Valerie Pachner grew up in Bad Schallerbach, Austria, and studied acting at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna from 2009 to 2013.

She was then part of the ensemble cast at the Residenztheater in Munich, under artistic director Martin Kušej until 2017.

Pachner starred as the female lead in the 2015 film Bad Luck (directed by Thomas Woschitz), which was nominated for the Max-Ophüls-Preis.

In 2019 The Ground Beneath My Feet by Marie Kreutzer was selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival.

[4] The same year, Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life with Pachner playing the female lead, Franziska Jägerstätter, premiered in competition at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival.