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After graduating from high school in 1983, she completed a traineeship in the sports department of GDR television. From 1984 to 1988, Illner studied journalism at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig, where she received a diploma. In 1988 she married the screenwriter Michael Illner. While still a journalism student, Illner joined the SED in 1986 because she hoped for a similar reform development to the GDR under Mikhail Gorbachev in the USSR. In 1989 she resigned from the party. After completing her studies, Illner began working in the sports department of GDR television in 1988 as an editor and presenter.
In 1989, Illner worked for the foreign editorial team of German Television (DFF), for which she moderated "azur - the travel journal" until 1991. After the "reunification" and German unity, she was featured in several reports. In 1991 Illner was given the job of moderating the daily broadcast of the DFF "Evening Journal". After a temporary job for Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB), Illner moved to ZDF in July 1992, where she moderated the "ZDF-morgenmagazin" together with Cherno Jobatey until 1998. From October 1998 to July 1999 she also worked as head of the "morgenmagazin".
From October 1999, Illner hosted the political talk show "Berlin Mitte" on ZDF. Thanks to her ruthless conversation and her bold demeanor towards her changing four conversation partners, she soon developed into a serious competitor to Sabine Christiansen on ARD. In contrast to this, Illner has so far largely avoided the Berlin limelight, despite her great success as a journalist in the capital. On the occasion of the Hanover Expo in 2000, Illner appeared as a moderator of the "Vatican Conversations" directly from the exhibition grounds.
The television duel for the 2002 federal election between Gerhard Schröder and Edmund Stoiber, which she moderated together with Sabine Christiansen, as well as the one for the 2005 federal election between Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel, in which she also took part, received great media attention. In September 2003, the book "Ente auf Broadcast - Von Medien und ihr Makeren" was published, co-edited by Illner, and in which 21 media professionals report on their everyday work. Illner has received several awards for her media work. In 2001 she received the Central German Media Prize Hans Klein and the Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Prize as well as the German Television Prize for the best information program in 2002.
Also in 2002 she was awarded the Bambi, the Vogue Business Award and the Golden Gong. The Bavarian Television Prize followed in spring 2003. In the public debate about the social significance of neo-Nazi parties such as the NPD and DVU, which had won significant votes in the September 2004 state elections in Brandenburg and Saxony, Illner clearly spoke out against inviting right-wing radical politicians to her talk show. Maybrit Illner was awarded the German Television Prize in October 2004 for her program "Berlin Mitte" in the category "Best Information Program/Best Moderation Information".
In mid-March 2005, Illner was voted "the most important East German in the media" by the magazine "Super Illu". In 2006 she was awarded the Hildegard von Bingen Prize for Journalism.
