Julie Bowen Luetkemeyer, better known by her stage name Julie Bowen, is an American actress.
She is best known for playing Carol Vessey on Ed, Denise Bauer on Boston Legal, Sarah
Shephard on Lost and Claire Dunphy on the sitcom Modern Family.
The latter earned her four nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting
Actress in a Comedy Series, winning in 2011 and 2012.
Bowen has also appeared in films such as Happy Gilmore, Multiplicity, Venus and Mars, Joe
Somebody, Kids in America, Sex and Death 101, Crazy on the Outside, Jumping the Broom, and
Horrible Bosses.
Early life Bowen was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the
middle of three daughters of Suzanne and John Alexander Luetkemeyer, Jr., a commercial real
estate developer.
She is of English, French, German, Irish, and Scottish descent.
One of her paternal great-great-grandfathers was John V. Le Moyne, a Representative from
Illinois, and one of her great-great-great-grandfathers was Magnus Miller Murray, two-time Mayor of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Raised in suburban Ruxton-Riderwood, Maryland, Bowen first attended Calvert School, then
Garrison Forest School, and also attended St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island.
She studied at Brown University, majoring in Italian Renaissance studies.
She spent her junior year in Florence, Italy.
During college, she had roles in Guys and Dolls, Stage Door, and Lemon Sky.
Before graduating, she had the lead role in the independent film Five Spot Jewel.
Among other places, Bowen studied acting at the Actor's Institute.
Career Bowen had a role in the soap opera Loving
and an episode of the college drama Class of '96.
She had the lead role in the television film Runaway Daughters.
She played the love interest of the title character in Happy Gilmore.
She appeared in the flms Multiplicity and An American Werewolf in Paris.
She has had guest roles on television series such as Party of Five and Strange Luck
Bowen had a recurring role as Roxanne Please on ER.
She first gained prominence on the television series Ed, where she played high school English
teacher Carol Vessey.
She then guest starred as Sarah Shephard in five episodes of Lost.
She also played attorney Denise Bauer on the series Boston Legal, and had a recurring role
on Weeds.
She was a spokesmodel for Neutrogena, most recently advertising the Pure Glow products.
She appeared on an episode of Jeopardy! on August 31, 2010.
Since 2009, Bowen has starred as Claire Dunphy on the ABC sitcom Modern Family.
For her portrayal, she received four consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, winning the award in 2011 and 2012.
Bowen told an interviewer that winning an Emmy Award is more like "German soldiers in
the trenches of the world wars", and that "when you win the award, it is like being
pulled out of the trench".
She also stated that "as exciting and wonderful as it is not to be in the trench, and to be
recognised for what you do, it also means everyone has got a clear shot at you and that
is a very frightening prospect for most of us".
Personal life Bowen's eldest sister, Molly, is an interior
designer who has appeared on Clean Sweep, and her younger sister, Annie, is a doctor
at the University of California, San Francisco in the HIV/AIDS Division.
Bowen has had a pacemaker since her early twenties due to heart problems.
Bowen married Scott Phillips, a real estate investor and software developer, on September
9, 2004.
Their son, Oliver McLanahan Phillips, was born on April 10, 2007.
On May 8, 2009, she gave birth to twins, John and Gustav, with whom she was visibly pregnant
when shooting the pilot for Modern Family.
Filmography Film
Television Web
Awards and nominations Critics' Choice Television Award
2011: Nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – Modern Family
2012: Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – Modern Family
Primetime Emmy Award 2010: Nominated for Outstanding Supporting
Actress in a Comedy Series – Modern Family 2011: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a
Comedy Series – Modern Family 2012: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a
Comedy Series – Modern Family 2013: Nominated for Outstanding Supporting
Actress in a Comedy Series – Modern Family Satellite Award
2009: Nominated for Best Actress in a Television Series – Modern Family
2010: Nominated for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film
– Modern Family Screen Actors Guild Award
2006: Nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series – Boston
Legal 2007: Nominated for Outstanding Performance
by an Ensemble in a Drama Series – Boston Legal
2008: Nominated for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series – Boston
Legal 2009: Nominated for Outstanding Performance
by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series – Weeds 2010: Nominated for Outstanding Performance
by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series – Modern Family
2011: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series – Modern Family
2012: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series – Modern Family
2012: Nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series – Modern
Family 2013: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble
in a Comedy Series – Modern Family 2014: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble
in a Comedy Series – Modern Family 2014: Nominated for Outstanding Performance
by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series – Modern Family
References
External links Julie Bowen at the Internet Movie Database
Julie Bowen at AllMovie