Calling it the 'equivalency of college,' Julia Garner revisits her career-defining Ozark run
Julia Garner says her time on Ozark felt like college—and not just for the career lessons and unforgettable co-stars.
When the 2023 actors ’ strike shut down sets, Julia Garner flew to France and enrolled in clown school, leaning into failure on purpose. That willingness to fall on her face, she says, started with Ruth Langmore — the scrappy trailer-park hustler she lived with for five seasons on Ozark. A Bronx native who admits she used to be painfully shy, Garner told CBS News the role rewired her.
In that sit-down, she described the show’s five-year run as both a career breakthrough and an education, with castmates Jason Bateman and Laura Linney effectively serving as her professors. The part delivered hardware, too — a Golden Globe and three Emmys.
“It was like my equivalency of college, college years,”
Garner added that the job changed her relationship to fear and attention. Even a 2022 Golden Globe nomination for Inventing Anna didn’t quiet her nerves — she disliked being watched and felt it was getting to her head. France helped. At clown school, she said she failed constantly and called it the best feeling.
Now she’s fronting The Altruists at Netflix — playing Caroline Ellison — a pivot that doubles down on the shape-shifter reputation Ruth helped cement. She’s also got a new thriller on deck at Apple TV+.
- Ozark — Netflix; ran five seasons; earned Garner a Golden Globe and three Emmys
- Inventing Anna — Netflix; earned her a 2022 Golden Globe nomination
- The Altruists — Netflix; Garner plays Caroline Ellison
- Guilty Creatures — Apple TV+ thriller, upcoming
- Madonna biopic — in development; status unresolved
Madonna movie in limbo
As for that long-gestating Madonna biopic — the one she trained and auditioned for under Madonna’s famously punishing process — Garner told CBS the project’s status “changes every hour.” She said she’s as in the dark as everyone else and that the final call isn’t hers to make.
Still, Garner says she came away with a mentor and a friend in Madonna. That bond already put her onstage during the pop icon’s 2023 tour and led to a role in season 2 of The Studio. On the business side, Madonna has described a budget dispute with Universal Pictures and said she was asked to pay to reclaim her own script, complicating a path forward.
For now, the biopic remains stalled after its 2023 postponement.