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Julianne Moore (born December 3,
1960) is an American actress.
She began her acting career in 1983 in minor roles, before joining the
cast of the soap opera, As the World Turns, for which she won a Daytime
Emmy Award in 1988. She began to appear in supporting roles in films
during the early 1990s, achieving recognition in several independent films
before her performance in Boogie Nights (1997) brought her widespread
attention and nominations for several major acting awards.
Her success continued with films such as The End of the Affair (1999) and
Magnolia (1999). She was acclaimed for her portrayal of a betrayed wife in
Far from Heaven (2002), winning several critic awards as best actress of
the year, in addition to several other nominations, including the Academy
Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award. The same year she was
also nominated for several awards as best supporting actress for her work
in The Hours. In 2009, she was nominated for a Golden Globe for A Single
Man.
Moore remains active in film making, with films scheduled for release in
2010, yet she has explained that she has curtailed her work in order to
spend more time with her children.
Moore was born Julie Anne Smith at Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, North
Carolina, the daughter of the late Anne Love, a psychiatric social worker
who emigrated from Greenock, Scotland, and Peter Moore Smith, a military
lawyer, judge, helicopter pilot, and army colonel. She has a younger
sister, Valerie, and younger brother, novelist Peter Moore Smith III.
Growing up as an "army brat" she lived in several places across the United
States and Germany. Moore attended J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls
Church, Virginia and Frankfurt American High School in Frankfurt, Germany,
graduating in 1979. She received her bachelor's degree at the College of
Fine Arts at Boston University.
Moore moved to New York City in 1983, working as a waitress and bit parts
before being cast in the dual roles of Frannie Hughes and Sabrina Hughes
on the soap opera As the World Turns, for which she won a Daytime Emmy
Award; she played the roles from 1985 to 1988. In 1987 she was part of the
junior company in the New York premiere of Caryl Churchill's Serous Money
at The Public Theater. Because of Screen Actors Guild rules, she had to
change her name, since there were already actresses named "Julie Smith"
and "Julianne Smith". She chose her father's middle name, "Moore", but
because there was already another actress named "Julie Moore", she finally
settled on "Julianne Moore."
Moore began starring in feature films in the early 1990s, mostly appearing
in supporting roles in films like The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Benny &
Joon, and The Fugitive. Her part in 1993's Short Cuts gained her critical
acclaim and recognition, and she was cast in several high-profile
Hollywood films, including 1995's romantic comedy Nine Months, and 1997's
summer blockbuster The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Her first role as the
central lead, Carol White, in the well-reviewed independent film Safe also
attracted critical attention. The role was called the ancestor of one of
Moore's best-praised roles, Cathy Whitaker, in another Todd Haynes film,
Far from Heaven. Critics noted the importance of this role in establishing
her as an actress to take seriously. In addition, her performance on Vanya
on 42nd Street, a filmed version of Chekhov's play, earned her critical
recognition as being more than just a "blockbuster film" actress, with
film critic Kenneth Turan calling her work in the film "a revelation". For
this role, Moore won "Best Actress" from the Boston Society of Film
Critics.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Moore appeared in a series of films
that received Oscar recognition, including her roles in Boogie Nights
(Best Supporting Actress nomination), The End of the Affair (Best Actress
nomination), and her two 2002 films, The Hours (Best Supporting Actress
nomination) and Far from Heaven (Best Actress nomination), for which she
also won "Best Actress" from numerous critics groups (see below for a
list) and from the Venice Film Festival. During this period, she also
appeared in the commercial successes Hannibal (replacing Jodie Foster as
Clarice Starling) and The Forgotten, in Paul Thomas Anderson's follow-up
to Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and in the Coen brothers cult hit, The Big
Lebowski.
Her film Freedomland opened in February 2006 to mixed reviews. Another
film, Trust the Man, directed by her husband, Bart Freundlich, featured
her son, Caleb. In March 2006, it was announced Moore would make her
Broadway debut in the world premiere of David Hare's new play The Vertical
Hour. The play opened in November 2006 and was directed by Sam Mendes.
Also in 2006, Moore appeared as Julian Taylor in the film Children of Men.
She most recently appeared opposite Nicolas Cage and Jessica Biel in Next,
a science fiction action film based on The Golden Man, a short story by
Philip K. Dick; and the controversial incest film Savage Grace, the story
of a high-society mother and son whose Oedipal relationship ends in
tragedy. In 2008, she starred in Blindness, a thriller from director
Fernando Meirelles, costarring Mark Ruffalo. It premiered at Cannes and
the Toronto International Film Festival.
Moore has been a celebrity spokesmodel for Revlon since 2002. She has
appeared in print ads and commercials that also include Halle Berry, Susan
Sarandon, Kate Bosworth, and Jessica Alba. She is signed to IMG Models in
New York City.
In October 2007, Moore made her literary debut with the publication of
Freckleface Strawberry, a children's book based on her experiences as a
child. In April 2009, Moore followed up with a second children's book
titled Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully.
Moore is married to director Bart Freundlich whom she wed on August 23,
2003. The couple, who have been together since 1996, have two children: a
son, Caleb (b. December 4, 1997), and a daughter, Liv Helen (b. April 11,
2002). Even though Moore has been a prolific actress for two decades, she
is now focusing on raising her two children, from walking them to school
to cooking dinner. In a Cookie interview, Moore says she picks roles in
movies that film in the summer so her family can accompany her. "My
husband and I are very fortunate, because we have flexible jobs," Moore
says. "If you talk to parents, that's what they're trying to do — have as
much flexibility as possible." She lives with her family in the West
Village, in New York City.
She is a pro-choice activist and during the 2004 presidential election
donated $2,000 to John Kerry's presidential campaign. Since 2002 she has
been involved with the TS Alliance to raise awareness of tuberous
sclerosis and is an Artist Ambassador for Save the Children's programs in
the United States. |
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"You never have sex the way
people do in the movies. You don't do it on the floor, you don't do
it standing up, you don't always have all your clothes off, you
don't happen to have on all the sexy lingerie. You know, if anybody
ever ripped my clothes, I'd kill them."
"In grade school I was a complete geek. You know, there's always the
kid who's too short, the one who wears glasses, the kid who's not
athletic. Well, I was all three."
"I wish I could say I broke this kicking down the door at Paramount,
but I was running after my son." - said at the GLAAD Media Awards in
reference to her broken toe and to the producers at Paramount who
are allowing Laura Schlessinger to have a TV show. Schlessinger
angered the gay community with her views on homosexuality.
"I was a goody-goody. I was one of those kids who played by the
rules. I used to have to take people to the principal's office.
Isn't that awful?" - about how she was as a child.
"Only five people got nominated in that category, and that's not
very many people. So I did all right." - about losing the 2000 Best
Actress Oscar.
I'm looking for the truth. The audience doesn't come to see you,
they come to see themselves.
"Now that the FDA has legalized RU-486, it makes us feel that
politically the winds are blowing our way. But, if someone has a
problem with reproductive freedom, I won't even consider voting for
them. George W. Bush is anti-choice, and I really believe that
should he be elected, we will end up in a really difficult
situation" - her views on abortion and reproductive rights, October
2000.
"It is the most wonderful experience of your life. It deepens
absolutely everything.You have a greater understanding of things,so
in a way it is a gift.For me it has made everthing much better.I'm
so happy; I am extremely fortunate." (about her son Caleb and
becoming a mother)
"I hesitate to call things companion pieces or to draw comparison
between films because I think you reduce the films by doing that."
"It's true, the classic, iconic American ideal, that heroine, our
idea of perfection is this blonde woman in a blue dress and a blue
car."
"That's the beauty of what actors do, that you only have yourself as
a resource. And so the trick is to find something in them that you
connect to somewhere. And with every single one of my characters, I
have to find something that I really understand and ultimately
believe."
My parents were very liberal. That's a misconception about the
military. I'm a proud Army brat. I love the military. It breaks my
heart what this war has done to it. These backdoor, draftlike
returns of soldiers to the front - you don't do that. You don't send
a soldier back three or four times. That's not OK."
"When someone says, 'I'm not political,' I feel like what they're
saying is 'I only care about myself. In my bathtub. Me and my
bathtub is what I care about.'" |
