Julie Nelson has acted Off Broadway and in regional theater, recently playing Lady Catherine de Bourgh in Pride and Prejudice at Playmakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill, NC.
A founding member of Shakespeare & Company, she worked extensively there as an actor in main stage productions, on the faculty of their month-long workshops, and as a teaching artist in schools. Her study of theatrical clown with teacher, Merry Conway, continues to inform her work as an actor and teacher, and prompted her to further study with Philippe Gaulier, Bill Irwin and Jacques Lecoq, among others.
She has worked as assistant director for Timothy Douglas at Downstage Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand, Berkshire Theater Festival and Actors Theater of Louisville.
In collaboration with the UMass Everywoman's Center, she produced and directed a play for New Student Orientation about sexual assault on college campuses. Over a period of four years, it was seen by thousands of incoming UMass students and was picked up by the other four colleges in the consortium.
She has worked as a professional dialect coach for productions at Capital Repertory Theater, Merrimack Repertory Theater, Stage West, and other venues.
She taught in the actor-training program at the National Arts Center in San Salvador, El Salvador. She has also been a guest instructor in the MFA program at the New School and for the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and St. Stephen's School in Austin, Texas.