Jill Wagner

Jill Wagner is an American television actress, model, and game show personality. An appealing presence on American television, Jill Wagner was the enthusiastic co-host of the ABC game show "Wipeout" (2008- ) as well as a guest player in numerous episodic series and the occasional feature film. She relocated from her native North Carolina to California to pursue a modeling career in 2001, but instead broke into television as one of Ashton Kutcher's pranking cohorts on "Punk'd" (MTV 2003-07). Guest roles on television series, as well as a long-running ad campaign for Mercury automobiles led to her first assignment as a series regular on the action-fantasy program "Blade: The Series" (Spike 2006). Following its swift demise, Wagner joined "Wipeout," an Americanized version of grueling Japanese obstacle course game shows which became one of the network's most popular programs. She departed "Wipeout" in 2011 to take a recurring role on MTV's "Teen Wolf" (2011- ), but returned to her duties on the program in 2013 while also dividing her time between acting assignments. Wagner's successful track record of popular series minted her as an up-and-coming talent in a variety of media showcases.

Born Jill Suzanne Wagner on January 13, 1979 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, she was raised primarily by her father, U.S. Marine David Wagner, and her grandmother following the death of her mother. She graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelor's degree in 2001 before relocating to Los Angeles to try her hand at modeling. While there, Wagner joined the cast of the reality-comedy series "Punk'd," which in turn led to guest roles on a variety of television series, including "Monk" (USA 2002-09), and increased visibility as the spokesperson for the Ford Motor Company's Mercury brand in a series of television ads between 2005 and 2011. In 2006, Wagner was cast opposite rapper-turned-actor Sticky Fingaz in "Blade: The Series," an extension of the popular feature film and Marvel Comics series about a vampire who hunted his fellow undead. Wagner played a military veteran who joined Blade (Fingaz) after being turned into a vampire by her brother's killer. Though initially a high-rated program for Spike, the network canceled "Blade" after its first season. Wagner soon returned to steady work as a guest star on episodic television while also playing the female lead in the gruesome independent horror film "Splinter" (2008). That same year, she was hired as "on-location" presenter for the game show "Wipeout," an outlandish competition series that put contestants through an outlandish obstacle course designed for maximum physical humor. Wagner, who gamely interviewed the eccentric contestants and reported the action on the playing field to commentators John Anderson and John Henson, remained with the series until 2011, when she departed to resume focus on her acting career. She was subsequently cast in a recurring role as a merciless werewolf hunter on the MTV fantasy-drama series "Teen Wolf." After her character was dispatched in the first season, Wagner returned to her hosting duties on "Wipeout" in the summer of 2013.