Julianne Moore Facts: Celebrities Who Started On Soaps

Julianne Moore is an Academy-Award-winning actress who has appeared in everything from Boogie Nights, to The Kids Are All Right, to Crazy Stupid Love. Along with her work in commercially successful films, Moore has also worked in television and independent movies.

She has had such a successful career, and it all started on soaps. From where she was born and raised to being nominated for an Oscar twice in one year, here are five fast facts about the actress.

Who Is Julianne Moore?

Moore was born on December 3 in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as her father was in the Army. Moore grew up all over the country because of his service, but they also lived in Germany. Born Julie Ann Smith, she had to change her name when she registered with the Actors Guild, so the future star combined her first and middle name and used her father’s middle name as her last.

Soap Beginnings
After graduating from Boston University, Moore moved to New York City to pursue her acting career. Her first onscreen role was in a short arc as Carmen Engler on Edge of the Night and a day as a stewardess on Another World. But she made her mark on As the World Turns as half-sisters/cousins Frannie and Sabrina Hughes, winning a Daytime Emmy for her work. She let the show in the late 1980s but returned for an appearance before the show was cancelled in 2010, shocking and thrilling fans.

Double Threat
Moore is just one of a small group of actors — including Jessica Lange, Al Pacino, Holly Hunter, Emma Thompson, Jamie Foxx, and Cate Blanchett — to receive two Academy Award nominations in the same year. In 2003, she was nominated for Best Actress for Far From Heaven and then Best Supporting Actress for The Hours but she didn’t win until 2015 in the Best Actress category for Still Alice.

Better Late Than Never

Though she started acting in her 20s, Moore actually didn’t learn to swim until she was 26. She also didn’t learn how to drive until she was 27, and she didn’t appear in her first feature film until she was 30.

Getting Personal With Julianne Moore
Moore first married stage director John Gould Ruin in 1986, but the couple split in 1993. She then started dating director Bart Freundlick in 1996 and the couple had their first son, Caleb, in December 1997. She then welcomed their second child, daughter Liv, in April 2002. The couple got married in August 2003.