Julianne Moore

Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress. She is particularly known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled and vulnerable women. Prolific in independent films and blockbusters since the early 1990s, 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. She won Best Actress prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, and the Venice Film Festival.

After studying theater at Boston University, she played a regular 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).