Janina Fautz was born in Mannheim on May 31 1995. At the age of eight, she made her screen debut in the children's TV show "Tigerenten Club". Her turn in the short "Der geheime Brief" (2004, TV) caught the attention of director Joseph Vilsmaier, who cast her for "Der Weihnachtsbrei" (2005).

Fautz went on to appear in the theatrical releases Die wilden Kerle 4" ("The Wild Soccer Bunch 4", 2007) and the sequel "Die wilden Kerle 5" ("The Wild Soccer Bunch 5", 2008). On TV, she starred opposite Christine Neubauer in "Suchkind 312" (2007).

After a supporting role in Michael Haneke's acclaimed 2009 drama "Das weiße Band – Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte" ("The White Ribbon", DE/AT/FR), Fautz became one of the leads in the TV series "Allein gegen die Zeit", and stayed on the show from 2010 until 2012. She also continued to star in various TV and film productions, including "Obendrüber da schneit es" (2012), "Weniger ist mehr" (2013), "Es ist alles in Ordnung" (2013), "Einer wie Bruno" ("Someone Like Him", 2011) and "V8 – Du willst der Beste sein!" ("V8 – Start your engines", 2013). Her memorable performance as a mentally troubled girl in "Wir Monster" ("We Monsters", 2014) garnered her a nomination for the Studio Hamburg Newcomer Award.

Fautz went on to play leading roles on TV shows like "Meuchelbeck" (2015), "Pälzisch im Abgang" (2015) und "Morgen hör ich auf" (2016), and also guest starred on "SOKO München", "Tatort" and "Das Traumschiff". From 2017 on, she was a regular cast member of the TV show "Wilsberg". The same year, Esther Gronenborn cast her in the post-war drama "Ich werde nicht schweigen" (2017).

On the big screen, Janina Fautz appeared in Sönke Wortmann's "Sommerfest" (2017), and starred opposite Emma Bading in "1000 Arten Regen zu beschreiben" ("Different Kinds of Rain", DE/FR 2017). She and Bading also co-starred in the teen comedy "Meine teuflisch gute Freundin", which was released in 2018. The same year, Janina Fautz was one of the leads in "Safari - Match me if you can".