Josephine Eberhard was born of Italian parents in Australia and received a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Diploma of Education from Flinders University in South Australia, where she worked as a teacher of language for three years. Between 1985 and 1987 she studied acting at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. As part of her final year thesis she wrote and produced Mia Nonna. She has worked also as a writer and actor and been a member of the Australian Writers Guild.
In 1989 she started work with Doppio Teatro in the development of Ricordi. She toured the show with the company around Australia in 1989 and took it to the Leeds Young People's Theatre Festival in 1990. In 1989 she wrote her first children's play, Peppino, which was produced by Doppio Teatro. She took time off for the birth of her first child, then completed her second children's play, Naso Bello Naso Bello - a Nose is a Nose is a Nose, also produced by Doppio.