Biography
Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress and children's author. Prolific in independent films and blockbusters since the early 1990s, she is particularly known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled and vulnerable women. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Additionally, she is also the only actress - along with Juliette Binoche - to have won an acting award at the world's three major film festivals (a Volpi Cup, the Silver Bear for Best Actress and the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress).
After studying theater at Boston University, she had a regular role in the soap opera As the World Turns from 1985 to 1988, earning a Daytime Emmy. Moore made her breakthrough with Robert Altman's ensemble film Short Cuts (1993), followed by a critically acclaimed performance in Todd Haynes' Safe (1995). Starring roles in the blockbusters Nine Months (1995) and The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) established her as a Hollywood leading lady. She received Oscar nominations for her roles as a 1970s pornographic actress in the drama film Boogie Nights (1997) and emotionally unsatisfied housewives in the period dramas The End of the Affair (1999), Far from Heaven (2002), and The Hours (2002).
Moore's career progressed with roles in The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), Hannibal (2001), Children of Men (2006), A Single Man (2009), The Kids Are All Right (2010), Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011), and Maps to the Stars (2014). She won a Primetime Emmy for playing Sarah Palin in the HBO film Game Change (2012), and the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of an Alzheimer's patient in Still Alice (2014).