Margulies was born in Spring Valley, New York (just outside New York City), on the 8th of June, 1966 . She is the youngest of three daughters. Her sister Alexandra has been seen in such television shows as ER, Friends, and X-Files, and her other sister, Rachel teaches dance. Her father, Paul, is an advertising writer , and her mother, Francesca, is a former dancer with the American Ballet Theater. They are divorced. Shortly after she was born, Margulies and her family were off to Paris, where they lived for two years before relocating to England. 

When she was five, they returned to Spring Valley, and five years later they moved back to England. At 14, Margulies began high school in New Hampshire. She obtained a B.A. in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College, where she appeared on campus in several plays. While looking for acting jobs in New York, Margulies waited tables for a year until winning a role as a prostitute looking to go straight in "Out for Justice." Eventually, she supported herself by appearing in regional theater productions, at the Yale Repertory Theatre and the Asolo Theatre in Florida, as well as in national TV commercials. She guest-starred in an episode of NBC's "Law & Order" and then filmed "Philly Heat," a pilot from Tom Fontana. Later, Fontana wrote her into a recurring role in a few episodes of his new NBC series "Homicide: Life on the Street" as a waitress and violinist. She was visiting a friend in Los Angeles in 1994 when she auditioned for a guest role in the pilot episode of ER. Michael Chrichton and Stephen Spielberg were impressed with her work so that she got the role of nurse Carol Hathaway. Margulies now has a home in Santa Monica, CA and an apartment in New York City which she shares with her boyfriend Ron Eldard. 

Credit: tv.com