After six seasons, Julianna quit "ER," saying she "left Carol Hathaway in the best scenerio possible, I can't imagine making it any better."
She stunned the entertainment industry by turning down a two-year, $27 million contract extension.
"I've never made a monetary decision in my life," she explained to TimeOut Chicago on why she left "ER." "As much as I love making money, if it isn't feeding you spiritually and artistically, it isn't worth it.
"I called my father. 'Oh my God, I'm on every talk show, they're being so mean: "Who does this girl think she is turning down that money?"
"My dad said, 'Honey, you just turned down the American dream. What everyone's saying is what would they do, and not many people would say no to that kind of money.'"
Classic TV Beauties 1990s Countdown
JULIANNA MARGULIES as Carol Hathaway in "ER"
Carol was the character they couldn't kill off. Originally written as a suicide-attempt victim for a one-time appearance in the pilot, the emergency room nurse manager instead survived a drug overdose -- and because the producers were impressed with Julianna's acting -- went on to become one of the decade's most memorable TV characters.
After shooting her scenes for the "ER" pilot in 1994, Julianna left Hollywood and returned to Baltimore to resume work on her recurring role in the TV series "Homocide: Life on the Street" when she got a phone call.
"I had no idea I was coming back," she told the LA Times years later. "At one point George Clooney called me and said, 'I think you are going to live.' And I was on the show for six seasons."
Today the stylish, forty-something beauty is the star of "The Good Wife," and she serves as the L'Oreal Paris spokeswoman for beauty products.
In "ER's" pilot, Julianna's character Carol overdosed on barbiturates because she was despondent over a failed a relationship with Dr. Doug Ross (Clooney). After recovering from the suicide attempt, Carol became one of the main characters of the show.
Julianna described Carol as "strong and controlling and that's why she's good at her job. She has a dry sense of humor and a very dark side to her that she doesn't wear on her sleeve. She's very compassionate, even if she's dealing with her own demons."
Julianna captured an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress her first season on "ER," and was nominated for an Emmy all six seasons. She was also nominated for Screen Actor Guild Awards four times, winning once (1999), and was nominated for a Golden Globe four times.
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Born in Spring Valley, NY to a ballet dancer mother and a writer father, Julianna has often been mistaken as Italian or Greek, but she is Jewish and her family descended from Austria, Hungary and Romania.
"It was my mom's attitude that gave me my own outlook on life," she told Redbook magazine. "I learned from her to look at the glass as half full. Even in the hardest situations, my mother would tell us, 'If we can't bear it, we'll go home.'
"And the challenge of making it work became far more interesting than giving up and admitting defeat."
She never considered acting as a career until she took a theater course at Sarah Lawrence College.
"It opened my eyes to a whole new world," she said. "I auditioned for a David Rabe play, 'In the Boom Boom Room,' and was smitten when I got the part."
Julianna said playing Alicia is a huge challenge because the character is so different from her own personality.
"I'm not saying I'm a crazy sexual person, but she's such a repressed WASP," she told Cummings. "I think the beautiful part of this journey she is on as a woman is that now she's finding out who she is through her work and also discovering what sexy is to her."
Alicia is loosely based on Silda Spitzer, wife of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who was forced to resign after he was caught in a very public prostitution scandal.
"Personally, I don't know how you could" bounce back from a cheating husband, Julianna said in the Harpers Bazaar article. "It's not just hearing about your husband cheating or being with hookers. She's seen it on YouTube, she's seen the woman.
"Alicia is very measured. She thinks before she speaks, and I am much more reactionary," Julianna said. "I would never give up my career for my husband as she has done."
After graduating from Sarah Lawrence, Julianna decided to give acting a shot but with a caveat: She told herself that if she didn't make by age 25 then she would give it up.
"I would have gone to law school or gotten a psychology degree. I wasn't interested in sleeping on a futon forever. And what happened is I walked into auditions, and I had nothing to lose, because I had a backup plan."
Before "ER," Julianna played a prostitute in the Steven Segal movie "Out For Justice," and appeared in one episode each of "Murder: She Wrote" and "Law & Order." She was working on "Homocide" when her big break came; she said she auditioned for "ER" on a "whim."
One of the most influential series of the 1990s, "ER" garnered a No. 1 or No. 2 rating its first five seasons, and was a Top 10 show in all of its first 10 seasons. It aired for 15 seasons (331 episodes), making it the longest running primetime medical drama in TV history. "ER" racked up 116 awards, including a Peabody Award for distingushed public service.
Julianna could thank film giant Steven Spielberg for making her a star in "ER." Although he was involved with the series as a producer and director for only one season, Spielberg made one key decision: He allowed Carol Hathaway to live.
Julianna returned to TV in 2009 and found success playing Alicia Florrick in "The Good Wife." As the embattled wife of a Chicago state attorney jailed following a sex and corruption scandal, Julianna has won a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and she's been nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series every season.
"The Good Wife" executive producer Ridley Scott said of Julianna in a 2010 interview with W magazine, "There's an honesty to her; there are no tricks. You always feel that what she's delivering is real and straight from the shoulder and that's who she is in real life.
"She appears compassionate, like someone you'd ask for advice."
"Good Wife" Co-star Alan Cummings, in an article he wrote on Julianna for Harper's Bazaar, recalled meeting her for the first time: "My first real memory of Julianna is of a post theater night out in New York... I recall a warm, open, sparkly-eyed, earthy woman, her curly locks spilling around her face, who was laughing, laughing, laughing."
As the star of "The Good Wife," Julianna said she feels the burden of carrying the show
"When I was on 'ER,' I didn't feel like it was all on my shoulders, whereas if the 'Good Wife' isn't there, there's no 'The Good Wife,'" she said in a www.tvline.com interview. "Also, I'm part of the process. The producers never do anything or hire anyone without asking me."
During the nine year period between "ER" and "The Good Wife," Julianna accepted jobs that artistically fulfilled her.
"The day I left 'ER' I flew straight to Prague making a ridiculous sum of money doing a mini-series for TNT," she told TimeOut Chicago. "I did a play off Broadway, did two independent films. For me, I was living the dream.
"I wanted to get home to New York and my family and to be professionally fulfilled again. I made independent movies that I'm sure no one will ever see but I loved the work."
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Juliana had a memorable four-episode stint in "The Sopranos" as a sexy real estate agent who tempts Tony Soprano. Her most notable films included "The Man from Elysian Fields" (2002) and "Snakes on a Plane" (2006). In "City Island" (2009), Julianna enjoyed playing a mother in a dysfunctional family.
"I know a lot of actresses who turned down Joyce Rizzo because she was the mother of a 20-year-old," she said. "Why would I turn down a great role? I think you have to go with a role because it's good, not because of what it says about your age."
Co-star Andy Garcia, who also worked with Julianna in "Elysian Fields," praised her work, saying, "As an actress she's extraordinarily flexible. She can do anything -- dialects, Shakespeare."
