Julie Bowen

Julie Bowen is an American television and film actress born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1970. She is best known for playing Claire Dunphy, the organised and sharp-tongued mother at the centre of the ABC mockumentary-style sitcom Modern Family, a role she held from 2009 to 2020 and that earned her six consecutive Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, with wins in 2011 and 2012. Before that she built a career through screen roles including the teacher Carol Vessey in Ed, the attorney Denise Bauer in Boston Legal and a recurring part in Lost, after early film appearances such as the love interest in Happy Gilmore. She studied at Brown University and later moved into production, with her company Bowen and Sons signing a first-look deal at Universal Television in 2021.