	Leinarte was born in 1958, Trakai, Lithuania. In 1981, she graduated from Vilnius University and earned her PhD in History at Vytautas Magnus University in 1996. She was a Fulbright Scholar at State University of New York at Buffalo.. In 2005, she won an International Scholarship of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). In 2009, Leinarte became full professor at Vilnius University.