‘My mishpacha’

Actress, producer, and author Julianna Margulies loves to get to Chicago when she can. You could say she’s an expert on our Windy City at this point, having starred in two long-running TV dramas that both took place in our city– ER and The Good Wife

Margulies currently appears as veteran journalist Laura Peterson in Apple TV+’s The Morning Show. She also recently published a revealing memoir called Sunshine Girl: An Unexpected Life, shedding light on her nomadic childhood.

The star–of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage–visited Chicago on May 25 to headline the JUF Women’s Philanthropy Spring Event 2022. Spring Event, this year held at the Chicago History Museum, was back in person for the first time since 2019. The Event was co-chaired by Amy Lowenstein, Women’s Board, and Jennifer Wintroub Stoller, Young Women’s Board, who also moderated a conversation with Margulies. The star peppered her remarks with Jewish and Yiddish references, early on in their exchange exclaiming to the crowd, ” My mishpacha !”

Before coming to town, Margulies sat down for an email interview with Jewish Chicago , in which she talked about her onscreen roles, motherhood, and the Jewish home she has made with her husband and son.

Jewish Chicago: You have said that you weren’t raised Jewishly, but adapted Jewish traditions later in life. Which ones?

Julianna Margulies: My husband and I try to do Shabbat on Friday nights with our son–we love the tradition of saying goodbye to the work week and bringing in the weekend together. We fast on Yom Kippur, and [also] make it a tradition to have a Seder and invite as many people as we can.

Q. Mazel tov on your son’s bar mitzvah! Did you celebrate virtually or in person?

A. He turned 13 during the COVID lockdown and we had been to so many bar and bat mitzvahs on Zoom that he told us he would rather wait until he could do it in person. We celebrated five months later with all of his closest friends and relatives. We were outside on a rooftop in New York City and it was just perfect. He did a great job reading the Torah.

Q. How does being Jewish inform your worldview?

A. I was [recently] shocked to find out only 19 out of 50 states in America teach about the Holocaust. It moved me to get more active…Being Jewish makes me feel obligated to protect the memory of the victims of the Holocaust and to shed light on what it means to truly hate. I’m not a very religious person, but I belong to the Jewish people and that gives me a tremendous sense of responsibility.

Q. Tell us about your relationship with Chicago, considering both ER and The Good Wife were set here.

Isn’t that nuts? Two shows both based in Chicago? I love this city and one of the things I always do when I come back here is go to whatever Steppenwolf production is playing.

Q. I’m sure it’s like picking a favorite child, but who has been your favorite character to play?

Each of those characters resonated with me because of the age I was when I played them. I miss Alicia–I loved how she answered or chose not to answer questions and I loved her resolve. Laura is a character I am still exploring. And Carol will always be so deeply imbedded in my heart, and I owe her my career.

Q. How did becoming a mother change you?

The day he was born I no longer came first in my life. It’s humbling and scary at times because you never know if you are doing the right thing, doing too much, too little. I’m a Jewish mother so I’m always worried about something.

Q. What’s the biggest lesson your childhood has taught you about being a parent yourself?

Oh boy, it’s taught me so much, and I’m still learning…I want for Kieran to always feel like he has a community around him. I want for him to have stability in his home. I think the reason I waited so long to get married and have a child was that I didn’t want to make the same mistakes my parents made. I want for his life to feel safe.

Q. What will you carry with you from COVID times?

I always knew how lucky I was, but during the pandemic I must have said that a thousand times a day. We hunkered down in our house in upstate New York, and we had food on the table and a roof over our heads. I have an incredible husband who I am madly in love with and a son who actually enjoyed going to Zoom school. I felt so grateful to have my family around me and not to be scared and alone. I kept telling myself I would never forget that slowing down is important when the world started back up again, and I have to remind myself of that every day now.