Julia Roberts Biography

Julia Fiona Roberts born on October 28, 1967 in Smyrna, Georgia, USA is an Oscar winning actress. Her father died of cancer when she was still 10 years old made her, his brother Eric Roberts and sister Lisa Roberts Gillan became an orphan. Completed her education at Griffin Middle School, the girl then went on to Campbell High School. During her childhood, because of her love of animals she wanted to be a veterinarian, but later on opted to study journalism instead.

Envying her brother Eric Roberts' success in Hollywood, Roberts persisted to try acting. Her first performance in two youth-oriented movies "Mystic Pizza" and "Satisfaction" in 1988 had caught the moviegoers' attention that in the following years she got her other supernumerary role as a young bride battling diabetes in "Steel Magnolias" (1989). The role she played in this movie led her to receive her first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress. In the year of 1990, she gained more fame as she co-starred with Richard Gere in the Cinderella-story "Pretty Woman", an American romantic comedy motion picture in which she acted as Los Angeles streetwalker Viv Ward with Gere portraying Edward Lewis, a wealthy and ruthless businessman who makes a living as a corporate takeover specialist. Her performance in this particular picture gave the beauty her second Oscar nod, this time for the Best Actress.

After some time, Roberts tried to expand her career playing in a box office thriller "Sleeping With the Enemy," in which she portrayed a battered wife who escapes from her husband and starts a new life (1991). At the same year, she also played Tinkerbell in Steven Spielberg's "Hook" followed by a cameo appearance in Robert Altman's "The Player" (1992). Shortly afterwards, she joyously managed to land role in the successful "The Pelican Brief" (1993), based on John Grisham novel, that also co-starred Denzel Washington. For the next few years, however, she had to see her career go stagnant in a series of movies that were critical and commercial failures before eventually rocking the film-world with the 1997 romantic comedy "My Best Friend's Wedding" directed by P.J. Hogan.

Since then Roberts had become an actress who guaranteed a huge box office draw and along the way won such critical acclaim to finally get crowned an Oscar 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. Prior to the attainment, she played in a romantic comedy film, "Notting Hill" (1999), as a famous actress named Anna Scott who falls in love to an ordinary guy, played by Hugh Grant. The role she played in this movie was believed to be closely modeled on her real life that has often been in the spotlight.

Noted for her charm besides her abundant acting talent, Roberts has been dated several men in her life, including Matthew Perry and Daniel Day-Lewis with whom she broke up in June 2001. Besides, she had also been engaged to Dylan McDermott, her "Steel Magnolias" co-star and to Kiefer Sutherland before later happily married to singer Lyle Lovett on June 25, 1993. Sadly had to end the marriage on March 22, 1995, she eventually met her soulmate Daniel Moder and married him on July 4, 2002 with whom she gave birth to her twins Hazel Patricia and Phinnaeus Walter on November 28, 2004. On June 18, 2007, the couple happily welcomed the arrival of their third child, a son named Henry Daniel Moder.

In her entire movie career, Roberts had once crowned the highest paid actress in film history, ranked #1 in Hollywood Power, and #12 on Forbes magazine 'Power 100'. Furthermore, she was also on People USA magazine's '50 Most Beautiful' list [2000], ranked #66 in Empire UK magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list [October 1997], chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world in 1990 & 1991, and was named one of People Magazine's '25 Most Intriguing People of 2001'. Furthermore, she once named one of E!'s top 20 entertainers of 2001, one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine in 2002, and ranked 6th of the 100 Sexiest Women by FHM Taiwan (2001). To add, Roberts was also ranked #16 in Premiere's 2003 annual Hollywood Power List, #18 in 2002, #10 in Star TV's Top 10 Box Office Stars of the 1990s (2003), and her name has proven to defeat any other famous names, including Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Reese Witherspoon, and Charlize Theron, for wining the favorite female movie star award at 2005 People's Choice Awards.

Kept striving as one of the A-list Hollywood actresses, Roberts effortlessly made her way to keep herself busy during the early period of 2000s, starring in a number of movies like "The Mexican" (2001), "Ocean's Eleven" (2001), "Full Frontal" (2002), and "Mona Lisa Smile" (2003). While 2004 marked her first time to appear in a sequel through "Ocean's Twelve", 2006 only spotted her going behind the screen to join voice cast of both "The Ant Bully" and "Charlotte's Web." The next two years, however, delightfully welcomed her back in front of the camera as she eagerly took part in "Charlie Wilson's War" (2007), "Fireflies in the Garden" (2008), and "The Friday Night Knitting Club" (2008), which she also produced via her Red Om Films as well as an untitled biopic about murdered wildlife conservationist Joan Root.