Best Known As: Redheaded star of The Hours and Far From Heaven
Name at birth: Julie Smith
A fine-featured redhead, Julianne Moore studied at Boston University and appeared off Broadway in New York before spending three seasons on the daytime drama As the World Turns, for which she won an Emmy in 1988. During the '90s she was one of the hardest working women in the movies, if not the most recognized by audiences. Small but noticeable roles in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) and The Fugitive (1993, as the hospital doctor who rips a phony nametag off Harrison Ford) propelled Moore to leading roles in Safe (1995), Nine Months (1995, with Hugh Grant) and Jurassic Park: The Lost World (1997, with Jeff Goldblum). She received Oscar nominations for her work in Boogie Nights (1997, starring Mark Wahlberg) and The End of the Affair (1999), and by 2000 Moore was on the A-list, beating out other stars for the lead role in Hannibal (2001, with Anthony Hopkins). In 2002 she won Oscar nominations for both The Hours (with Meryl Streep) and the marriage melodrama Far From Heaven (with Dennis Quaid). Her later films include the biopic The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio (2005) and the end-of-the-world drama Children of Men (2006, with Clive Owen).
Most sources agree that Moore was born at Fort Bragg, which is near Fayetteville, North Carolina. Her father was a military judge. A 2006 press release from the Fayetteville Visitors Bureau stated that "Actress Julianne Moore was born at Womack Army Medical Center," which is part of Fort Bragg... Moore married her longtime companion, film director Bart Freundlich, on 23 August 2003; they have a son, Caleb (b. 1997), and a daughter, Liv (b. 2002)... Moore was married to actor John Gould Rubin from 1984-1995... In Hannibal she played FBI agent Clarice Starling, the role created by Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
"In grade school, I was a complete geek. You know, there's always the kid who's too short, the kid who wears glasses, the kid who's not athletic. Well, I was all three."
Career Highlights: Boogie Nights, Vanya on 42nd Street, The Big Lebowski
First Major Screen Credit: Cast a Deadly Spell (1991)
Biography
Boasting talent, versatility, and one of the most distinctive heads of hair in Hollywood, Julianne Moore has proven herself equally adept in both mainstream blockbusters and smaller, more intelligent films. The daughter of a military judge and a Scottish social worker, Moore was born in Fayetteville, NC, on December 3, 1961. After attending Boston University, she began her acting career via the taxing world of soap opera. From 1985 until 1988, she was best-known for her role as Franny Hughes on As the World Turns. The part, which on occasion required her to play twins, won Moore a 1988 Daytime Emmy Award.
The actress made her entrance into the big-screen arena with a 1990 debut in the schlocktastic Tales From the Darkside: The Movie (which also featured Steve Buscemi). Two years later, after making various TV movies, Moore reappeared in feature films with supporting parts in Curtis Hanson's tale of a babysitter gone bad, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, and the comedy The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag. The following year, her exposure increased further thanks to roles in four different films that ranged from the half-baked thriller Body of Evidence to the sweetly quirky Benny and Joon to the big-budget smash The Fugitive to Robert Altman's epic Short Cuts. The last film gave Moore literal exposure in addition to the more figurative kind: she was required to play one scene naked from the waist down, something that predictably won the attention of critics and filmgoers.
The intermittent praise that had been afforded Moore was amplified in 1994 with her performance as Yelena in Vanya on 42nd Street. The object of adjectives ranging from "luminescent" to "radiant" to "revelatory," the actress went on to play a very different character in Todd Haynes' Safe (1995). Moore won an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her portrayal of a woman (literally) sickened by the environment around her and further proved that she was an actress of distinct versatility. The same year she again demonstrated this ability with a starring role opposite Hugh Grant in the comedy Nine Months.
Following a turn as one of Picasso's numerous lovers in Surviving Picasso (1996), a lead in the family drama The Myth of Fingerprints (she would later have a son with the film's director, Bart Freundlich), and a substantial part in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Moore nabbed what was one of the plum roles of her career in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights. For her portrayal of a porn actress, she won Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations.
A substantial role as an erotic artist in Ethan Coen's and Joel Coen's The Big Lebowski followed in 1998, along with a turn as Marion Crane's sister in Gus Van Sant's Psycho remake. The next year, Moore starred in a number of high-profile projects, beginning with Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune, in which she was cast as the dim sister of a decidedly unhinged Glenn Close. A portrayal of the scheming Mrs. Cheveley followed in Oliver Parker's An Ideal Husband, with a number of critics asserting that Moore was the best part of the movie. The actress then enjoyed another collaboration with director Anderson in Magnolia, an epic telling of nine interweaving stories inspired by Short Cuts and featuring an impressive cast that included Anderson regulars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Baker Hall, and John C. Reilly. The same year, Moore also starred in the drama The End of the Affair, with Ralph Fiennes and Stephen Rea, and portrayed a grieving mother in A Map of the World, which premiered at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival.
2001 found the popular actress stepping into dark territory with the role of FBI Agent Clarice Starling in Ridley Scott's Hannibal, the long-awaited and eagerly anticipated follow-up to Jonathan Demme's numbingly suspenseful Silence of the Lambs. A few short months later, Moore lightened the mood substantially with her humorous turn as a bumbling government scientist in the sci-fi comedy Evolution. Increasingly comfortable alternating between big-budget features and more personal art-house films, Moore bowled over audiences with a pair of powerhouse performances in both Far From Heaven and The Hours. A detailed throwback to the forgotten Hollywood melodrama, the former featured Moore's Oscar nominated role as a housewife who enters into a controversial relationship after discovering her husband's homosexuality and provided audiences a dose of Douglas Sirk that hadn't been tasted since the mid-1950s. A variation on the themes presented in Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, the film version of Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer prize winning novel The Hours once again found Moore Oscar nominated for her role as a repressed 1950s era housewife, this time taking a special shine to Mrs. Dalloway while pondering an escape from her stifling marriage.
In the wake of arguably her most successful year to date, Moore began to dabble behind the scenes for the first time, serving as executive producer on the 2003 independent adaptation of Wallace Shawn's play Marie and Bruce, a film that she also starred in. The following year, audiences could find Moore onscreen opposite Pierce Brosnan in the romantic comedy The Laws of Attraction and in the poorly-received thriller The Forgotten. In 2005 she earned good reviews for The Prize Winner of Defiance, OH, but the film failed to catch on with audiences. She continued to work steadily starring opposite Sam Jackson in the adaptation of Richard Price's Freedomland, and starring opposite Clive Owen in Alfonso Cuaron's futuristic thriller Children of Men. She once again teamed with her director husband Bart Freundlich in the relationship comedy Trust the Man. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
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.
Moore remains active in film making, with films scheduled for release in 2009 and 2010, yet she has explained that she has curtailed her work in order to spend more time with her children.
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 operaAs the World Turns, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award; she played the roles from 1985 to 1988.[1] 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".[1] 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 filmSafe 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.[1][7] Critics noted the importance of this role in establishing her as an actress to take seriously.[8] 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".[9] For this role, Moore won "Best Actress" from the Boston Society of Film Critics.
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.
Personal life
Moore is married to director Bart Freundlich whom she wed on August 23, 2003.[12] 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 movie 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."[13] She lives with her family in the West Village, in New York City.
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