Julio Quintana was born in Los Angeles and was the eldest of five brothers. His parents left Cuba after nearly ten years of Castro's revolution and settled in California, where his father became the first in his family to earn a college degree.

Shortly after his birth, the Quintana family moved to Kenai, Alaska, and over the next decade they moved five more times, living in various cities in California, Louisiana, and Texas, which may have contributed to Quintana's interest in cultural differences and commonalities.

In 2000, Quintana enrolled in the mechanical engineering program at the University of Texas at Austin, but later switched to religious studies, where he studied a diverse range of stories and mythologies that shaped human history. Intrigued by the role of stories in shaping human identity, he expanded his education by earning a second degree in radio, television, and film.

After graduation, Quintana worked on the films The Tree of Life (2011) and To the Wonder (2012), where he developed his unique style under the mentorship of legendary director Terrence Malick. He then wrote and directed his first feature film, The Vessel, starring Martin Sheen, executive produced by Malick, which was released in 2016 to critical acclaim.