Bernd Leno was born on 4 March 1992 in Bietigheim-Bissingen, Baden-Württemberg, and came through the youth ranks at VfB Stuttgart before making his senior breakthrough at Bayer Leverkusen. Loaned there in August 2011, he made his Bundesliga debut against Werder Bremen just four days after arriving, and quickly became the first-choice keeper at the club. He went on to make over 300 appearances for Leverkusen across seven seasons, establishing himself as one of the Bundesliga's more reliable goalkeepers of that era.
In June 2018, Arsenal signed Leno for a reported £22.5 million on a five-year deal. He became the club's first-choice keeper and finished runner-up in the Arsenal Player of the Season vote for 2019–20, a campaign in which he recorded 113 Premier League saves. He was part of the Arsenal squad that won the FA Community Shield in 2020 and reached the UEFA Europa League final in 2018–19. After losing his starting place to Aaron Ramsdale in 2021–22, he moved on to Fulham in August 2022.
A composed, technically sound goalkeeper who reads the game well and is comfortable with the ball at his feet, Leno has been a consistent starter for Fulham since joining and signed a contract extension in December 2023 keeping him at the club until 2027.
On the international stage, Leno earned his first senior Germany call-up in October 2015 and debuted in a friendly against Slovakia in May 2016. He represented Germany at UEFA Euro 2016, the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup — which Germany won — and UEFA Euro 2020, accumulating eight senior international caps.