After studying acting at the Ernst Busch Hochschule in Berlin, Julia Jentsch was a resident ensemble member at the Münchner Kammerspiele from 2001 to 2006, where she worked with directors such as Johan Simons, Andreas Kriegenburg, Monika Gindersdorfer and Luk Perceval. In 2009 and 2013 she appeared at the Schauspielhaus Zürich in ‘Major Barbara’ directed by Peter Zadek and in ‘Die Katze auf dem heißen Blechdach’ [Cat on a Hot Tin Roof] directed by Stefan Pucher. Julia Jentsch made her breakthrough as a film actress in 2004 with 'Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei'. As Sophie Scholl in the film of the same name, she won the Silver Bear, the German Film Award and was named Best European Film Actress.
She has also enjoyed international success with films such as I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND by Jiri Menzel and 33 SCENES FROM LIFE by Malgorzata Szumowska. In 2016, she shot the highly acclaimed ARD TV mini-series ‘Das Verschwinden’, for which she was awarded the German Television Award in 2018. From 2018 to 2022, Julia Jentsch appeared in three seasons of the Sky series 'Der Pass' and from 2019 to 2021 in the TV series 'Ostfrieslandkrimis'. In 2024, she filmed the Amazon Prime series ‘Drunter & Drüber’ again with Nicolas Ofzarek.
In the cinema, she starred as the female lead in Anne Zohra Berrached's acclaimed drama ‘24 WOCHEN’, which celebrated its world premiere at the 2017 Berlinale. This was followed by Hermine Huntgeburth's LINDENBERG! MACH DEIN DING!, Johanna Moder's WAREN EINMAL REVOLUZZER, MONTE VERITÀ - DER RAUSCH DER FREIHEIT by Stefan Jäger and 8 TAGE IM AUGUST by Samuel Perriard. Most recently she shot ELECTRIC FIELDS directed by Lisa Gertsch.