A petite, dark-haired sitcom actress who has bounced around numerous shows, Julia Campbell was born an army brat and traveled and lived around the world during her youth. She was dancing and studying ballet by age four, but, while living in Turkey, was diagnosed with scoliosis at age 11. After wearing back braces and having an operation, Campbell was told she would never be able to dance professionally and switched to drama. Her first break came after college when ABC paid her way to New York and put her in the daytime drama "Ryan's Hope", although the show was soon canceled due to declining ratings. Campbell moved to Los Angeles and landed the role of a rich girl who was mistakenly behind bars on "Women in Prison" (Fox, 1988), her first sitcom. She returned to daytime with a regular role on the NBC soap "Santa Barbara" (1988). The following year, it was back to primetime in the summer comedy "Knight & Daye" (NBC, 1989). After making guest shots, Campbell had the recurring role of the hero's girlfriend in "Herman's Head" (Fox, 1991), was a beautician infatuated with Robert Hays on "Cutters" (CBS, 1993), and the savvy 90s woman partnered with two fledglings in "Blue Skies" (ABC, 1993). When the latter failed, the network put her in "A Whole New Ballgame" as leading lady to Corbin Bernsen, but that too flopped. Hoping for some stability, she signed on as Cherie, the neighbor to the "Men Behaving Badly" (NBC, 1996), but left soon after the series began airing.
Her feature career has been slow to start. She debuted in "Body Count" (1988), and was leading lady to Dana Carvey in the misfire "Opportunity Knocks" (1990). More recently, Campbell was Christy, the bitchily acidic nemesis to Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino, in "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" (1997).
Profession(s):
Actor, ballet dancer
Sometimes Credited As:
Los Angeles Drama Critics Award Lead Performance "Bitter Women" 2000
2001 Starred in L.A. production of "Betrayal" with Eric Stoltz
2000 Cast in supporting role in "Bounce"
1998 - 1999 Played recurring role as an assistant district attorney in "The Practice"
1997 Had featured role in "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion"
1996 Cast as neighbor on the NBC sitcom "Men Behaving Badly"
1995 Played opposite Corbin Bernsen on "A Whole New Ballgame" (ABC)
1993 Starred on the CBS sitcom "Cutters"
1993 Was regular cast member of "Blue Skies" (ABC)
1990 Co-starred in feature "Opportunity Knocks"
1989 Had small regular role on "Knight & Daye" (NBC)
1988 Made film debut in "Body Count"
1988 Was regular on the short-lived Fox sitcom "Women in Prison"
1988 Had regular role of Courtney Capwell on the NBC soap opera "Santa Barbara"
1984 After college, put under contract by ABC; network cast her on the daytime drama "Ryan's Hope"
1974 At age 11, developed scoliosis (date approximate)
1967 At age 4, began taking ballet lessons (date approximate)
Moved with family around the world, living in Virginia, Alaska, Greece, Germany and Turkey, among other places
As a child, danced with American Ballet Theater and Turkish American Ballet
Began acting as a teenager
