Julie Carmen

About Julie Carmen

Born and trained in New York City, Julie Carmen began her acting career off-off-Broadway, dancing on Broadway in 'Zoot Suit,' but her film career was launched playing the Puerto Rican mother in John Cassavetes' 'Gloria' opposite Gena Rowlands. Julie studied extensively with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse, with Uta Hagen at HB Studio and more recently with Patsy Rodenburg. Julie joined the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in the class of 2016. She 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.' Julie sat on the Board of Directors of IFP/West Film Independent for six years during which time Julie suggested the creation of the John Cassavetes Award, since she just finished acting in Cassavetes' film 'Gloria' and wanted to encourage filmmakers who embraced Cassavetes' experiential style of story telling. Carmen Zapata invited Julie to sit on the Board of Directors of Women in Film for four years as a way to ensure there would always be at least one Latina on the Board.Julie is extremely grateful to have co-starred in films for John Cassavetes, Michael Mann (I), Robert Redford (I), John Carpenter (I), 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 (I), Betty Thomas (I), David Milch, Paris Barclay 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 slaves; 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 works part-time as a licensed marriage and family therapist and certified yoga therapist. Her great-grandfather, Jose Manuel (Lico) Jimenez, was a famous classical pianist from Trinidad, Cuba who emigrated to Germany to perform and ended up staying to be Director of Composition at Hamburg Music Conservatory. He is credited for bringing German Lied music back to his home country, Cuba. He won the Franz Liszt Award in Paris. Julie grew up with her great aunt who played Titania in Max Reinhard's Midsummer Night's Dream in Berlin and her twin sister, Julie's grandmother, an obstetric nurse. Julie's mom is a retired high school Spanish and German teacher and her dad was a prolific poet who worked as a paper salesman. Julie's only brother is a public health physician, epidemiologist and occupational medicine doctor in Manhattan. Her godmother, blacklisted character actress Lily Valenty, introduced Julie to her first agent, Walter Kohner who immediately booked her as female lead in two European films for Filmverlaug in Berlin. Julie stayed in Europe to star in Basque director, Alfonso Ungria's film Africa.As a teenager, Julie worked as the resident choreographer at INTAR Theater in Manhattan when it was under the artistic direction of Cuban-American Max Ferra, choreographing the plays, 'Yoruba', 'Espetaculo Valle Inclan' and 'The Shoemaker's Prodigious Wi...

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