Julia Roberts is an Academy Award-winning American actress best known for her leading roles in films of several genres, such as ‘Erin Brockovich,’ ‘Pretty Woman,’ and ‘Steel Magnolias.’ Some of her movies have ranked among the highest-grossing films of their respective years.
Who is Julia Roberts?
Julia Roberts was born on October 28, 1967 in Smyrna , Georgia. She is one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars who has received numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, Academy Award, and three Golden Globe Awards. She made early appearances in Mystic Pizza (1988), Steel Magnolias (1989), and starred in the romantic comedy Pretty Woman (1990). Thereafter, she established herself as a leading actress in various successful films, including Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), Hook (1991), The Pelican Brief (1993), My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999), Runaway Bride (1999), Erin Brockovich (2000), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Ocean’s Twelve (2004), Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), Valentine’s Day (2010), Eat Pray Love (2010), August: Osage County (2013), and Wonder (2017).
She received an Academy Award for Best Actress in the film Erin Brockovich. For her performance in the HBO television film The Normal Heart (2014), Roberts won a Primetime Emmy Award. She remained the world’s highest paid actress for most of the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s.
Early Life and Family
Born on october 28, 1967 to Walter Grady Roberts and Betty Lou Bredemus, Julia Roberts was of English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, German, and Swedish descent. She has an older brother Eric Roberts (born 1956), sister Lisa Roberts Gillan (born 1965), and niece Emma Roberts, who happen to be actors as well. Julia also had a younger half-sister named Nancy Motes.
Julia’s parents were one-time actors and playwrights who met while performing theatrical productions for the armed forces. While expecting Julia, Walter and Betty Lou ran a children’s acting school in Decatur, Georgia. They also co-founded the Atlanta Actors and Writers Workshop located in Atlanta.
Julia Roberts’ parents married in 1955. In 1971, Julia’s mother filed for divorce, which was finalized in 1972. Julia lived in Smyrna, Georgia from 1972. She attended Fitzhugh Lee Elementary School, Griffin Middle School, and Campbell High School. Her mother married Michael Motes in 1972. According to Julia, Motes was often unemployed and abusive. The couple gave birth to a daughter, Nancy Motes. Unfortunately, Nancy died on February 9, 2014 at the age of 47, of a drug overdose. In 1983, Betty Lou divorced Motes on grounds of cruelty. Julia’s biological father died of cancer when she was only ten.
Julia’s childhood dream was to become a veterinarian. She attended Georgia State University after graduating from Smyrna’s Campbell High School. She later went to New York University and enrolled in acting classes.
Career
Her early work and breakthrough dates between 1987-1989. She performed a small role in Blood Red filmed in 1987, and released in 1989. Julia Roberts played as a band member looking for a summer gig alongside Liam Neeson and Justine Bateman in the dramedy Satisfaction (1988). She appeared in the fourth-season finale of Miami Vice in 1988.
In 1989, Julia starred as a young bride with diabetes, alongside Dolly Parton, Sally Field, Daryl Hannah, and Winona Ryder in Steel Magnolias. During that time, the filmmakers were looking at both Winona Ryder and Laura Dern when the casting director’s eyes fell on Roberts, who was then filming Mystic Pizza. Harling stated: “She walked into the room and that smile lit everything up and I said ‘that’s my sister,’ so she joined the party and she was magnificent.”
Worldwide Recognition
Julia Roberts gained worldwide recognition between 1990-1999, just after her 1989 Academy Award nomination. Some of the films that made the actress more popular include the Cinderella–Pygmalionesque story ‘Pretty Woman’ in 1990. Starring with Richard Gere in the film, Roberts appeared as an assertive freelance hooker with a heart of gold. Julia won the role after Daryl Hannah, Karen Allen, Jennifer Jason, Meg Ryan, Molly Ringwald, and Michelle Pfeiffer turned it down. The role also earned her a second Golden Globe Award win, as Motion Picture Best Actress (musical or Comedy), and a second Oscar nomination as Best Actress. Making about $463.4 million worldwide, Pretty Woman saw the highest number of ticket sales in the U.S ever for a romantic comedy.
After Pretty Woman, Roberts starred as one of the five students conducting clandestine experiments that produce near-death experiences in Joel Schumacher’s supernatural thriller Flatliners in 1990. Roberts appeared in the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy in 1991 as a battered wife attempting to begin a new life in Iowa. Sleeping with the Enemy grossed at least $175 million globally, even though Roberts’ 1991 outings received negative reviews.
After taking a break from the screen, Julia Roberts made a cameo appearance in Robert Altman’s The Player, in 1992. She enjoyed renewed success in the romantic comedy genre by the late 1990s and became an established actress between 2000-2007. Roberts became the first actress to be paid $20 million for a film.
Return to Film
Julia Roberts faced numerous career fluctuations between 2008-2016, but she was able to feature in several films, including the comic thriller Duplicity of 2009. Despite moderate box office returns and mixed reviews, critic A. O. Scott praised Robert’s performance: “Ms. Roberts has almost entirely left behind the coltish, America’s-sweetheart mannerisms, except when she uses them strategically, to disarm or confuse. She is at 41, unmistakably in her prime.”
Roberts appeared in the romantic comedy Valentine’s Day in 2010, playing as a U.S. Army captain on a one-day leave. In the film adaptation of Eat Pray Love, Roberts starred as an author finding herself following a divorce.
In 2013, Roberts starred in the black comedy drama August: Osage County, alongside Meryl Streep and Ewan McGregor. Her performance earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, Critics’ Choice Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, and Golden Globe Award among others. She appeared in the television adaptation of larry Kramer’s AIDS-era play, The Normal Heart in 2014, as Dr. Emma Brookner.
In 2015, Roberts starred as a grieving mother, alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor and Nicole Kidman in Secret in Their Eyes. In 2016, Roberts played in the romantic comedy Mother’s Day, as an accomplished author who gave her child for adoption.
In 2017, Roberts played the mother of a boy with Treacher Collins syndrome in the film Wonder, which emerged as Roberts’ most widely seen films. The actor also voiced a motherly Smurf leader in the animated film Smurfs: The Lost Village during the same year.
Recent Roles (2018-Present)
In 2018, Roberts appeared in Peter Hedges’s drama Ben Is Back. She portrayed the mother of a troubled young man. In November 2018, Roberts was given the role of a caseworker at a secret government facility in the first season of thriller series Homecoming.
Based on the first season of the podcast Slow Burn by Leon Neyfak, Roberts signed to play in the political thriller television series Gaslit. She is set to play Martha Mitchell, a controversial figure throughout the Watergate scandal. Roberts also appeared in the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, which is set to be released by Universal Pictures on October 21, 2022.
Personal Life
Julius Roberts was notorious for her celebrity romances, dating actors like Matthew Perry, Dylan McDermott, Kiefer Sutherland, Liam Neeson, and Jason Patric. In the early 1990s, Roberts was briefly engaged to Sutherland, but broke up a few days before their wedding. She married Lyle Lovett, a country singer, on June 25 1993. The couple separated in March 1995. Roberts dated actor Benjamin Bratt from 1998 to 2001.
On July 4, 2002 Roberts and cameraman Daniel Moder married. The two met on the set of her film The Mexican in 2000 while Roberts was still in a relationship with Bratt. Moder was also married to Vera Steimber at the time. He filed for divorce and married Roberts after it was finalized. The couple have three children: twins (a son and a daughter), born in November 2004, and another son born in June 2007.