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Julie Jensen was raised in Beaver, Utah where she graduated from Beaver High School. She continued her education at Southern Utah University where she became a founding member in the Utah Shakespearian Festival. Jensen graduated with a B.S. in and M.A. in English from Utah State University in 1965. She had an extensive teaching career which started at Sacramento City College, where she taught English from 1966-1969. After leaving Sacramento City College, Jensen returned to school and earned a Ph.D. in Theatre from Wayne State University (1973-1977) where she simultaneously worked as an instructor in 1976. Following her Ph.D., she became an associate instructor at St. Mary's College at the University of Notre Dame from 1977-1989. From 1989-1990, Jensen worked as term writer for Columbia Pictures Television in Comedy Development. Also, during 1980-1994, Julie Jensen served as an artist-in-residence at the Midwest Playwrights Laboratory, Ossabaw Island Project, MacDowell Colony, Shenandoah Playwrights Retreat, Wolf Pen Writers Colony and Thurber House. In 1994, Jensen returned to teaching as a full-time professor in the Department of Theatre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1994. Following her time teaching at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Julie Jensen returned to Utah to become the resident playwright for the Salt Lake Acting Company where she began working on the play Mockingbird. In Salt Lake City, Jensen works with three theatres: Salt Lake Acting Company, Plan-B Theatre, and Pygmalion Theatre.

During her educational and professional career, Julie Jensen wrote numerous award-winning one-act and full-length plays, all of which have been professionally produced. Her body of work includes Stray Dogs, which won the DBS/FDG award in 1986 and premiered at ARENA Stage in Washington D.C. The ARENA Stage production earned a nomination and was a finalist for the Helen Hayes Award. White Money won the 1990 Kennedy Center Award for New American Plays. Lost Vegas Series was awarded and the Jefferson Citation Award in 1996 for its production at the Zebra Crossing Theatre. Tender Hooks, Last Lists of My Mad Mother, and Two-Headed each won the Mill Mountain Theatre Festival. Julie Jensen also wrote an instructional book on play writing in the late 1990s titled Playwriting Quick and Dirty.

In addition to her work as a playwright and university professor, Jensen frequently gives lectures and coordinates workshops about playwrighting and theater. Additionally, she conducted master classes for the American College Theatre Festival and the Summer Playwrighting Intensive at hte Kennedy Center.