Trained as a theatre actress, Luminița Gheorghiu had her cinema breakthrough in one of the most revered Romanian films, Moromeții (1987) by Stere Gulea (Studioul Cinematografic Bucuresti). Two decades later she made The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu with Cristi Puiu, which won the Cannes’ Un Certain Regard Award in 2005 and for which she received the Best Supporting Actress Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

She also starred in The Child’s Pose by Călin Peter Netzer, the first Romanian film to receive Berlinale’s Golden Bear in 2013, and in I'm an Old Communist Hag / Sunt o babă comunistă (2013) by Stere Gulea (MediaPro Pictures). She played supporting roles in Cristi Puiu’s Stuff and Dough / Marfa și banii (2001) and Aurora (2010, Mandragora), Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007, Mobra Films) and Beyond the Hills (2012, Mobra Films), Corneliu Porumboiu’s 12:08 East of Bucharest / A fost sau n-a fost? (2006, 42Km Film) and Radu Jude’s Aferim! (2015, HiFilm Productions), among others.

Fighting a long illness, she stopped making films in 2015.