Anja Schneider was born in Altenburg and studied at the Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts in Berlin from 1997 to 2001. After graduating, she went to Schauspiel Leipzig, where she began working closely with Armin Petras. In 2005, she was awarded the Dr. Otto Kasten Prize for Young Actress of the Year. The following year, Anja Schneider moved to the Maxim Gorki Theatre and was awarded the Theatre Prize of the Friends of the Maxim Gorki Theatre in June 2010. From 2013 to 2015, she was a member of the ensemble at Schauspiel Stuttgart, where her encounter with Stephan Kimmig was particularly important to her.

Since the 2016/17 season, Anja Schneider has been a member of the ensemble at the Deutsches Theater Berlin, where she continued her collaboration with Petras and Kimmig and worked with Daniela Löffner, Sebastian Hartmann and PC Nackt as well as Tom Kühnel and Karin Henkel. Anja Schneider can also be seen in numerous cinema and television productions.