. In April 2020, Wagner gave birth to a daughter. A second daughter was born in August 2021.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Playboy.com Interview (archive copy)

Interview at Talk Humor (archive copy)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Jill 1979 births Actors from Winston-Salem, North Carolina Actresses from North Carolina American television actresses American television personalities American women television personalities Living people North Carolina State University alumni 21st-century American women