She was raised in Manchester, attending Jackson's Row Reform Synagogue and Manchester High School, and forming a desire to become an acress by the time she was eleven.
[2][3] She studied at the Central School of Drama 1962–65, spending time on a kibbutz in 1964.
[2][4] In 1966 Rosenthal married Jim Walsh, with whom she had the daughters Emilia and Nerissa, and in 1971 moved to Leeds, upon Walsh's appointment as deputy registrar of the University of Leeds.
[4] Roles included Miss Prism in The Importance Of Being Earnest (National Theatre, 1999) and the lead role in the West Yorkshire Playhouse production of The Lady In The Van by Alan Bennett (2002).
[4] Rosenthal began writing drama in 1998, going on to write twenty-eight plays for BBC radio, including Exchanges in Bialystok and Bye Bye Miss American High, which in 2001 was nominated for a Bafta award.