Julia Zange was born in Darmstadt on August 25 1983 (according to some sources the year of her birth was 1987). While studying literature and drama in Munich, she discovered her literary talent in a workshop for creative writing. Her short story "Mit Kleist in die Berge" was published in 2005.

Following her mid-exams, she relocated to Berlin, where she studied social and economic communications at the Universität der Künste. At the same time, she began to work on her first novel: "Die Anstalt der besseren Mädchen" was published by Suhrkamp in 2008. Graduating in the next year, she started to work as a freelance journalist and author, writing articles for magazines like Monopol, Fräulein and Zeit Online.

Julia Zange became an actor by chance while organizing a casting: Impressed by her talent, director Philip Gröning cast her as the lead in his feature "Mein Bruder heißt Robert und ist ein Idiot" ("My Brother's Name is Robert and He is an Idiot"), which was shot in 2013/14 but had its premiere only years later (see below). She went on to play supporting roles in the commissioned art project "Translantics" (2015) and the "Tatort" episode "Borowski und das verlorene Mädchen" (2016). In 2016, the Aufbau Verlag published her autobiographical novel "Realitätsgewitter". At the 2017 Biennale in Venice, Zange appeared as Flora Mayo, the partner of Alberto Giacometti, in the installation "Flora" by Teresa Hubbard und Alexander Birchler.

Along with Katja Weilandt and Martina Schöne-Radunski, Julia Zange was one of the leads in Irene von Alberti's feature film "Der lange Sommer der Theorie" ("The Long Summer of Theory"), which premiered at the 2017 Munich Film Festival.

In February 2018, "Mein Bruder heißt Robert und ist ein Idiot" eventually celebrated its premiere in the Berlinale Competition after the shooting had already been completed in 2013 (see above).