![\"Jill](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/wagner.jpg\")
<\/p>\nNEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n
Jill Wagner has been in the industry for decades and stars in Taylor Sheridan’s hit show, “Lioness.”<\/p>\n
Even though she moved to California early in her career to pursue acting, she has returned to her country roots and lives on her Tennessee farm with her husband and two daughters.<\/p>\n
With season three of “Lioness” premiering earlier this month, Fox News Digital is taking a look at everything to know about Wagner’s personal life, her military connection, how her husband inspired her role in the series and more.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jill Wagner pitched Taylor Sheridan’s “Lioness” series. (John Nacion\/Variety via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Jill Wagner stars in ‘Lioness’<\/p>\n
Wagner portrays Bobby, the tough, highly skilled leader of the Lioness program<\/a>‘s Quick Reaction Force (QRF).<\/p>\n WHAT TAYLOR SHERIDAN’S BIGGEST STARS REALLY THINK ABOUT WORKING WITH THE ‘YELLOWSTONE’ CREATOR<\/a><\/p>\n Wagner not only stars in Sheridan’s hit series<\/a>, she was the one who pitched him the idea. She told Parade<\/a> in 2024 that Sheridan crafted the role as Bobby specifically for Wagner, and she serves as an executive producer on the show.<\/p>\n Jill Wagner stars as Bobby on “Lioness.” (Lauren “Lo” Smith\/Paramount+)<\/p>\n “Taylor Sheridan was my old acting coach, and I had access to him,” she began. “Taylor writes in such an honest and raw way. I didn\u2019t want this show to become Barbies with guns. I wanted it to represent the women I knew and respected in the military, and he\u2019s done that brilliantly.”<\/p>\n Wagner went on to explain that in order for her to really bring Bobby to life, she had to sit down and speak with her lionessess.<\/p>\n “At first, I didn\u2019t understand who Bobby was. I still find things about her even right before we do a take. I have met and talked to several real-life lionesses while researching the show,” she said. “I took all those personalities and mashed them all together; thus, we have \u2018Bobby.'”<\/p>\n Wagner and David Lemanowicz’s love story<\/p>\n Wagner and Lemanowicz first met when they were teenagers, but reconnected in Afghanistan while Lemanowicz was serving in the Air Force and Wagner was meeting troops during a USO tour.<\/p>\n David Lemanowicz and Jill Wagner tied the knot in 2017. (Jamie McCarthy\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n “I hadn\u2019t seen her in 17 years,” Lemanowicz recalled during a 2016 Hallmark Home & Family episode.<\/p>\n “My boss told me to check out the event, and I look at the photo and said, \u2018I think I know this girl.\u2019 Lo and behold, I go to the chow event where she\u2019s signing autographs, and I ask her if she\u2019s from North Carolina. She says \u2018yes.\u2019 I say, \u2018Little town outside of Greensboro?\u2019 She says, \u2018yes.\u2019 I say, \u2018Did you ever go to any North Carolina Monarchs hockey games?\u2019 She says, \u2018yes.\u2019 I say, \u2018Do you remember dating the goalie?'” he called.<\/p>\n ZOE SALDA\u00d1A SAYS TAYLOR SHERIDAN ‘REALLY SEES WOMEN’ AS LIONESS SEASON THREE HITS PARAMOUNT+<\/a><\/p>\n At the time, Wagner and Lemanowicz were both in relationships and didn’t take their connection further. They met again, a year later, in Los Angeles and were both single.<\/p>\n Jill Wagner lives in Tennessee with her family. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n “The day I came back from filming \u2018Christmas Cookies,\u2019 my girlfriends wanted to take me out to dinner,” Wagner said in the same episode. “We were leaving (in Los Angeles)… and then I hear, \u2018Jill!\u2019 and David had just walked in the restaurant I was walking out of, and boom!”<\/p>\n They tied the knot the following year in 2017.<\/p>\n Wagner\u2019s husband has a military background<\/p>\n Wagner’s husband is a former professional hockey player who later pursued a military career. According to People, he joined the military after his hockey career ended in 2008 and became a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve.<\/p>\n The outlet noted he was promoted to U.S. Army major in 2020.<\/p>\n Jill Wagner and David Lemanowicz in 2018. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n LIKE WHAT YOU\u2019RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n During Wagner’s Parade interview, she explained that Lemanowicz was the one who introduced her to the lioness program.<\/p>\n “My husband, David [Lemanowicz], was the one who told me about the Lioness program. From that moment on, I knew there was a story to tell. It took about five years, but I never gave up,” she told the outlet in 2024.<\/p>\n Wagner comes from a military family<\/p>\n Wagner previously told Parade that she was raised in a military family.<\/p>\n “My grandfather, my uncle and my father were all Marines,” she began. “My husband currently serves in the Army. I come from a very patriotic family, and I\u2019ve always greatly respected the men and women who serve our country.”<\/p>\n Jill Wagner as Bobby in “Lioness” season 3. (Emerson Miller\/Paramount+)<\/p>\n She told the outlet that, given her background, she was intrigued to star in a show that portrayed women in the military in lead roles.<\/p>\n “I have not seen women in the military portrayed in lead roles like this. It is important to give these women the moment they deserve on screen while not taking any away from the men who also serve. They both deserve our respect for the sacrifices they make,” Wagner said.<\/p>\n Wagner’s “Lioness” character always has a toothpick in her mouth \u2013 which she told the outlet was homage to her father.<\/p>\n Wagner, Lemanowicz and their two daughters live on a Tennessee farm<\/p>\n Wagner left Los Angeles in 2016 after finding a farmhouse in Tennessee that she previously told People<\/a> “looked like a scary haunted house” at first.<\/p>\n PUT YOUR ENTERTAINMENT KNOWLEDGE TO THE TEST AND SEE HOW YOU SCORE<\/a><\/p>\n When they purchased the home, Lemanowicz and Wagner were engaged and were planning on having a family.<\/p>\n Jill Wagner and David Lemanowicz kissing at the “Lioness” season 2 premiere. (Variety via Getty Images)<\/p>\n “We wanted a family, and I saw my children running around in the front yard. I knew it could be fixed. And I wanted to be the one to restore this piece of history,” she said.<\/p>\n ‘LIONESS’ STAR JILL WAGNER CHOSE TENNESSEE FARM LIFE TO RAISE HER FAMILY<\/a><\/p>\n Lemanowicz and Wagner share two daughters: Army Gray Lemanowicz, 6, and Daisy Roberta Lemanowicz, 5.<\/p>\n During an interview with Fox News Digital, Wagner explained that her decision to put roots down in Tennessee was an easy choice given her background.<\/p>\n Jill Wagner’s husband introduced her to the real Lioness program that inspired the hit show. (Lauren Smith\/Paramount+)<\/p>\n “We looked in and around North Carolina \u2013 couldn’t find anything,” she said, adding that she’s from North Carolina.<\/p>\n “So, Tennessee \u2013 found a piece of property in Tennessee. I wanted to get married, and I wanted to have my babies in a place that I thought was magical and, since I was born and raised in the country, that was my idea of what was magical. So, we live there,” Wagner said.<\/p>\n![\"Jill](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Lioness_Jill_Wagner.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jill](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gettyimages-2288215924-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jill](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jill-wagner.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jill](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jill-wagner-david-lemanowicz-hallmark-channel-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jill](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/lioness_300_em_1104_00211_rt-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jill](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jill-wagner-david-lemanowicz-lioness-season-2-premiere-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jill](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/jill-wagner-bobby-lioness-season-3_001-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n