She began her professional career in her native Gothenburg and appeared in classical and modern theater roles before turning to film.

[1] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times describes the film, "Ulla Jacobsson as the farm girl is a sensitive and expressive young thing who stunningly portrays the caprices and the terrors of an innocent maid in love.

"[1] In 1963, she appeared in the first season episode, "The Final Hour", of the US TV show The Virginian, in the role of Policia.

Her popularity among mass audiences gained her the role of Margaretta Witt in the adventure film Zulu (1964).

Other notable roles include Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Heroes of Telemark (1965) and La Servante (1970).

During the 1950s, Jacobsson married her second husband, Dutch painter Frank Lodeizen (1931–2013), with whom she had a son named Martin.

In 1960 she married her third husband, Austrian doctor Hans Winfried Rohsmann (1918–2002), and moved to Vienna, Austria.