Julianne Moore

Julianne Moore, born Julie Anne Smith on December 3, 1960, is an American actress known for her performances in both independent films and major Hollywood blockbusters. She is particularly recognized for portraying emotionally troubled and vulnerable women. Throughout her career, Moore has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. She is also one of only two actresses to have won acting awards at the Cannes, Berlin, and Venice film festivals.

Moore was born at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Peter Moore Smith, a U.S. Army colonel and military judge, and Anne Love, a psychologist and social worker from Scotland. Due to her father's career, her family moved frequently, resulting in her attending nine different schools. While attending Frankfurt American High School in West Germany, she began acting in school productions. Encouraged by a teacher, she pursued drama at the Boston University College of Fine Arts, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater in 1983.

After moving to Manhattan, Moore made her television screen debut in 1984. She gained initial recognition on the soap opera As the World Turns from 1985 to 1988, playing dual roles that earned her a Daytime Emmy Award. After making her cinematic debut in 1990, she gained wider public attention in the box-office success The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992). Her major breakthrough came with her critically acclaimed performance in Robert Altman's ensemble drama Short Cuts (1993).

During the mid-to-late 1990s, Moore established herself as a Hollywood leading lady with roles in Safe (1995), Nine Months (1995), and the blockbuster sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). She received her first Academy Award nomination for her role as Amber Waves in Boogie Nights (1997). Moore earned further Oscar nominations for her performances in the period dramas The End of the Affair (1999), Far from Heaven (2002), and The Hours (2002), while also appearing in prominent films such as The Big Lebowski (1998) and Magnolia (1999).

Moore expanded her career with roles in Children of Men (2006), A Single Man (2009), and The Kids Are All Right (2010). She won a Primetime Emmy Award for playing Sarah Palin in the television film Game Change (2012) and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for portraying an Alzheimer's patient in Still Alice (2014). Her major commercial releases include the final two films of The Hunger Games series and Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017). Her later work includes the film May December (2023) and the historical miniseries Mary & George (2024).

In addition to acting, Moore is an author who has written a series of children's books featuring the character Freckleface Strawberry. She claimed British citizenship in 2011 in honor of her Scottish mother. Moore is married to director Bart Freundlich, with whom she has two children. In 2015, Time named her to its list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2020, The New York Times named her one of the greatest actors of the 21st century.