Julie Bowen Luetkemeyer, better known by her stage name Julie Bowen, is an American actress. She is best known for playing Carol Vessey on Ed (2000–04), Denise Bauer on Boston Legal (2005–07), and Claire Dunphy on the sitcom Modern Family (2009–present).
Background
Ethnicity:
She is of English, French, German, Irish, and Scottish descent.
Bowen was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the middle of three daughters of Suzanne (née Frey) and John Alexander Luetkemeyer, Jr., a commercial real estate developer.
Bowen's older sister, Molly, is an interior designer who has appeared on Clean Sweep, and her younger sister, Annie, is a doctor at the University of California, San Francisco in the HIV/AIDS Division. Bowen has had a pacemaker since her early twenties due to heart problems.
Education
Raised in suburban Ruxton-Riderwood, Maryland, Bowen first attended Calvert School, then Garrison Forest School, and also attended St. George's School in Newport, Rhode Island.
She studied at Brown University, majoring in Italian Renaissance studies.
Career
1992 Five Spot Jewel
1996 Confessions of a Sleep Addict
1997 An American Werewolf in Paris
2001 You're Killing Me Jamie Quinn
2002 Stella Shorts
2005 Kids in America
2007 Sex and Death 101
2010 Crazy on the Outside
2011 Jumping the Broom
1992 Loving
1993 Lifestories: Families in Crisis
1994 Runaway Daughters
1995 Extreme
1996 Party of Five Shelley
1998 Three
1998–1999 ER
1999 The Last Man on Planet Earth
2000 Oh Baby
2000–2004 Ed
2002 Justice League
2005 Jake in Progress
2005–2007 Lost
2005–2008 Boston Legal
2008 Weeds
2009 True Jackson, VP
2009 Monk
2009–present Modern Family