Born in Youngstown, OH, the future producer began her career as a one-time actor, appearing in numerous Broadway and off Broadway stage productions as well as at the Yale Repertory Theater . Also a published playwright, she co-authored “Out of Our Father’s House.” In 1977, she migrated to Los Angeles where she appeared in the miniseries "Loose Change" (NBC, 1978).
After months of the auditioning game, Wagner's own agent offered her a job – as an agent – because she seemed to have the instincts. Two years later she joined CAA, then on the brink of becoming the most powerful agency in town. During the next almost 15 years, Wagner helped guide the careers of not just Cruise (who became one of the biggest stars worldwide), but actors Demi Moore, Val Kilmer, Liam Neeson, and Kevin Bacon, as well as filmmakers Oliver Stone and Robert Towne. Wagner was known as a nurturing presence in a very business-like environment. She hit paydirt when putting Cruise and Stone together for the film "Born on the Fourth of July" (1989); a film that earned Cruise his first Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. She also linked Kilmer with Stone for "The Doors" (1991), and was the agent-of-record on Stone's controversial hit, "JFK" (1991).
Not one to forget such loyalty and hard work – to say nothing of that Oscar nomination – Cruise asked Wagner to form a production team in 1993. Cruise/Wagner Productions was methodical in getting started, rather than rushing to the theatres with a project that would flop. After "Mission Impossible," the company's second production was "Without Limits" (1998), the story of track and field star Steve Prefontaine, directed by former Wagner client Robert Towne. She and Cruise went on to produce an impressive list of credits, including the chilling supernatural thriller “The Others” (2001), “Vanilla Sky” (2001), "Narc" (2002), the critically acclaimed “Shattered Glass” (2003), “The Last Samurai” (2003), "War of the Worlds" (2005), “Elizabethtown” (2005) and “Ask the Dust” (2006) – to say nothing of the "Mission: Impossible" sequels, "M:I 2" (2000) and "M:I 3" (2006).
Such billion dollar success did not go unnoticed. In 2001, Wagner was honored by Premiere magazine with the Women in Hollywood Icon Award, and was featured the following year in Bravo’s “Women on Top,” a documentary profiling top women in entertainment. Wagner and Cruise were recipients of two awards from the Producers Guild – the Nova Award in 1997 and the Vision Award in 2004. Also in 2004, Daily Variety honored the producing team as “Billion-Dollar Producers.” In 2005, she returned as co-chair to the Hollywood Film Festival for the third year in a row, immersing herself in many facets of the film business.
Future Cruise/Wagner productions include the films "The Eye," "I Married a Witch," and "War Magician," as well as an episode of the TV miniseries, "Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King" (2006).