Julianne Moore has a knack for playing intricately layered characters. The actor has appeared in several independent films and blockbusters over the course of her career, winning an Academy Award, two Emmys, two Golden Globes, and a BAFTA.
Moore won her Daytime Emmy for her work in “As the World Turns,” after which she made her breakthrough with Robert Altman’s 1993 comedy-drama “Short Cuts.” She went on to star in films such as “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “Boogie Nights,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Magnolia,” and “Children of Men,” among others. The actor’s contribution to film alone is staggering, including her recent roles in “Dear Evan Hansen,” “The Debut,” and “May December.”
On the TV front, Moore is best known for “I’ll Take Manhattan,” “30 Rock,” “Lisey’s Story,” and “Sirens.” She won her second Emmy for playing Sarah Palin in the HBO TV movie “Game Change.”
Moore brings depth and conviction to every role she plays across various modes of storytelling, which is why she is today’s quote of the day.
Quote of the Day by Julianne Moore
“I actually think empathy is the most important quality. You have to try and figure out how people are feeling. Whenever I am doing research, that’s always the big question. If I can ask somebody, ‘Tell me what it feels like.’ I am interested in that. That’s one of the great things about being an actor is that we get to dive into that stuff.”
The above quote is from Julianne Moore’s 2016 interview with The Talks. When asked whether “the ability to focus” was a key skill for an actor to have, Moore stated that empathy is the most important quality. Although Moore said it is integral for every actor to be “aware of what [they] are doing and where the cameras are,” radical empathy allows them to seamlessly slip into fundamentally distinct roles.
Deeper meaning of Julianne Moore’s quote — be empathetic
Julianne Moore went on to explain how her role in “Freeheld” related to her view on empathy and how she tapped into the mindset of the lead.
“I played Laurel Hester, a detective who is dying of cancer and who is denied the right to leave her pension benefits to her partner, Stacie Andree,” she explained.
“You’re trying to represent someone,” Moore continued, highlighting Stacie’s real generosity and how it was “very emotional” to be entrusted with the responsibility of bringing that to life on screen. Such visceral immersion is only possible through empathy, which leads actors to be curious about a character’s motivations, and the decisions they’ve made in the story.
Moore clarified that empathy for a character can only be extended if they exist substantially in the script.
“They have to be on the page … But if there’s nothing there, I can’t make it up,” Moore said. “I am very much driven by language and story.”
More quotes from Julianne Moore
- “We are given a narrative as children that we keep growing through school, maybe go to college then, after school is finished, the idea of growth is done. But we have all this life left to live. How do we continue to challenge ourselves, to interest ourselves, learn new things, be more helpful to other people, be the person that your friends and family need or want? How do we continue to evolve? How do we navigate life to have even deeper experiences?” — from an interview with As If Magazine (via IndieWire)
- “Not many of us go to the moon, you know? We are not astronauts. There aren’t that many kings and queens. So I’m interested in the drama of everyday life — the lady next to me on the subway, or the family drama we’ve all witnessed.” — from a 2025 interview with Cultured Mag
- “I don’t have any other experience, so I don’t know if I would be different, but I do know it’s not unusual for actors to have kind of peripatetic upbringings. It’s obviously something that affects this idea of how to fit in. Behavior is not character. You can change behavior. You can change how you speak, the way you move, the way you dress; that doesn’t mean that’s who you are.” — from a 2026 interview with Harper’s Bazaar
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