Julie Gilbert was born on July 21, 1949 in New York. Her father, Henry Goldsmith was a publisher and her mother, Janet, was an actress. She attended Boston University and has worked as a professional actress, writer and teacher. She has written biographies, novels and plays including Umbrella Steps, which became a film, and Ferber: The Biography of Edna Ferber and Her Circle, which was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. She received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for Opposite Attraction: The Lives of Erich Maria Remarque and Paulette Goddard.