Julianna was born in Reno, Nevada to working class parents. Her parents divorced when she was very young and she spent her formative years raised by her single, working mother who often worked several jobs just to make ends meet. Although it was financially impossible, Julianna knew she wanted to go to college. She was accepted to UCSB and paid for her own tuition by working every morning as a personal trainer. She was the first in her family to go to and graduate from college. Her foray into Hollywood came that first year of college when a casting director saw her in a play and thought she'd make a perfect Andorian space cadet in Star Trek. She booked the role and was able to get her SAG card, work side by side with the original Star Trek cast (and wear the original wardrobes from the show) and she made enough money to send herself to school abroad in London for a summer to study Shakespeare with the RSC. She has been the lead in a few award winning independent feature films like the multi-award winning zombie rom-com Aaah Zombies!, Nun and The Funeral Guest (all 3 films available to watch on Amazon). For her role of Emily in The Funeral Guest she won a best actress award from LA Indie Film Fest and she was nominated for a best actress award at Hoboken International Film Fest for her role of Sister Gracie Rose in Nun. Julianna had her directorial film debut with The Party 2019 which had its Los Angeles premier at Screamfest. After directing The Party, Julianna got the directing bug and went on to direct two more shorts in 2019 (Hurricane Forecast and Slice). Hurricane Forecast (which she also stars in) won the Jury Prize for best drama short at Long Beach International Film Fest in New York in December 2020. During 2020 she wrote and directed two more shorts, Misophonia and For Worse. Play Me Like That, which filmed in April 2021, is the 6th short she's directed.