Gul Panag hails from an Army background. Her father Lieutenant General H S Panag, is in the Indian Army and is at present Army Commander, Central Command. She has a younger brother, Sherbir Singh who is a nationally ranked Skeet shooter. She started her education in Sangrur, in Punjab and changed more than 14 schools including various The Lawrence School Lovedale, Ooty and the International School Of Lusaka, Zambia. She did her Bachelors degree in Mathematics from Punjabi University Patiala and Masters in Political Science from Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Gul Panag won Miss India in 1999 and she also won the miss beautiful smile awards Miss Universe 1999 pageant. She worked in films like Jurm and Dhoop and also the serial Kashmeer (STAR Plus), but she got her fame with 2006 film, Dor in the role of Zeenat. The 2007 film, Manorama Six Feet Under, inspired from Roman Polanski's Chinatown, earned her fabulous reviews. She has her most recent release in the film adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's bestseller "One Night @ Call Center".