Julianna Margulies studied at Sarah Lawrence College then moved to New York to break into acting. Her ER character was originally slated to commit suicide in the show's opening episode, but the plot was changed and Margulies went on to become one of the show's stars. In 1995 she won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress.
Margulies' father, an advertising executive, wrote the famous "Plop plop fizz fizz" jingle for Alka-Seltzer.
Raven-haired Julianna Margulies may have become an award-winning TV star on NBC's phenomenally successful ER in the 1990s, but she was ready to exit the series to pursue movies and theater full time by decade's end. Born in Spring Valley, NY, Margulies spent part of her childhood living abroad before settling back in her hometown for a bohemian life with her free-spirit mother. Though she earned a B.A. in art history from Sarah Lawrence College, Margulies performed in college plays and decided to pursue an acting career. Margulies landed her first movie role in 1991, playing a prostitute in the Steven Seagal flick Out for Justice.
With no more movie roles forthcoming, Margulies made a living with theater work and TV guest star stints on Law and Order and Homicide in the early '90s. Margulies subsequently landed a role in the pilot for Michael Crichton's new hospital drama ER in 1994, but her character was slated for death after that single episode. Due to a positive audience response, however, Margulies' compassionate Nurse Hathaway survived the pilot. During her six seasons on the most popular TV drama of the 1990s, Margulies won the Emmy and the SAG Award and became a perennial nominee. Buoyed by her TV fame, Margulies returned to films during her hiatuses, starring as the would-be victim of Bill Paxton's Irish con in Traveler (1996), a POW alongside Glenn Close and Cate Blanchett in the ensemble drama Paradise Road (1997), and as Matthew McConaughey's girlfriend in Richard Linklater's Western-esque bank robber saga The Newton Boys (1998). Continuing to avoid glossy big budget Hollywood fare in favor of a more independent sensibility, Margulies also appeared in Boaz Yakin's A Price Above Rubies (1998) and Gurinder Chadha's multiethnic Thanksgiving tale What's Cooking? (2000). Margulies finally took on a blockbuster of sorts when she voiced one of the pre-historic reptiles in the animated Dinosaur (2000). Despite an offer that would have made her one of the highest paid actresses on TV, Margulies announced in 2000 that six years of ER was enough. While Hathaway departed to a future with George Clooney's Dr. Ross, Margulies moved back to New York to hit the off-Broadway stage with Donald Sutherland in Ten Unknowns (2001). Margulies returned to the small-screen for the female-centric version of the King Arthur legend The Mists of Avalon, before appearing in The Man from Elysian Fields, and opposite Pierce Brosnan in the drama Evelyn. After an appearance in the horror film Ghost Ship, Margulies would not appear in another widely released motion picture until she landed one of the main parts in the 2006 summer phenomenon known simply as Snakes on a Plane. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
She holds the record for winning more Screen Actors Guild Awards than any other individual. She won six times for her work on ER, and twice for her performance on The Good Wife.
Margulies, the youngest of three daughters, was born in Spring Valley, New York. Her mother, Francesca (née Gardner), was a ballet dancer and eurythmy teacher, and her father, Paul Margulies, was a writer.[1][2] Her parents were Jewish, descended from immigrants from Austria, Hungary, and Romania (her mother later converted to Christianity).[3][4][5] The family lived in Israel for a time before Margulies was born, before moving back to the Upper West Side of New York City.[2]
Margulies' first movie role was as a prostitute looking to go straight in the Steven Seagal film Out for Justice. In 1994, Margulies was cast in a role in the pilot episode of ER as an emergency care nurse who, despondent over her relationship with George Clooney's character, Doug Ross, attempted suicide. Her character was originally intended to die; however, the producers changed the plot and she went on to play the role of Nurse Carol Hathaway for six years. She won an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Drama in 1994, and was nominated for this award every year during her tenure. She is also notable for being the only series regular cast member to win an Emmy Award.[8]
In an August 2006 interview with tvguide.com, Margulies said that she was close to accepting an offer to return to ER for a four-episode arc with Noah Wyle that filmed in Hawaii during the 2005-2006 season. However, she decided against it at the last minute. Margulies was again invited to return during ER's final season, but the actress turned down the offer, saying that she felt like she left Carol Hathaway in the perfect place and could not imagine bettering her departure episode.[9] However, in 2009, Margulies returned to ER for one episode during its 15th and final season.[10]
Margulies and Lieberthal at the Metropolitan Opera opera in 2008
She had a minor role in 2007's The Darwin Awards. One of her more recent series, Canterbury's Law, premiered on Fox on March 10, 2008. She played the title character, Elizabeth Canterbury, a lawyer described as "a tough-minded defense attorney who isn't afraid to push boundaries in order to protect innocent clients." She was credited as a producer of the show.[11] The series was impacted by the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike and was cancelled after 6 episodes.
Margulies currently stars as Alicia Florrick in the CBS series The Good Wife. She plays an attorney returning to legal practice after her husband (played by Chris Noth) resigns as Illinois State's Attorney amidst a sex and corruption scandal.[12] On October 7, 2009, CBS gave the series a full-season pickup, extending the first season from 13 to 22 episodes.[13] In 2009, she received a NYWIFT Muse Award celebrating the achievements of women who work in film and television.[14] On January 17, 2010, Margulies won a Golden Globe award for her role in The Good Wife. On January 23, Margulies won her record third Screen Actors Guild award for a role. Also that year, Margulies was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series, her seventh Emmy nomination, losing to The Closer's Kyra Sedgwick. On January 30, 2011, she won another Screen Actors Guild award for her role while The Good Wife was once again nominated for best ensemble in a drama show but lost to Boardwalk Empire. On July 14, 2011, Margulies was nominated for a second Emmy for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series; at the Emmy ceremony on September 18, 2011, she won the award.
Personal life
Margulies and attorney Keith Lieberthal were married on November 10, 2007, in Lenox, Massachusetts.[15] Their son, Kieran Lindsay Lieberthal, was born on January 17, 2008.[16] Margulies' in-laws are Jane Lindsay and the academic Kenneth Lieberthal.
^ abDavis, Patti (2009). The Lives Our Mothers Leave Us: Prominent Women Discuss the Complex, Humorous, and Ultimately Loving Relationships They Have with Their Mothers. Hay House, Inc.. pp. 173–174. ISBN1401921620.
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