Julianne Moore

Julie Anne Smith

3 December 1960

An American actress and children's author. When Moore was 16, the family moved from Falls Church, Virginia, where she had been attending J.E.B. Stuart High School, to Frankfurt, Germany, where she attended Frankfurt American High School. She was clever and studious, a self-proclaimed "good girl", and she planned to become a doctor. She had never considered performing, or even attended the theatre, but she was an avid reader and it was this hobby that led her to begin acting at the school. She appeared in several plays, including Tartuffe and Medea, and with the encouragement of her English teacher she chose to pursue a theatrical career. Moore's parents supported her decision, but asked that she train at university to provide the added security of a college degree. She was accepted to Boston University and graduated with a BFA in Theatre in 1983.

After studying theatre at Boston University, Moore began her career with a series of television roles. From 1985 to 1988, she was a regular in the soap opera "As the World Turns", earning a Daytime Emmy for her performance. Her film debut was in 1990, and she continued to play supporting roles throughout the early 1990s. Moore made her breakthrough with Robert Altman's "Short Cuts" (1993), followed by critically acclaimed performances in "Vanya on 42nd Street" (1994), and "Safe" (1995). Starring roles in the blockbusters "Nine Months" (1995) and "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (1997) established her as a leading Hollywood actress.

Prolific in cinema since the early 1990s, Moore is particularly known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women. Her career has involved both art house and Hollywood films, and she has received five Academy Award nominations.

As actress

• Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)
• The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)
• The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992)
• Body of Evidence (1993)
• Benny & Joon (1993)
• The Fugitive (1993)
• Short Cuts (1993)
• Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)
• Safe (1995)
• Roommates (1995)
• Nine Months (1995)
• Assassins (1995)
• Surviving Picasso (1996)
• Chicago Cab (1997)
• Boogie Nights (1997)
• The Myth of Fingerprints (1997)
• The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
• The Big Lebowski (1998)
• Psycho (1998)
• Cookie's Fortune (1999)
• An Ideal Husband (1999)
• A Map of the World (1999)
• The End of the Affair (1999)
• Magnolia (1999)
• The Ladies Man (2000)
• Hannibal (2001)
• Evolution (2001)
• The Shipping News (2001)
• World Traveler (2001)
• Far from Heaven (2002)
• The Hours (2002)
• Marie and Bruce (2004)
• Laws of Attraction (2004)
• The Forgotten (2004)
• The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005)
• Trust the Man (2005)
• Freedomland (2006)
• Children of Men (2006)
• Next (2007)
• I'm Not There (2007)
• Savage Grace (2007)
• Eagle Eye (2008)
• Blindness (2008)
• The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009)
• A Single Man (2009)
• Chloe (2009)
• Elektra Luxx (2010)
• Shelter (2010)
• The Kids Are All Right (2010)
• Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)
• Being Flynn (2012)
• What Maisie Knew (2012)
• Movie 43 (2013)
• The English Teacher (2013)
• Don Jon (2013)
• Carrie (2013)
• Non-Stop (2014)
• Maps to the Stars (2014)
• Still Alice (2014)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014)
• Seventh Son (2015)
• Freeheld (2015)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 (2015)
• Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
• Wonderstruck (2017)
• Suburbicon (2017)

Quotations

* * *

With actors, all our ages are out there for all to see - you can't hide anything, really. And it's kind of a relief. This is my age, this is what I look like without makeup on - who cares? That youth culture - that lying about your age - it's all denial of death anyway.

* * *

I'm looking for the truth. The audience doesn't come to see you, they come to see themselves.

* * *

I think to be courageous, you have to be afraid. For me, it feels very courageous when I go skiing because I'm very, very afraid to ski. It's dangerous! I feel very scared. But when I'm acting, I don't feel very scared.

* * *

I went with Tom Ford to a bunch of events one year, and he's so wonderful and handsome and so much fun to be with; he made me look, like, 100 percent better in every single picture.

* * *

Too much makeup on an older woman can really make you look like a freak.

* * *

You'd have to spend a lot of time with me before I'd be comfortable enough to show my dark side.

* * *

I did find it particularly difficult to do Broadway. It was not my favourite way to perform. When I do theatre, I like it to be smaller. I like the audience to be closer; I like it to be less presentational.

* * *

I do remember when I was starting acting, going from one set to the next, with not much else going on in my life. And at the end of the day, you get back to your hotel room and just feel this awful loneliness, because the cameras have stopped rolling.

* * *

I don't know why women do Botox. It doesn't make them look younger, it just makes them look like they had work done. You are not going to look the same as you did at 25.

* * *

I'm not scared of many things in front of the camera. Everywhere else, yes, I'm terrified. But acting is just pretending, and you are exploring feelings in a safe environment.

* * *

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.

* * *

It's not difficult to take care of a child; it's difficult to do anything else while taking care of a child. Trying to clean up the kitchen after you've had a baby is a nightmare because you have to wait for the baby to be asleep, you're exhausted, and you really don't want to clean up the kitchen now.

* * *

My family life is incredibly important to me. I want to be with them as much as I can. I try to work in New York, or I work in the summer time when my family can come with me.

* * *

My kids have always been allowed to have dessert. My husband thinks I'm too free and easy about that kind of stuff, but my kids will throw out a half-eaten ice cream cone if they've had enough, which I've never in my life been able to do.

* * *

My mom came to the U.S. very young, and then she married very young. But she was never American. She was always Scottish and would make sure that I knew that I was, too.

* * *