Julianne Moore
☼ Born on 3 December 1960, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA
Biography
Julianne Moore was born Julie Anne Smith in Fort Bragg, North Carolina on December 3, 1960, the daughter of Anne (Love), a social worker, and Peter Moore Smith, a paratrooper, colonel, and later military judge. Her mother moved to the U.S. in 1951, from Greenock, Scotland. Her father, from Burlington, New Jersey, has German, Irish, Welsh, German-Jewish, and English ancestry.
Moore spent the early years of her life in over two dozen locations around the world with her parents, during her father's military career. She finally found her place at Boston University, where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree in acting from the School of the Performing Arts. After graduation (in 1983), She took the stage name "Julianne Moore" because there was another actress named "Julie Anne Smith". Julianne moved to New York and worked extensively in theater, including appearances off-Broadway in two Caryl Churchill plays, Serious Money and Ice Cream With Hot Fudge and as Ophelia in Hamlet at The Guthrie Theatre. But despite her formal training, Julianne fell into the attractive actress' trap of the mid-1980's: TV soaps and miniseries. She appeared briefly in the daytime serial The Edge of Night (1956) and from 1985 to 1988 she played two half-sisters Frannie and Sabrina on the soap As the World Turns (1956). This performance later led to an Outstanding Ingénue Daytime Emmy Award in 1988. Her subsequent appearances were in mostly forgettable TV-movies, such as Money, Power, Murder.
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(1989), The Last to Go (1991) and Cast a Deadly Spell (1991).
She made her entrance into the big screen with 1990's Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990), where she played the victim of a mummy. Two years later, Julianne appeared in feature films with supporting parts in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) and the comedy The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992). She kept winning better and more powerful roles as time went on, including a small but memorable role as a doctor who spots Kimble Harrison Ford and attempts to thwart his escape in The Fugitive (1993). (A role that made such an impression on Steven Spielberg that he cast her in the Jurassic Park (1993) sequel without an audition in 1997). In one of Moore's most distinguished performances, she recapitulated her "beguiling Yelena" from Andre Gregory's workshop version of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in Louis Malle's critically acclaimed Vanya on 42nd Street (1994). Director Todd Haynes gave Julianne her first opportunity to take on a lead role in Safe (1995). Her portrayal of Carol White, an affluent L.A. housewife who develops an inexplicable allergic reaction to her environment, won critical praise as well as an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
Later that year she found her way into romantic comedy, co-starring as Hugh Grant's pregnant girlfriend in Nine Months (1995). Following films included Assassins (1995), where she played an electronics security expert targeted for death (next to Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas) and Surviving Picasso (1996), where she played Dora Maar, one of the numerous lovers of Picasso (portrayed by her hero, Anthony Hopkins). A year later, after co-starring in Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), opposite Jeff Goldblum, a young and unknown director, Paul Thomas Anderson asked Julianne to appear in his movie, Boogie Nights (1997). Despite her misgivings, she finally was won over by the script and her decision to play the role of Amber Waves, a loving porn star who acts as a mother figure to a ragtag crew, proved to be a wise one, since she received both Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. Julianne started 1998 by playing an erotic artist in The Big Lebowski (1998), continued with a small role in the social comedy Chicago Cab (1997) and ended with a subtle performance in Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho (1960). 1999 had Moore as busy as an actress can be.
As the century closed, Julianne starred in a number of high-profile projects, beginning with Robert Altman's Cookie's Fortune (1999) , in which she was cast as the mentally challenged but adorable sister of a decidedly unhinged Glenn Close. A portrayal of the scheming Mrs. Cheveley followed in Oliver Parker's An Ideal Husband (1999) with a number of critics asserting that Moore was the best part of the movie. She then enjoyed another collaboration with director Anderson in Magnolia (1999) and continued with an outstanding performance in The End of the Affair (1999), for which she garnered another Oscar nomination. She ended 1999 with another great performance, that of a grieving mother in A Map of the World (1999), opposite Sigourney Weaver.
In the role of actor
May December (17/11/2023)
The arrival of an actress researching for a role reignites the trauma of a scandalous love affair in May December. Elizabeth Berry (Natalie Portman) is a famous actress who has just arrived in a small island community in Savannah, Georgia. Elizabeth is researching to play Gracie Atherton-Yoo (Julianne Moore) in an upcoming film project. 25 […]
Dear Evan Hansen (23/09/2021)
A weird, anxious, and depressed teenager gains notoriety after he’s mistaken as the best friend of a classmate who commits suicide in Dear Evan Hansen. Evan Hansen (Ben Platt) is a lonely teenager, whose mother Heidi (Julianne Moore) is never home due to work. Even is assigned by his psychiatrist to write letters to himself to […]
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (24/09/2017)
Kingsman teams up with their American cousins to bring down a psychopathic drug lord in Kingsman: The Golden Circle. A year has passed since Eggsy Unwin (Taron Egerton) became of a full agent of the Kingsman spy organization, even though he deeply misses his fallen mentor Harry Hart (Colin Firth). However, a terrorist organization known as the […]
Evolution (20/09/2015)
A young boy slowly realizes the true intentions of his guardians in Evolution. Nicolas (Max Brebant) is a ten year old boy living with his mother (Julie-Marie Parmentier) and other boys and women in an isolated seaside community. Nicolas is told that he is sick and requires daily medication and treatment at the nearby clinic. However, Nicolas […]
Still Alice (02/02/2015)
Julianne Moore plays a 50 year old woman suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s disease in the drama Still Alice. Alice Howland (Moore) is an esteemed linguistics professor at Columbia University, who has recently celebrated her 50th birthday. Alice begins to forget small details about her life and decides to get tested by a neurologist, where […]
Maps to the Stars (06/11/2014)
David Cronenberg directs the Hollywood satire Maps to the Stars. Agatha (Mia Wasikowska) is a young woman with burn scars, who arrives into Los Angeles from Florida and become acquainted with limo driver, and aspiring actor, Jerome (Robert Pattinson). Through her connections, Agatha becomes the new personal assistant Havana Segrand (Julianne Moore), an aging actress […]
The Door (31/10/2014)
Indie Spotlight is a series focusing on reviews of independent films After saving a wealthy Japanese gentleman from a mugging, Owen (Sam Kantor) is offered a job at one of the man’s family businesses. Owen arrives at an old abandoned meat-packing plant and is told to put on a security uniform, sit at a desk, […]
The Darkside (04/05/2014)
Described as true stories from the other side, The Darkside features ghost stories from all across Australia. A number of Australia’s most beloved actors, such as Claudia Karvan, Aaron Pedersen, Bryan Brown, Jack Charles and Deborah Mailman, were cast to tell these true stories in front of the camera. The result is a series of […]
Don Jon (12/09/2013)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes his directorial debut with the edgy romantic comedy Don Jon. Jon (Gordon-Levitt) is a suave New Jersey man, who has somewhat unrealistic expectations for relationships, due to his addiction to pornography. Jon’s routine involves frequenting nightclubs with his friends, picking up one night stands, and then confessing his transgressions at Sunday church […]
A Single Man (23/12/2009)
This film won Colin Firth the Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival, so I was curious to see this film as far back as TIFF. The film follows a homosexual English professor, who is struggling to get over the death of his longtime partner. Firth’s performance is definitely the most notable thing about […]