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Possessing porcelain skin, long dark curls and classical, yet exotic, features, Julianna Margulies shot to stardom as the capable yet caring head nurse Carol Hathaway on the hit NBC medical series “ER”. Her character was supposed to be killed off by a drug overdose in the 1994 pilot episode but the actress had proven so likable she won not only a permanent spot on the show but also a 1995 Best Supporting Actress Emmy. Margulies remained with the show through the 1999-2000 season while Hathaway not only faced professional challenges as well as personal ones (broken romances, giving birth to twins). The actress turned down a contract valued at a reported $27 million to extend her stay on the hit series, choosing instead to seek different and challenging roles.

The youngest of three daughters of an advertising executive and a dancer-turned-therapist, Margulies spent a somewhat nomadic childhood. After her parents divorced, she and her sisters shuttled between Europe and the USA. Opting to attend a boarding school in New Hampshire in her teens, she later earned an art history degree from Sarah Lawrence, where she gained her first stage acting experience. Settling in NYC, the fledgling thespian supported herself as a waitress and bartender while battling the prejudices of casting directors who found her unusual looks difficult to typecast. Eventually, she landed the role of a prostitute opposite Steven Seagal in “Out For Justice” (1991). Regional theater work, commercials (including one for McDonald’s) and guest appearances in series like “Law & Order” followed.

After appearing in a failed pilot produced by Tom Fontana, Margulies was tapped by Fontana for a recurring role as a waitress with musical ambitions who became a romantic interest for Ned Beatty’s Detective Bolander on the NBC police drama “Homicide: Life on the Streets” in 1994. Following her success on “ER”, the actress resumed her feature career, appearing as a spoiled American interned in a woman’s camp in Asia during WWII in Bruce Beresford’s “Paradise Road” (1997). That same year, she brought strength and sensuality to her portrayal of a single mother romanced by a grifter (Bill Paxton) in “Traveller”. Margulies followed with turns as a traditional Hasidic wife in “A Price Above Rubies” and as a gun moll involved with bank robber Matthew McConaughey in “The Newton Boys” (both 1998).

Margulies starred as a harried bride facing a series of crises before her wedding in the festival-screened romantic comedy “The Big Day/We Met on the Vineyard” (1999). She switched gears to play Kyra Sedgwick’s lesbian lover in the ensemble comedy “What’s Cooking”, which was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. Following her departure from “ER”, the actress accepted the role of Morgaine in the feminist re-telling of the Arthurian myths, “The Mists of Avalon” (TNT, 2001). She then returned to the NYC stage, first as part of the endless procession of female actors delivering “The Vagina Monologues” (2000) and then as the lover of an elderly artist in Jon Robin Baitz’s “Ten Unknowns” (2001). In 2002, she made her way back to the big screen co-starring with Andy Garcia and Mick Jagger in “The Man From Elysian Fields”. She also starred in the Steve Beck action thriller feature “Ghost Ship” (2002), playing salvage team leader Maureen Eps, whose crew discovers a long-lost ocean liner. She ended the year playing the love interest to Pierce Brosnan’s character in the inspiring feature drama “Evelyn”

• Born:
  on 06/08/1966 in Spring Valley, New York
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Bartender, Waitress

Family

• Father: Paul Margulies. divorced from Margulies’ mother; remarried; wrote the famous Alka Seltzer jingle “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is”
• Mother: Francesca. divorced from Margulies’ father
• Sister: Alexandra Margulies. older
• Sister: Rachel Margulies. older

Significant Others

• Companion: Ron Eldard. met in acting class in 1991

Education

• Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, art history, BA, 1989
• High Mowing School, Wilton, New Hampshire

Milestones

• 1991 Feature film debut, “Out For Justice”
• 1993 TV debut in a guest role, “Law & Order”
• 1994 TV series debut in a regular role as Nurse Carol Hathaway on the NBC medical drama “ER”; won Best Supporting Actress Emmy during the first season; character had committed suicide in the pilot but test audiences responded so well to Hathaway, she was “revived” for the series
• 1994 Had recurring role on the NBC drama “Homicide: Life on the Street”; played a waitress romantically involved with Ned Beatty’s Detective Bolander
• 1997 Returned to features as co-star in “Paradise Road” and “Traveller”
• 1998 Played the love interest of Matthew McConaughey in “The Newton Boys”
• 1999 Starred opposite Ivan Sergei in the festival screened “The Big Day/We Met on the Vineyard”
• 1999 Turned down a reported salary of $27 million over two seasons offered by the producers of “ER” in order to pursue other projects
• 2000 Appeared on the NYC stage in “The Vagina Monologues”
• 2000 Had featured role in the ensemble comedy-drama “What’s Cooking?”; screened at Sundance
• 2000 Voiced Neera, the female companion of an iguanadon in the animated/live-action “Dinosaur”
• 2001 Cast as Morgaine (Morgan LeFay) in the TNT miniseries “The Mists of Avalon”
• 2001 Co-starred with Donald Sutherland in Jon Robin Baitz’s drama “Ten Unknowns”, produced Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center
• 2001 Had featured role in “The Man From Elysian Fields”; screened at Toronto
• 2002 Acted alongside real-life love Ron Eldard in the thriller “Ghost Ship”
• 2002 Co-starred with Pierce Brosnan in “Evelyn”
• 2003 Starred in the CBS’ miniseries “Hitler: The Rise of Evil”
• 2004 Cast as NSA Agent Maya Jackson in the TNT six-hour TNT limited series “The Grid”; received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Mini Series or TV movie
• 2004 Will guest star on NBC’s comedy “Scrubs,” as a malpractice attorney
• 2006 Guest-starred on the HBO mob drama, “The Sopranos” as a real-estate agent
• 2006 Made her Broadway debut in the intense family drama “Festen” with Ali MacGraw and Jeremy Sisto
• Acted in regional theater
• Grew up living in Paris, France, London, England and NYC
• Had early exposure in a McDonald’s commercial