Miss Halston first achieved recognition as an actress through her co-starring performances in the comedy plays of writer-performer, Charles Busch in the 1980s in New York City. She was a founding member of his theatre company, Theatre-in-Limbo, which along with other writers and performers such as Charles Ludlam, Lypsinka, Ann Magnuson, and John Fleck, to name a few, were part of a cultural movement that helped revitalize the Off-Broadway theatre. Mr. Busch considered Miss Halston his muse and wrote many roles for her in his plays including, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom,The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset, You Should be so Lucky, The Divine Sister, The Tribute Artist. She wrote a series of one woman comedy shows that eventually led to a successful Off-Broadway production entitled, Julie Halston's Lifetime of Comedy. The show earned her an Outer Critics Circle nomination for Best Play for that season and landed Miss Halston a CBS network development deal. The pilot was called Those Two and co-starred Harvey Fierstein. It was written by Bob Randall, the co-producer of the hit series Kate andAllie'. The show was not developed into a series and Miss Halston returned to the stage and subsequently appeared in many Off-Broadway and Broadway shows including The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Women , Hairspray, , Twentieth Century, Anything Goes, You Can't Take it with You, On The Town, and Tootsie. Halston's performances have garnered her critical acclaim across the boards and she has received Drama Desk Nominations for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for Red Scare on Sunset, White Chocolate, The Divine Sister, and You Can't Take it With You. In addition she received the Richard Seff Award for her portrayal of Gay Wellington in You Can't Take it With You. Her solo comedy performances at the famed Birdland Jazz Club are SRO engagements that have earned her four MAC Awards. In 2011, Halston received the designation “Legend of Off-Broadway“ from The Off-Broadway Theatre Alliance and received an Excellence in Theatre Award from The Abington Theatre Company. In 2008, along with fellow writer Donna Daley, she co-authored the book Monologues for Show-Offs published by Heinemann Press. The book is used by casting agents, colleges and performers for audition material for all media. Halston has 34 film and TV credits to her name including her starring role in the award-winning 2016 short film Hotel Bleu, HBO's Divorce, Woody Allen's Crisis in Six Scenes, The TV web seriesTheMentors, for which she won a NYC Web Fest award for Special Guest Star, Difficult People, ', The Electric Company, Sex and The City, The Class, and Law and Order. She has also appeared in A Very Serious Person, The Juror, Addams Family Values, Joe Gould's Secret, Drunks, Small Time Crooks, Celebrity, and I Think I Love My Wife.
Personal
In 1992, she married anchor man and entertainment reporter Ralph Howard. Howard worked for 1010 WINS RADIO and Howard Stern at Sirius XM until his retirement in 2013. Howard died on August 7, 2018 of Pulmonary Fibrosis.
