Juliu Horvath, a Hungarian, was born and raised in Romania. However, he considers himself to be a "universal being". His father, Juliu Sr. who has passed on, was a tailor and his mother who celebrated her 90th birthday in December 2000 is a housewife.

Juliu is one of three children and as a youth Juliu participated in swimming, gymnastics and rowing as well as other sports.

At age 19 he became interested in classical dance and by the time he reached his twentieth birthday he was dancing principle roles with the Romanian State Opera. While on tour in Italy in 1970 he defected and stayed in a refugee camp for six months. Juliu then received political asylum to the United States and he was headed to New York. After arriving in New York Juliu did what ever was needed to survive, from painting houses to dancing on a car in Central Park, while auditioning and dancing in civic ballets. Juliu was noticed by someone in the New York City Opera and was hired. He began dancing for their tour company with international stars such as Margot Fonteyn, Jacques d' Amboise and Melissa Hayden. Later, Juliu danced as a guest artist at Radio City Music Hall for some time and then got a job as principal dancer with the Houston Ballet. While with the Houston Ballet, Juliu ruptured his Achilles Tendon and the injury brought his dancing career to a sudden halt. After the injury Juliu started indulging himself in more yoga practice.