Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. She was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing the title role in the movie Erin Brockovich.

Born Julie Fiona Roberts in Smyrna, Georgia, Roberts first caught the attention of moviegoers with her performance in the film Mystic Pizza in 1988. The following year she was featured in Steel Magnolias as a young bride battling diabetes, garnering her first Oscar nomination (as Best Supporting Actress) for her performance. She catapulted to worldwide fame co-starring with Richard Gere in the Cinderella-story Pretty Woman in 1990, which also earned her a second Oscar nod, this time as Best Actress.

Her next huge box-office success was the thriller Sleeping With the Enemy, in which she portrayed a battered wife who escapes from her husband and starts a new life. She played Tinkerbelle in Steven Spielberg's Hook in 1991, which was followed by a two- year period in which she had no acting roles other than a cameo appearance in Robert Altman's The Player (1992). In early 1993, she was the subject of a People magazine cover story asking, "What Happened to Julia Roberts?" Julie Roberts

Later that year, she co-starred with Denzel Washington in the highly successful The Pelican Brief, based on the John Grisham novel. Grisham wrote the lead female character, Darby Shaw, specifically for Roberts to play. For the next few years, she starred in a series of films that were critical and commercial failures, primarily because she was cast in off-beat roles that strayed too far from her persona. She broke her losing streak with the hit comedy My Best Friend's Wedding in (1997), and eventually earned a reputation as an actress who could guarantee a huge box office draw. She won critical acclaim and finally nabbed an Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich - a woman who had helped wage a successful lawsuit against energy giant Pacific Gas & Electric - in the 2001 movie of the same name.

Roberts' personal life has often been in the spotlight, a fact that served as the basis of her (1998) movie Notting Hill - a romantic comedy about a famous actress falling for an "ordinary" guy played by Hugh Grant. Her character, actress Anna Scott, was said to be closely so modelled on Roberts herself that when asked in one scene how much she was paid to appear in a movie, Scott replied "fifteen million dollars" . . . precisely the amount Roberts had received to appear in the film.

Roberts was engaged to actor Kiefer Sutherland in 1991 but ended the relationship just days before the wedding. She later eloped with country and western singer Lyle Lovett shortly after meeting him; they divorced in 1995.

Roberts met her husband, cameraman Danny Moder, on the set of her movie The Mexican in 2000. The couple were married July 4, 2002 in Taos, New Mexico, and welcomed twins - Hazel Patricia and Phinnaeus Walter - to the family on November 28, 2004.

For years, Roberts has been estranged from her brother, actor Eric Roberts.

Filmography

Ocean's Twelve (2004)
Closer (2004)
Mona Lisa Smile (2003)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Full Frontal (2002)
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
America's Sweethearts (2001)
The Mexican (2001)
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Runaway Bride (1999)
Notting Hill (1999)
Stepmom (1998)
Conspiracy Theory (1997)
My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
Michael Collins (1996)
Mary Reilly (1996)
Something to Talk About (1995)
Prêt-à-Porter aka Ready to Wear (1994)
I Love Trouble (1994)
The Pelican Brief (1993)
The Player (1992)
Hook (1991)
Dying Young (1991)
Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)
Flatliners (1990)
Pretty Woman (1990)
Steel Magnolias (1989)
Blood Red (1988)
Mystic Pizza (1988)
Satisfaction (aka Girls of Summer) (1988)
Firehouse (1987)