Early work and breakthrough (1985–1993) Moore moved to
Manhattan, New York after graduating and worked as a waitress. After registering her stage name with
Actors' Equity, Her break was a year later when she joined the cast of
As the World Turns. Playing the dual roles of half-sisters
Frannie and
Sabrina Hughes, she found the intensive work to be an important learning experience and she said, "I gained confidence and learned to take responsibility." Before leaving
As the World Turns, she had a role in the 1987
CBS miniseries ''
I'll Take Manhattan. The actress returned intermittently to television over the next three years, appearing in the TV movies Money, Power, Murder
(1989), The Last to Go
(1991), and Cast a Deadly Spell'' (1991). In 1990, Moore began working with stage director
Andre Gregory on a workshop theatre production of
Chekhov's
Uncle Vanya. Described by Moore as being "one of the most fundamentally important acting experiences I ever had", Also in 1990, Moore made her cinematic debut as a mummy's victim in
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, a low-budget horror that she later called "terrible". Her next film role, in 1992, introduced her to a wide audience. The thriller
The Hand That Rocks the Cradlein which she played the main character's ill-fated friendwas number one at the US box office, and Moore caught the attention of several critics for her performance. She followed it the same year with the crime comedy ''
The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag'', appearing as the protagonist's kooky sister. She continued to play supporting roles throughout 1993, first featuring in the erotic thriller
Body of Evidence as
Madonna's love rival. The film was panned by reviewers and heavily mocked, and Moore subsequently regretted her involvement—terming it "a big mistake". She had greater success in a 1993 romantic comedy with
Johnny Depp. In
Benny & Joon, Moore played a gentle waitress who falls for
Aidan Quinn's character, Benny. She also appeared briefly as a doctor in one of the year's biggest hits, the
Harrison Ford-starring thriller
The Fugitive. Filmmaker
Robert Altman saw Moore in the
Uncle Vanya production and was sufficiently impressed to cast her in his next project: the ensemble drama
Short Cuts (1993), based on short stories by
Raymond Carver. Moore was pleased to work with him, as his film
3 Women (1977) gave her a strong appreciation for cinema when she saw it while in college. Playing artist Marian Wyman was an experience she found difficult, as she was a "total unknown" surrounded by established actors, but this proved to be Moore's breakthrough role.
Todd McCarthy called her performance "arresting" and remarked that her monologue, delivered naked from the waist down would "no doubt be the most discussed scene" of the film.
Short Cuts was critically acclaimed and received awards for Best Ensemble Cast at the Venice Film Festival and the
Golden Globe Awards. Moore received an individual nomination for
Best Supporting Female at the
Independent Spirit Awards, and the monologue scene earned her a degree of notoriety.
Rise to prominence (1994–1997) Short Cuts was one of a trio of successive film appearances that raised Moore's profile. and she won the
Boston Society of Film Critics award for
Best Actress. Afterwards Moore was given her first leading role, playing an unhappy suburban housewife who develops
multiple chemical sensitivity in
Todd Haynes' low-budget film
Safe (1995). She had to lose a substantial amount of weight for the role, which made her ill, and she then swore off changing her body for a film again. In its review,
Empire, a
British magazine, said that
Safe "first established [Moore's] credentials as perhaps the finest actress of her generation".
David Thomson wrote that it is "one of the most arresting, original and accomplished films of the 1990s." Reflecting on the three roles Moore said, "They all came out at once, and I suddenly had this profile. It was amazing." In her next release Moore appeared alongside
Sylvester Stallone and
Antonio Banderas in the thriller
Assassins (1995). Despite a negative response from critics, the film earned $83.5 million worldwide. In her sole appearance in 1996, the
Merchant Ivory film
Surviving Picasso, she played the artist
Dora Maar opposite
Anthony Hopkins. The period drama met with poor reviews. A key point in her career came when
Steven Spielberg cast Moore as paleontologist Dr. Sarah Harding in
The Lost World: Jurassic Park – the sequel to his 1993 blockbuster
Jurassic Park.
The Lost World (1997) was one of the ten highest-grossing films in history at the time Moore's first Academy Award nomination came for the critically acclaimed
Boogie Nights (1997), which centers on a group of individuals working in the 1970s pornography industry. Director
Paul Thomas Anderson was not a well-known figure before its production, with only one feature credit to his name, but Moore agreed to the film after being impressed with his "exhilarating" script.
Time Out called the performance "superb" and
Janet Maslin of
The New York Times found it "wonderful". Alongside her Oscar nomination for
Best Supporting Actress, Moore was nominated for Golden Globe and
Screen Actors Guild awards and several critics groups gave her awards.
Gaining further recognition (1998–2002) '' (1998). She is pictured alongside
Jeff Bridges who co-starred in the film, at the 2011
Lebowski Fest at the
Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan. Next was a role in the
Coen brothers' dark comedy
The Big Lebowski (1998). The film was not a hit at the time of its release but has since become a
cult classic. She played Maude Lebowski, a feminist artist and daughter of the eponymous character who becomes involved with "The Dude" (
Jeff Bridges, the film's star). At the end of 1998, Moore had a flop with
Gus Van Sant's
Psycho, a remake of the classic
Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name. and is described by
The Guardian as being one of her "pointless" outings. After re-uniting with Robert Altman for the dark comedy ''
Cookie's Fortune (1999), Moore starred in An Ideal Husband'' –
Oliver Parker's adaptation of the
Oscar Wilde play. Set in
London at the end of the nineteenth century, her performance of Mrs. Laura Cheverly earned a Golden Globe nomination for
Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. She was also nominated in the
drama category that year for her work in
The End of the Affair (1999). Based on
the novel by
Graham Greene, Moore played opposite
Ralph Fiennes as an adulterous wife in 1940s Britain.
Michael Sragow lauded her writing that her performance was "the critical element that makes [the film] necessary viewing." She received her second Academy Award nomination for the role, her first for
Best Actress, as well as nominations at the
British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards. In between the two Golden Globe-nominated performances, Moore was in
A Map of the World supporting
Sigourney Weaver, as a bereaved mother. a "giant mosaic" chronicling the lives of multiple characters over one day in
Los Angeles. Paul Thomas Anderson, in his follow-up to
Boogie Nights, wrote a role specifically for her. His primary objective was to "see her explode", and he cast her as a
morphine-addicted wife. Apart from a cameo in
The Ladies Man, a comedy, Moore's other appearance in 2000 was in a short-film adaptation of
Samuel Beckett's play
Not I. In early 2001, she appeared as FBI agent
Clarice Starling in
Hannibal, a sequel to the Oscar-winning film
The Silence of the Lambs.
Jodie Foster had declined to reprise the role, and director
Ridley Scott eventually cast Moore over
Angelina Jolie,
Cate Blanchett,
Gillian Anderson, and
Helen Hunt.
Hannibal earned $58 million in its opening weekend and finished as the tenth-highest-grossing film of the year. Moore starred in three more 2001 releases: with
David Duchovny in the science fiction comedy
Evolution, in her husband's dramatic film
World Traveler, and with
Kevin Spacey,
Judi Dench, and Cate Blanchett in
The Shipping News. All three films were poorly received. The year 2002 marked a high point in Moore's career, as she became the ninth performer to be
nominated for two Academy Awards in the same year. She received a Best Actress nomination for the melodrama
Far from Heaven, in which she played a 1950s housewife whose world is shaken when her husband reveals he is gay. The role was written specifically for her by Todd Haynes, the first time the pair had worked together since
Safe, and Moore described it as "a very, very personal project ... such an incredible honor to do". David Rooney of
Variety praised her "beautifully gauged performance" of a desperate woman "buckling under social pressures and putting on a brave face".
Manohla Dargis of the
Los Angeles Times wrote, "what Moore does with her role is so beyond the parameters of what we call great acting that it nearly defies categorization". The role won Moore the Best Actress award from 19 different organizations, including the
Venice Film Festival and the
National Board of Review. Moore's second Oscar nomination that year came for
The Hours, in which she co-starred with
Nicole Kidman and
Meryl Streep. She again played a troubled 1950s housewife, prompting
Kenneth Turan to write that she was "essentially reprising her
Far from Heaven role". Moore said it was an "unfortunate coincidence" that the similar roles came at the same time, and that the characters had differing personalities.
Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone called the performance "wrenching", while
Peter Bradshaw of
The Guardian praised a "superbly controlled, humane performance".
The Hours was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including
Best Picture. Moore also received BAFTA and SAG Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress, and was jointly awarded the
Silver Bear for Best Actress with Kidman and Streep at the
Berlin International Film Festival.
Established actress (2003–2009) Moore did not make any screen appearances in 2003, but returned in 2004 with three movies. Her first two ventures of the year were not successful.
Marie and Bruce, a dark comedy co-starring
Matthew Broderick, did not get a cinematic release.
Laws of Attraction followed.
Pierce Brosnan also starred in the romantic comedy based in a courtroom; the film was panned by critics. Commercial success for Moore came with
The Forgotten, a psychological thriller in which she played a mother who is told her dead son never existed. Although the film was unpopular with critics, it opened as the US box office number one. In 2005, Moore worked with her husband for the third time in the comedy
Trust the Man, Her first release of 2006 was
Freedomland, a mystery co-starring
Samuel L. Jackson. The response was overwhelmingly negative, but her follow-up,
Alfonso Cuarón's
Children of Men (2006), was highly acclaimed. Moore had a supporting role in the
dystopian drama, playing the leader of an activist group. It is listed on
Rotten Tomatoes as one of the best reviewed films of her career, and was named by Peter Travers as the second best film of the decade. Moore made her
Broadway debut in the world premiere of
David Hare's play
The Vertical Hour. The production, directed by
Sam Mendes and co-starring
Bill Nighy, opened in November 2006. Moore played the role of Nadia, a former war correspondent who finds her views on the
2003 invasion of Iraq challenged.
Ben Brantley of
The New York Times was unenthusiastic about the production, and described Moore as miscast: in his opinion, she failed to bring the "tough, assertive" quality that her role required. David Rooney of
Variety criticized her "lack of stage technique", adding that she appeared "stiffly self-conscious". Moore played an FBI agent for the second time in
Next (2007), a science fiction action film co-starring
Nicolas Cage and
Jessica Biel. Based on a short story by
Philip K. Dick, the response from critics was highly negative. Manohla Dargis wrote, "Ms. Moore seems terribly unhappy to be here, and it's no wonder." The actress has since said it was her worst film. Peter Bradshaw, however, called it a "coldly brilliant and tremendously acted movie". In ''
I'm Not There (2007), Moore worked with Todd Haynes for a third time. The film explored the life of Bob Dylan, with Moore playing a character based on Joan Baez. In 2008, she starred with Mark Ruffalo in Blindness, a dystopian thriller from the director Fernando Meirelles. The film was not widely seen, and critics were generally unenthusiastic. Moore was not seen on screen again until late 2009, with three new releases. She had a supporting role in The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, and then starred in the erotic thriller Chloe'' with
Liam Neeson and
Amanda Seyfried. Set in 1960s
Los Angeles, the film starred
Colin Firth as a homosexual professor who wishes to end his life. Moore played his best friend, "a fellow English expat and semi-alcoholic divorcee", a character that
Tom Ford, the film's writer-director, created with her in mind.
A Single Man was selected as one of the
top 10 films of 2009 by the
American Film Institute, and Moore received a fifth Golden Globe nomination for her performance in the film. She appeared in the series finale in January 2013. She also returned to
As the World Turns as Frannie Hughes, making a brief cameo appearance in a scene with her character's family near the end of the show's run in 2010. The psychological thriller received negative reviews and did not have a U.S. release until 2013 (when it was retitled
6 Souls). Moore starred with
Annette Bening in the
independent film The Kids Are All Right (2010), a comedy-drama about a lesbian couple whose teenage children find their sperm donor. The role of Jules Allgood was written for her by writer-director
Lisa Cholodenko, who felt that Moore was the right age, adept at both drama and comedy, and confident with the film's sexual content. The actress was drawn to the film's "universal" depiction of married life, and committed to the project in 2005. Betsy Sharkey, a critic, liked Moore's performance of Jules calling it an "existential bundle of unrealized need and midlife uncertainty." She wrote, "There are countless moments when the actress strips bare before the camera–sometimes literally, sometimes emotionally... and Moore plays every note perfectly."
The Kids Are All Right earned Moore a sixth Golden Globe Award nomination and a second BAFTA nomination for Best Actress. Julianne Moore actively looked for another comedy. She had a supporting role in
Crazy, Stupid, Love, playing the estranged wife of
Steve Carell, which was favorably reviewed and earned $142.8 million worldwide. She did not appear on screens again until March 2012, with a performance that received considerable praise and recognition. She starred in the HBO television film
Game Change, a dramatization of Sarah Palin's
2008 campaign to become Vice President. Portraying a well-known figure was something she found challenging; in preparation, she conducted extensive research and worked with a dialect coach for two months. Although the response to the film was mixed, critics were appreciative of Moore's performance. For the first time in her career, she received a
Golden Globe, a
Primetime Emmy, and a
SAG Award. Moore made two film appearances in 2012. The drama
Being Flynn, in which she supported
Robert De Niro, had a limited release.
What Maisie Knew had a wider release, the story of a young girl caught in the middle of her parents' divorce. Adapted from
Henry James's
novel and updated for the 21st century, the drama earned near-universal critical praise. The role of Susanna, Maisie's rock-star mother, required Moore to sing on camera, which was a challenge she embraced despite finding it embarrassing. She called Susanna a terrible parent, but said the role did not make her uncomfortable, as she fully compartmentalized the character: "I know that that's not me".
What Maisie Knew was well received. and Mary Pols of
Time felt that Moore was a key factor in its success. Her next appearance was a starring role in the comedy
The English Teacher (2013), but the outing was poorly received and earned little at the box office. In October 2013, she played the demented mother
Margaret White in
Carrie, an adaptation of
Stephen King's
horror novel. Coming 37 years after
Brian De Palma's well-known take on the book, Moore said that she wanted to make the role her own. By drawing on King's writing rather than
the 1976 film,
Mick LaSalle of the
San Francisco Chronicle wrote that she managed to "[suggest] a history – one never told, just hinted at – of serious damage in [Margaret's] past".
Critical and commercial success (2014–2017) , where she won the
Best Actress award for
Maps to the Stars Moore enjoyed a considerable degree of critical and commercial success in 2014. Her first release of the year came alongside Liam Neeson in the action-thriller
Non-Stop, set aboard an airplane. The response to the film was mixed, but it earned $223 million worldwide. Moore won the
Best Actress award at the Cannes Festival for her performance as Havana Segrand, an aging actress receiving psychotherapy in
David Cronenberg's black comedy
Maps to the Stars. Described by
The Guardian as being a "grotesque, gaudy, and ruthless" character, Moore based her role on "an amalgam of Hollywood casualties she ha[d] encountered", and drew upon her early experiences in the industry. Peter Debruge of
Variety was critical of the film, but found Moore to be "incredible" and "fearless" in it. Moore's success at Cannes made her the second actress after
Juliette Binoche, to win Best Actress awards at the "Big Three" film festivals (Berlin, Cannes, and Venice). She received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. Moore played the supporting role of
President Alma Coin, the leader of a rebellion against
The Capitol, in the third installment of the lucrative
The Hunger Games film series,
Mockingjay – Part 1. The film ranks as her highest-grossing to date. She spent four months training for the film, by watching documentaries on the disease and interacting with patients at the
Alzheimer's Association. David Thomson wrote that Moore was "extraordinary at revealing the gradual loss of memory and confidence", while according to
Kenneth Turan, she was "especially good at the wordless elements of this transformation, allowing us to see through the changing contours of her face what it is like when your mind empties out". Several critics felt it was her finest performance to date, and Moore was awarded with the Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA, and Academy Award for Best Actress. Moore began 2015 by appearing as an evil queen in
Seventh Son, a poorly received fantasy-adventure film co-starring Jeff Bridges. She also appeared opposite
Elliot Page in
Freeheld, a drama based on a true story about a detective and her same-sex partner, and in the romantic comedy ''
Maggie's Plan, with Greta Gerwig and Ethan Hawke. Both films were presented at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. In Maggie's Plan
, Moore played a pretentious Danish professor, a comedic role that critic Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair'' deemed as the film's "chief pleasure". Later that year, she reprised her role as Alma Coin in
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, the final film of the series. After a year absence from the screen, Moore had three films come out in 2017. She appeared in a dual role in
Wonderstruck, a film adaptation of
Brian Selznick's historical children's
novel of the same name, reteaming her with Todd Haynes. Her parts were of a silent movie star in the 1920s and a deaf librarian in the 1970s; in preparation, she studied sign language and watched the films of
Lillian Gish. Richard Lawson considered her to be "eminently watchable" despite her limited screen time. Moore portrayed a dual role for the second time that year in
Suburbicon, a satirical thriller written by the
Coen brothers and directed by
George Clooney. She was cast opposite
Matt Damon in a dual role as twin sisters in 1950s America, named Rose and Margaret, who become embroiled in a local crime. Moore's final release of 2017 was the sequel to the 2015 spy film
Kingsman: The Secret Service, subtitled
The Golden Circle, co-starring
Colin Firth,
Taron Egerton,
Channing Tatum, and
Halle Berry. She played the part of the villainous entrepreneur Poppy Adams, who runs a drug cartel. Despite her character's actions, Moore played the part to make Poppy seem "strange, but reasonable". The film earned over $410 million worldwide.
Independent films and streaming projects (2018–present) Moore had two films premiere in 2018. She was drawn to
Sebastián Lelio's
Gloria Bell, an English-language remake of Lelio's own Chilean film
Gloria, for its rare depiction of a middle-age woman's quest for meaning in life. Stephen Dalton of
The Hollywood Reporter believed she had delivered "an utterly natural and quietly spellbinding star performance," and
The New York Times named her one of "the 10 best actors of the year." Her second film that year was
Bel Canto, a thriller based on
Ann Patchett's
novel of the same name about the
Japanese embassy hostage crisis in
Lima, Peru. For her performance as an opera singer, she learned to mimic the body language of professionals for scenes in which
Renée Fleming performed the vocals. In 2019, she teamed with her husband again in
After the Wedding, a remake of
Susanne Bier's
Danish film of the same name. It featured her and
Michelle Williams in roles played by men in the original film. Also in 2019, she starred in
The Staggering Girl, a short film directed by
Luca Guadagnino. In 2020, Moore portrayed the feminist activist
Gloria Steinem in the biopic
The Glorias, sharing the part with actresses
Alicia Vikander and
Lulu Wilson. In following year, she had supporting roles opposite
Amy Adams in
Joe Wright's thriller
The Woman in the Window, based on the
novel of the same name, and in
Stephen Chbosky's musical film
Dear Evan Hansen, based on the
stage musical of the same name. Both films were poorly received. Moore played the title role in ''
Lisey's Story'', an
Apple TV+ miniseries adapted from Stephen King's thriller
novel of the same name. The miniseries was not well received, despite praise for Moore's work. She took on the leading role of an uptight mother in
When You Finish Saving the World (2022), a comedy-drama film by
Jesse Eisenberg.
The Hollywood Reporters John DeFore commended her for empathetically portraying an unlikable character. Moore served as jury president of the
79th Venice International Film Festival in 2022. and
Pedro Almodóvar at the premiere for
The Room Next Door at the 2024
Venice International Film Festival Moore next starred in the thriller
Sharper (2023) for
Apple TV+, which she also produced; it had modest reviews. Once again, she collaborated with Todd Haynes in
May December, a drama co-starring
Natalie Portman, in which she played a woman married to a much-younger man. Moore was pleased to play a transgressive character, finding her "unbelievably complicated and compelling". The film received critical acclaim and Jonathan Romney of
Screen Daily commended Moore for combining both "neurotic fragility and over-bearing brittleness" in her performance. She received another Golden Globe nomination for it. The 2024 historical satire miniseries
Mary & George starred Moore as
Mary Villiers opposite
Nicholas Galitzine's
George Villiers.
The Independent Nick Hilton found Moore "more effective in Mary's dramatic moments than her farcical ones," while Lucy Mangan of
The Guardian called her performance "brilliant – cold, clever and always scintillating." It earned her another
Independent Spirit Award nomination. The same year, Moore starred alongside
Tilda Swinton in
The Room Next Door, which marked
Pedro Almodóvar's first English-language feature film and won the
Golden Lion at the
2024 Venice Film Festival. Based on the novel
What Are You Going Through by
Sigrid Nunez, Moore played an author who reunites with a former colleague with cancer. She was particularly drawn towards the project for its depiction of female friendship, which she believed was rare in film. Complementing the performances of both women,
BBC Culture's Nicholas Barber found Moore "especially deft" in her delivery of Almodóvar's awkwardly written dialogues. She received a
Goya Award nomination as
Best Actress for the role. In her third project for Apple TV+, Moore led the thriller film
Echo Valley. She will also team with
James McAvoy in the action thriller film
Control. ==Writing==