Julianne Moore

Biography

Well, she's certainly hard to ignore. Having made 24 movies in the Nineties, Julianne Moore was that decade's 11th Busiest Actor, alongside Robert De Niro (though still miles behind Samuel L. Jackson, with 36). And she's set to improve upon her placing over the next 10 years. But Moore is not just about quantity. Inhabiting her characters rather than simply Being A Star, she's become the equal of such recent luminaries as Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange and, yes, even Meryl Streep. Her directors agree. Andre Gregory said she possessed "the sensuality and urgency of a young Joan Crawford, but with more depth, more contradictions", while Louis Malle said she reminded him of Jeanne Moreau. High praise, well deserved.

She was born Julie Smith in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on the 3rd of December, 1960. Her father, Peter, was a judge in the US Army's Judge Advocate General Corps. Her mother, Ann, was his childhood sweetheart - a Scot who'd become a psychiatric social worker. Peter's work took them to Army bases all over. They lived in Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Virginia, New Jersey, Nebraska, New York, Juneau in Alaska (between 1971 and 72), then Panama and Germany - two dozen locations around the globe (Moore claims it's made her more adaptable). In her early school years, Julie, the oldest of three children, was skinny, with spectacles. "I was a complete geek", she says. "You know, there's always the kid who's too short, the kid who wears glasses, the kid who's not athletic. Well, I was all three".