Julian was born and raised in New Jersey until the age of ten when his family moved to Athens, Alabama. Upon graduating high school in 1997, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines and served five years active duty before returning home to Alabama. In 2003, with never having any ideas or aspiration of acting or becoming an actor prior to this, he found himself involved with local theatres in Huntsville, Alabama and working on several independent films. By the summer of 2004 he was a part of five stage productions and seven independent films, one of them being The Novice (2006).