Jill Wagner may look almost unrecognizable as a battle-ready operative in Special Ops: Lioness — but fans may be surprised by just how many times they’ve seen her before.
The actress plays Bobby, the Quick Reaction Force leader working alongside Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman. Yet her career has taken her far beyond the intense world of military intelligence.
From Wipeout to Teen Wolf
For many viewers, Wagner is best remembered as the co-host of ABC’s hit competition show Wipeout, a role she held from 2008 to 2014. She became a familiar face as she interviewed contestants covered in mud and soaked from the show’s punishing obstacle courses.
She later took on a very different role in Teen Wolf, playing werewolf hunter Kate Argent.
Wagner also became a popular presence in television movies, starring in Hallmark and Great American Family productions including Christmas in Evergreen and the Mystery 101 series, where she played literature professor Amy Winslow.
Her connection to Lioness goes much deeper
Wagner’s involvement with Lioness extends beyond acting. She is also an executive producer who helped pitch and develop the series.
Raised in a military family, Wagner’s father, uncle and grandfather all served in the Marines. She and her husband, former Army Major David Lemanowic, developed the concept for the show while on their farm in Tennessee, drawing inspiration from real-life female military operatives.
Wagner then brought the idea to her former acting coach, Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, who helped transform it into the global streaming hit it became.
Speaking to Parade ahead of Season 2, Wagner said her husband was the person who first told her about the Lioness program. From there, she became convinced there was a story worth telling — a vision that ultimately took about five years to bring to the screen.
Today, her role as Bobby offers fans a very different side of an actress they may already know from comedy, supernatural drama and feel-good romances.