As a result of someone already being registered with her birth name Julie Anne Smith; Julianne Moore had to combine her first two names and use her father’s middle name as her surname when she registered with the Actor’s Guild. “It started when I was a kid. I moved frequently because my dad was in the army so I was always new in school. I think it’s a good experience for everyone to have, to feel like they’re not noticed because it teaches you to be empathetic.” She adds, “life teaches you that behavior is not concrete. When you move around a lot, you learn that behavior is mutable. I would change, depending on where I was. It teaches you to watch, to reinvent, that character can change.” Julianne dreamt of becoming an actress: “I thought I was going to be a stage actress. One of the pathetic, secret parts of my personality is I love musical theater. I did that in high school but not very well. When I started out, I was cast on a soap opera, As the World Turns, as a quintessential good girl. I did that for a while and then they created the role of my evil, selfish half-sister/cousin. I played that too. They immediately thought of me as dark.” Indeed, Julianne fell into the attractive actress’ trap of the mid-1980’s: TV soaps and miniseries where she appeared briefly in the daytime serial The Edge of Night, followed by the dual-roles of two half-sisters Frannie and Sabrina on the soap As the World Turns. Keep in mind, these roles were a sharp contrast to her formal training at Boston University’s School of the Performing Arts and in New York theater. Julianne finally entered the big screen as a mummy’s victim in the 1990’s Tales from the Darkside: The Movie. Several supporting roles led to more powerful roles, such as Harrison Ford’s colleague in The Fugitive – her performance made an impression on Steven Spielberg, who cast her alongside Jeff Goldblum in the Jurassic Park sequel without requiring an audition. Julianne’s resume is composed of a myriad of roles. And with every single one of my characters, I have to find something that I really understand and ultimately believe.” There are some things that you can change, but unfortunately you’re always left with the same face.” People tell stories about themselves with their clothing, their hair, with the way they move and the way they present themselves. I learned that when I was young. I was always on the lookout for clues. And there are a lot of clues in how people dress.” Even though Julianne does not have a favorite on-screen role, she does have a favorite offscreen role as Caleb’s and Liv’s mom: «It is the most wonderful experience of your life. It deepens absolutely everything. You have a greater understanding of things, so in a way it is a gift. For me it has made everything much better. I´m so happy; I am extremely fortunate. My family life is incredibly important to me. I want to be with them as much as I can. I try to work in New York, or I work in the summer time when my family can come with me. The days of me doing a big film where I need to be away for months during the school year are over. It doesn´t seem to affect the roles I get. That´s the reality of my life so I don´t think about it too much.»
