New York Shakespeare Festival Julia began performing in several plays that were held in San Juan, debuting in
La Vida es un Sueño. Other works included playing the role of
Roderigo in
Othello at a local drama production. Parallel to this, Julia began making presentations at the
Ted Mack Amateur Hour. After joining a musical group named the Lamplighters, despite receiving opposition from his parents, he was recruited by
Lillian Hurst to perform alongside her, eventually receiving work at a hotel named El Convento. During this time, he began considering the possibility of moving to Europe to take acting classes. During one of their acts, Julia was approached by
Orson Bean, who was on vacation in Puerto Rico and provided him with contact information, wanting him to travel to New York and work there. In 1964, when he was 24 years old, he traveled to New York City, arriving in the middle of a winter storm. After establishing residence in Manhattan, Julia worked at a variety of odd jobs to pay his expenses, going so far as to attend sales training (provided by a distributor) in the proper way to sell pens. When Hurst visited him, they attended a Broadway play, which prompted a discovery that surprised him—that it was possible to work as an actor full-time. As a result, Julia began seeking employment in both Broadway and
Off-Broadway plays. Seeking to further improve his acting, he took lessons from
Wynn Handman, who was recommended by Bean; his class included future fellow star
Christopher Walken. His first work was in a production of
Pedro Calderón de la Barca's
Life Is a Dream, wherein he played Astolfo, thereby making himself eligible to receive his Actors Equity card from
Actors' Equity Association. Initially, Julia received an allowance from his parents, but after hiring manager Jeff Hunter, he landed a role in a production of
Bye Bye Birdie, thereafter declining further financial assistance. In 1965, he married Vasallo Molinelli. In 1966, Julia was cast in the role of
Macduff in a Spanish-language version of
Macbeth, and also performed in
The Ox Cart (La Carreta), a stage play written by Puerto Rican playwright René Marqués.
Míriam Colón Valle, who also participated in
La Carreta, established the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, where he performed. In 1967, the founder of the
New York Shakespeare Festival (NYSF),
Joseph Papp, attended a performance at
Delacorte Theater, where Julia was reading patriotic Puerto Rican poetry. Subsequently, Papp offered him the role of Demetrius in a staging of
Titus Andronicus. After this play concluded, he contacted Papp who offered him the job of stage manager in NYSF's
Hamlet.
Broadway and television '' In September 1968, after auditioning four times for the role, Julia debuted in his first Broadway play, performing as Chan in a staging of
The Cuban Thing. The following year, he was cast in a production of
Arthur Kopit's
Indians. During this time, Vasallo Molinelli and he were divorced. In 1970, Julia, in the role of Paco Montoya in
The Castro Complex, received notably favorable reviews. As he gained prominence on Broadway, Julia was cast in two television series,
Love of Life and
Sesame Street. He disliked his role in
Love of Life, only appearing on the show for a brief time. On
Sesame Street, he was Rafael the Fix-It Man, a recurring character during the show's third season. Raphael the Fix-It Man's partner at the Fix-It Shop was
Emilio Delgado's character Luis, who after debuting with Julia, went on to a long tenure on the show. During 1971–1972, Julia earned roles in three films:
The Organization,
The Panic in Needle Park, and a film adaptation of
Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me. Julia noted that he cherished the roles he played in these Shakespeare plays, particularly the rhythm, music, and poetry present in them. In 1976, Julia played Mack the Knife in
The Threepenny Opera, interpreting the dialogue with a marked British accent. The performance earned him a third Tony Award nomination. He then returned to film as Italian car racer Franco Bertollini in
The Gumball Rally. That same year, Julia married Poloway in the
Catskill Mountains. The ceremony was led by Swami
Muktananda as part of a spiritual retreat. The couple had met the Swami through Erhard. While performing as
Dracula, Julia also played
Petruchio in
The Taming of the Shrew in 1978. Julia followed up his double-duty stage work with a role in
Paul Mazursky's
film adaptation of
The Tempest, spending several months in Italy while exploring its culture. During this time, he received the script for
Nine, the play that would garner him a fourth Tony Award nomination. In preparation for his role in Harold Pinter's
Betrayal, Julia moved temporarily to London, hiring a dialect coach to train him in British pronunciation. Julia subsequently used a British or trans-Atlantic accent for most of his film work, including
Presumed Innocent,
The Addams Family films, and
Street Fighter.
Acting in Hollywood In 1982, Julia played Calibanos in Mazursky's
Tempest and Ray in the musical
One from the Heart. In 1983, his first son with Poloway, Raul Sigmund Julia, was born. That year, he also starred in the public television film
Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, which received a weak reception and was satirized on
Mystery Science Theater 3000. After not appearing in a film for two years, Julia played a political prisoner named Valentín in an adaptation of the
Manuel Puig work
Kiss of the Spider Woman. In view of the uniqueness of the script, Julia agreed to begin filming before receiving his salary and traveled to South America, where he interviewed rebels and ex-prisoners to familiarize himself with their experiences and ideology. Upon its release,
Kiss of the Spider Woman was a commercial and critical success. For his performance, Julia received a nomination for the
Golden Globe Award and won the
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures award for best actor, along with co-lead actor
William Hurt. The following year, he appeared in his first Puerto Rican film,
La Gran Fiesta, offering a monologue near the end of the film. In 1987, Julia had the lead role in
The Penitent. Later on that year, his second son with Poloway, Benjamín Rafael Juliá, was born. In 1988, Julia played a corrupt official in Paul Mazursky's comedy,
Moon over Parador, which received negative reviews from critics. The following year, he co-starred with
Anthony Quinn in
Onassis: The Richest Man in the World, a biographic film covering the life of
Aristotle Onassis. In 1989, Julia was cast as San Salvadoran Archbishop
Óscar Romero in the biographical movie,
Romero. Due to his activity between 1987 and 1989, Julia was ranked first in the
Variety article "List of Busiest Hollywood Actors". Prior to the filming, Julia spent time in courtrooms and studied the court system. Julia was cast to play
Gomez Addams in an
adaptation of
The Addams Family. Since his earlier recollections of the role were of the Spanish-dubbed version of the first television series, he had to adapt the role directly from the original cartoons drawn by
Charles Addams, receiving a nomination for a
Saturn Award. In 1992, Julia played the title role in a revival of
Man of La Mancha with
Sheena Easton, a Broadway musical adaptation of the
Miguel de Cervantes novel,
Don Quixote. The play originated in 1965, with the main character played by Richard Kiley; one of his favorite actors,
José Ferrer, had been considered for the title role at the time. Julia performed this role eight times per week. Subsequently, he reprised his role as Gomez Addams in
Addams Family Values. He familiarized himself with the role by analyzing interviews and footage from Mendes' Xapuri Rubber Tappers Union. He received his second Saturn Award nomination for his performance, which was considered the high point of the otherwise poorly received motion picture. This would be his final role in a major film, with his last work being a leading role in the television drama
Down Came a Blackbird, which was filmed in
Toronto, Ontario during September and October 1994. His poor health was apparent in these last three films because of his substantial weight loss. ==Health and death==