She appeared briefly in the daytime serial "The Edge of Night" (1956) and from 1985 to 1988 she played two half-sisters Frannie and Sabrina on the soap "As the World Turns" (1956). She made her entrance into the big screen with 1990's Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990). Two years later, Julianne appeared in feature films with supporting parts in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) and the comedy The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992). She kept winning better and more powerful roles as time went on, including a small but memorable role as Harrison Ford's colleague in The Fugitive (1993). Following films included Assassins (1995) and Surviving Picasso (1996). A year later, after co-starring in Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), opposite Jeff Goldblum, a young and unknown director, Paul Thomas Anderson asked Julianne to appear in his movie, Boogie Nights (1997). Julianne started 1998 by playing an erotic artist in The Big Lebowski (1998), continued with a small role in the social comedy Chicago Cab (1998) and ended with a subtle performance in Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho (1960).