PERHAPS it's because she puts so much of herself into her roles that Julianne Moore is such a highly-regarded Hollywood actress. And perhaps that's why the critically acclaimed actress' new offering, psychological thriller The Forgotten, should prove as gripping as it is scary.

The petite redhead draws on her experiences of motherhood to play a woman tormented by the apparent loss of her eight-year-old son in a plane crash. But in this story, things are not what they seem.

What appealed to her about this role is that she plays an ordinary mother in an extraordinary situation, she explains.

"She's not really far from every mother I know in New York City, she's just a regular person. So many scripts are all about the girl who is perfect. I don't know what I'm revealing but I like to play women who are real," she says. "Women who are complicated and human."

Tragedy seems to have become her forte, admits the 44-year-old. "What can I say? I know it's true, I've played a lot of tragic women."

A mother of two herself, Julianne says The Forgotten taps into everyone's fear of losing a child. "Even people who aren't parents can imagine the worse loss possible is losing a child, it's that devastation."

She is happily married to film-maker Bart Freundlich, with whom she has a son Cal, seven, and a two-year-old daughter Liv.

"Parents' lives are structured so we can take care of these little people who can't take care of themselves. A film like The Forgotten zeroes in on what is the worst fear a parent can imagine."

And Julianne revels in playing such emotional roles because it usually means she features in a thrilling storyline with a twist. "I think it's an interesting premise that at the start of the movie you're questioning this woman's veracity and sanity. It hooks you in emotionally from the start," she explains.

"It asks the audience to switch between thinking this character is being persecuted for some bizarre reason and thinking she may be crazy."

It was the script that got her excited, she says. "I got hooked into it right away. I thought, 'Is she crazy, is she not crazy?'. I was really intrigued."

Four times Oscar-nominated, the actress had a simple method of coping with shooting a film where the tension escalates.

"I talk a lot, it's kind of my way of relaxing. I like to joke around and be loose," she says. "I actually find that the more I kind of struggle with something emotionally, the less I get. When I'm relaxed I can kind of get something with it."

It was only a role, but occasionally she would think about how it would impact in reality, Julianne admits.

"As an actor you're very aware you're working on fantasy but sometimes you stop and think about what your character is going through. How would you deal with the same thing in your own life?"

This feeling was brought home when her father took her husband and son up in a small plane recently. "I was in a cold sweat until they were all back safely on the ground, even though I trust my dad and my husband implicitly."

Having played so many tormented women in dark high profile films like Far From Heaven and Hannibal, Julianne is set to demonstrate she has many strings to her bow as her next project provides a change of pace.

The Prize Winner Of Defiance, Ohio is based on a true story about a mother of ten who would win contests for advertising slogans.

"It's a charming loveable story about this woman who raised these kids and they worshipped her. She would enter and win these contests about jingles and ad slogans and she'd sell what she won to get cash.

"The moral of the story is someone who's happy with what she's got," says Julianne, whose own home is a $2.7m penthouse in fashionable Greenwich Village in New York.

Julianne's tireless schedule has her currently shooting a film with her writer and director husband. "It's a comedy called Trust the Man. David Duchovny and I play a couple who have been married for a while and Lucy Liu is my girlfriend."

Having ranged from acclaimed independent productions like Safe and Vanya On 42nd Street to studio blockbusters like Lost World: Jurassic Park, Julianne has known it all as an actress.

The North Carolina-born daughter of a military judge and a social worker, she says she was unlikely star material growing up.

"In grade school I was a complete geek. You know, there's always the kid who's too short, the one who wears glasses, who's not athletic. Well I was all three."

Experiences which are all the better for putting a bit of Julianne Moore into the characters she plays.

* The Forgotten opens on Friday and is reviewed on Page 10

Published: 25/11/2004