Julia Barr

Julia Barr

Emmy Award-winning actress Julia Barr grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where she caught the acting bug at age 13, and became a star in her hometown. She was acting, singing and dancing in virtually every local production between the Fort Wayne Community Theatre, Civic Theatre, Wagon Wheel Playhouse and Enchanted Hills Playhouse.

She attended Purdue University, where she starred in such productions as Our Town, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Lover, The Killing of Sister George, and Endgame. She soon shuffled off to Buffalo’s Studio Arena Theatre, where she earned her equity card starring in Scapino and in A Girl in My Soup with Van Johnson. Julia then moved to New York and the work never stopped.

In June 1976 she landed the role of All My Children’s Brooke English, and played it until 2006 (except for a 15 month break when she toured with Katharine Hepburn and Dorothy Loudon in the national company of West Side Waltz).  In February 2010, after much audience demand, she returned to the show. 

Her work on All My Children garnered Julia eight Emmy Award nominations (1980, 1981, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001), and she won the trophy both in 1990 and 1998 for “Outstanding Supporting Actress.” In 1990, she also took home a Soap Opera Digest Award for “Best Supporting Actress,” and she received another nomination from the magazine in 2002.

Among her other television credits are Gathering of One, The Adams Chronicles, and Ryan’s Hope. Her film credits include I, the Jury, and her off-Broadway credits include Kerouac.

Julia is committed to balancing her passion for acting with her passion for family: husband Dr. Richard Hirschlag (an oral surgeon, to whom she’s been married since 1982) and their daughter Allison who played “Lizzie Spaulding” on the daytime drama Guiding Light in 2002. The Barr/Hirschlag household also includes two cats and one dog.

Throughout her career, Julia has been dedicated to helping animals. In 2009 she did volunteer hands-on work and direct care for an animal rescue organization in New Jersey called Save The Animal Rescue Team II. Prior, she was a spokesperson for The Fund for Animals (2001 to 2005) until they merged with The Humane Society of the United States in 2005. The Fund was founded in 1967 by author and animal advocate, the late Cleveland Armory. They have spearheaded some of the most significant events in the history of the animal protection movement, working successfully on advocacy campaigns, education, protection and rights. When the two groups merged, Julia continued supporting The Fund through The Humane Society of the United States and continues to help spread the word.

She also spent several years as an active volunteer for The Coalition For the Homeless’ “First Step” program in New York, a job-readiness program for homeless women, for which she was honored in 1996.

Additionally, Julia studies voice, and in September 1996 made a splash singing the National Anthem to a full house at Yankee Stadium. In September 2002, she released her first music CD, a holiday collection of songs, From Our House … To Yours, on which her husband and daughter also sing. Julia and her husband produced the project for which all proceeds went directly to The Fund For Animals.
In addition to singing, acting and charity work, she is committed to staying healthy and in shape with the help of a fitness trainer and strict exercise program.

Julia Barr Official Website