Julianna Margulies

At 58 years old, Julianna Margulies has this physical status:

Career

Margulies made her debut in Steven Seagal's action film Out for Justice (1991), portraying a sex worker. Margulies appeared in the pilot episode of the NBC medical drama ER as Carol Hathaway, an emergency care nurse who attempted suicide in 1994. Her character was originally intended to die; however, test audiences were overwhelmingly keen for her to live, so the producers changed the script and made Carol Hathaway a principal cast member.

Margulies had also been given a broader role on NBC's Homicide: Life on the Streets earlier this year, after a two-episode appearance earlier this year. George Clooney, the then-unknown actor who had shot Margulies' pilot episode, told her that he had overheard producers and that her character would survive the suicide attempt after all and become a series regular. She was urged to call ER producers rather than take another career. Clooney was correct, and Margulies accepted the position as ER in 1994.

She appeared on the program for six seasons before 2000 and then returned to the show for one episode during the final season in 2009. In 1994, she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and she has been nominated for an Emmy Award every year during her time on ER. She was the first regular cast member to receive a Primetime Emmy Award. During the show's tenure, she was also nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award.

Margulies had signed a five-year deal to work on ER. She lasted on the job for a sixth year, but she made the "very difficult, painful decision" not to renew for a sixth year. After six years filming the series in Los Angeles, she revealed in her book, Sunshine Girl, that she had been getting homesick for New York. She wanted to return to theater and play a leading role in The Mists of Avalon, a miniseries based on a childhood favorite.

"I thought, didn't I work six years on a show I loved, I was so grateful, and it was a joy to do theatre for two weeks without worrying about my rent," Margulies said in 2021.

Margulies discussed in a New York Times interview with Bill Carter that another deciding factor in her decision was a desire to shield her ER name, Carol Hathaway, from certain story changes that were happening as the show continued on into later years. She explained that she didn't like how her character became the object of so much romance when she wasn't with George Clooney's story, and that all of her research into her character was later undone by specific storylines.

Margulies recalled, "I'll never forget," [my character] says, "I was going to share a bathroom with seven sisters." I was beginning to feel sorry for a character that I adored so much. Without George, my character was just going to be the link to flashy bits of stuff, rather than one fluent, cognizant thought and I felt sad about it."

Margulies would have made her one of the highest paid women on television if she had accepted the $27 million deal for a seventh and eighth years of ER. In 2021, the actress said she received a lot of flak over her decision to leave the hospital but that she was "doing what fed me." "I'm still keeping my promises to playwrights and directors that I'd already committed to."

Margulies had previously spoken out against her decision in 2012. She confirmed that although most believed it would be "career suicide" not to return to the medical drama, she was not worried about the consequences:

"I felt like I had a great character and I did as well as I could do with her," she continued in an interview with TV Guide. I wasn't excited about the project, and I certainly didn't want to go out with a bomb, but as an inspiration."

Margulies hosted an episode of the NBC late-night sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live in February 2000. For one of the show's sketches, she brought on ER co-star Noah Wyle.

Margulies worked on stage and film after leaving ER as a series regular. She appeared on stage in Intrigue With Faye, a Lincoln Center production of Jon Robin Baitz's Ten Unknowns, and The Valiant Monologues.

Evelyn, Pierce Brosnan, and Ghost Ship with Gabriel Byrne and Ron Eldard were among the 2002 films she made after ER. Morgaine, the protagonist and narrator of the TNT miniseries The Mists of Avalon (2001), was a student of Debra Winger (2002), and she appeared in the documentary film Searching.

Neena Broderick, an unscrupulous lawyer who sues Turk and has a brief sexual relationship with J.D. in 2004, she appeared in a two-episode arc in season four of the hit NBC comedy series Scrubs as Neena Broderick, an unscrupulous prosecutor who sues Turk and has a brief sexual encounter with J.D. She appeared in another miniseries on TNT, The Grid, the same year. In April 2006, she appeared in four episodes of the HBO crime drama series The Sopranos, starring realtor Julianna Skiff. Claire Miller, a flight attendant, appeared alongside Samuel L. Jackson in the action film Snakes on a Plane in August 2006. Jennifer Bloom appeared in the Syfy Channel miniseries The Lost Room in December 2006.

Margulies said she was close to receiving an invitation to return to ER for a four-episode arc with Noah Wyle, who filmed in Hawaii during the 2005/06 season. However, she decided against it at the last minute. "I left on very positive terms with [ER executive producer] John Wells, and every year they call me back and I love that they do," she told TV Guide in 2006. "I went, 'John, thank you and keep asking, because you never know, but no one knows."

Margulies was able to return during the ER's last season. The actress moaned over leaving Carol Hathaway in the right mood and couldn't imagine improving her departure episode, but Margulies returned to ER for one more episode during its 15th and final season.

In a 2013 interview, she said, "I called George up and said, 'If you do it, I'll do it.' We were all aware we had jobs because of that show, and we loved the characters." I remember walking into the Warner Brothers lot and asking for my ID. I used to have my picture on the wall. It was a little weird, but it was a wonderful way to come full circle."

Margulies appeared in The Darwin Awards (2007), a minor role. Margulies appeared in the legal drama Canterbury's Law, a Fox mid-season replacement program. Elizabeth Canterbury, a lawyer, was the title character in this story. She was also credited as the show's producer. The Writers Guild of America's 2007-2008 writers Guild of America strike was devastating to the series; it was cancelled by the network after only six episodes.

Margulies began appearing in the CBS legal drama series The Good Wife in 2009, after returning to ER for one episode during its 15th and final season. After her husband Peter Florrick (played by Chris Noth) resigned as Illinois State Attorney in the middle of a sex and corruption scandal, she played Alicia Florrick, an attorney returning to legal proceedings. For the series, she received two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Margulies was credited as a producer of The Good Wife starting in 2011 with the third season. In May 2016, the series came to an end.

Margulies said in a 2019 interview with Margulies about her appearances on The Good Wife and as Carol on ER, "I have gotten to play two of the most memorable female characters on television."

Since 2013, the actress has appeared on a Chase credit card commercial. Margulies narrated "Women in Business," an episode of season 2 of the documentary series Makers: Women Who Make America, in 2014. Margulies was named as one of the world's Most Influential People in 2015 by TIME. It stated that her attempts to get Erin's Law, which is concerned about child sexual abuse, into every US territory.

Margulies co-starred in the dark comedy series Dietland on AMC in 2018. Kitty Montgomery, a notorious, razor-thin fashionista who employs an overweight woman for menial duties and enjoys torturing her regularly (especially over her weight). Despite positive feedback, the series was cancelled after one season.

Margulies appeared in the National Geographic series The Hot Zone as Dr. Nancy Jaax, a US Army scientist, and ACVP, trying to prevent a deadly outbreak of Ebola. The limited series saw good ratings for the Disney-owned cable network, increasing to the highest-rated scripted series in National Geographic's history and ranked second in the highest-rated series of all series.

Margulies was supposed to reprise Alicia Florrick's role in three episodes of The Good Fight, a spin-off of The Good Wife, in 2019. However, talks over Margulies' salary collapsed, with CBS promising to pay her at the guest star rate rather than the same rate she had been earning on The Good Wife. "I watch the show; I love the show," she said. But I'm not a guest star. You don't pay me a guest-star salary. If I went to SVU, I would get a guest-star salary—it's not my show. I would not ask for what I was paid as Alicia Florrick because I was Alicia Florrick. I also know for a fact that any male celebrity who was requesting to attend a spinoff of his show would have been offered at least $500,000. I know that for a fact."

Margulies guest appeared in Billions, the showtime drama series. Catherine Brant, who is described as an Ivy League sociology professor and best-selling author, appeared on a variety of television shows.

Margulies appeared in the second season of AppleTV+ drama series The Morning Show as Laura Peterson, an anchor at UBA News. Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon appeared in a recent series.

Margulies appeared in 2021 with many of her former ER cast members in a virtual cast reunion exhibition that benefitted the Waterkeeper Alliance charity.

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