Julie Carmen was born and trained in New York City. She began her acting career off-off-Broadway and danced on Broadway in 'Zoot Suit'. Her film career was launched when she played the Puerto Rican mother in John Cassavetes' 'Gloria' opposite Gena Rowlands.
Julie studied extensively with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse, Uta Hagen at HB Studio, and more recently with Patsy Rodenburg and Sara Mornell. She joined the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in the class of 2016.
Julie was inducted into the New Mexico Film and Television Hall of Fame in 2018 for her iconic Southwestern roles in 'Milagro Beanfield War' and Gore Vidal's 'Billy the Kid'. She sat on the Board of Directors of IFP/West Film Independent for six years and suggested the creation of the John Cassavetes Award.
Julie co-starred in films for John Cassavetes, Michael Mann, Robert Redford, John Carpenter, Nicolas Roeg, William A. Graham, Seth Zvi Rosenfeld, Franc Reyes, Tommy Lee Wallace, Carl Schultz, Dan Petrie, Jr., Michael Olmos, Tom Dolby, Tom Williams, and on television for Karen Arthur, Betty Thomas, David Milch, Paris Barclay, Debbie Allen, Deborah Kampmeier, and Quentin Tarantino.
Julie is known for her ageless chameleon qualities, effortlessly shape shifting into extremely diverse roles. She played Angelina Jolie's elegant plantation owner mother, fighting to free their enslaved workers; she's often remembered as sexually-insatiable environmental revolutionary Nina in the HBO series Dream On; John Leguizamo's lesbian freedom-fighting mother; the existential book editor opposite Sam Neill in John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness; but her favorite incarnation was Regine Dandridge in the horror cult classic Fright Night Part Two.
Julie holds a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology and worked for 20 years part-time as a licensed marriage and family therapist and certified yoga therapist.
