Amanda Schull attended Punahou School and trained at Hawaii State Ballet under the instruction of John Landovsky. As shown in her biographies, she attributes her training to Ballet Hawaii as well. After years of training she was offered a full scholarship to Indiana University, due to ballet. During Schull's sophomore year at Indiana University (as a ballet and journalism major) she attended the San Francisco Ballet School Summer Intensive. SFBS subsequently offered Schull a scholarship to continue her studies for an additional year.When Schull's year-long scholarship ended in 1999, San Francisco Ballet's artistic director offered her an apprenticeship which she accepted. Schull was cast in the starring role of Jody Sawyer in the 2000 movie Center Stage while still an apprentice with SFB. She subsequently joined SFB as a full-time member of its corps de ballet.
As of April 2006, Schull retired from San Francisco Ballet. In May 2008 she was reported to be in Australia, shooting the movie adaptation of Li Cunxin's Mao's Last Dancer.
In Mao's Last Dancer, released in North America in 2010, Schull has a major role as Elizabeth "Liz" Mackey, the girlfriend (and later, first wife) of Li Cunxin.