Julianna Margulies: Jewess or Just Jew-ish?
By Debra Nussbaum Cohen February 7, 2010
My current favorite (Jewish) actress is Julianna Margulies, whose return to the small screen as Alicia Florrick in “The Good Wife” has re-introduced her to the American viewing public.
I’ve been thinking she’s Jewish but this Web site claims that she was raised Catholic.
Say it ain’t so! (It’s all part of my irrational pride in any Jew who does good or does well.)
In any case, Margulies has begun collecting awards (Golden Globe) and nominations for awards (Screen Actors Guild) for her performance as the estranged wife of a high-profile state attorney (played by Chris Noth), who screwed around on her and is in prison after having been convicted of political corruption.
It’s all very of the moment, reportedly inspired by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s fall from grace two years ago. But Margulies’ character seems even more closely modeled on Jenny Sanford, on-her-way-to-being-ex-wife of former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who is emerging from her husband’s scandalous affair, with a future of her own, starting with a new memoir.
“The Good Wife” is a legal drama but I think the best part is watching Margulies, who plays a new associate at a glossy Chicago law firm, all taut chic in stylish suits and heels. She does a good job of communicating without words that she’s working hard to keep roiling emotions from spilling out – especially when she’s meeting with her imprisoned ex or being archly labeled as his wife by a judge or another lawyer.
Margulies became famous as neurotic Nurse Carole Hathaway (and George Clooney love interest) as part of the original cast of ER. She also played a hasidic woman, “Rachel” in the 1996 film “A Price Above Rubies.”
In real life, Margulies married Keith Lieberthal, whom I presume on account of his last name to be a Member of the Tribe, and two years ago gave birth to their son, Kieran Lindsay Lieberthal.
Here’s doyenne of dish Liz Smith talking about the first time she met Margulies — when she was waiting tables at a downtown restaurant and waited on Smith and Julia Roberts.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
