Early life
Roberts was born in Smyrna, Georgia. Her father, Walter Grady Roberts, was a vacuum cleaner salesman, and her Minneapolis, Minnesota-born mother, Betty Lou Bredemus, was a one-time church secretary and a real estate agent. Her parents, one-time actors and playwrights, met while performing theatrical productions for the armed forces and later co-founded the Atlanta Actors and Writers Workshop in Georgia; the two divorced in 1971. Her mother later re-married to Michael Motes. Roberts's father died of cancer when she was 10. Her elder brother, Eric Roberts, from whom she is estranged, is also an actor, as is her niece, Emma Roberts, whom she would often take along on sets when she was younger. Roberts wanted to be a veterinarian as a child, but soon after graduating from Smyrna's Campbell High School, and attending Georgia State University, she headed to New York to join her sister and pursue a career in acting. Once there, she signed with the Click modeling agency and enrolled in acting classes. She reverted to her original name "Julia Roberts" when she found that there was already a "Julie Roberts" registered with the Screen Actors Guild.
Career
Roberts made her film debut playing a supporting role opposite her brother, Eric, in Blood Red (she gets just two words of dialogue), which, although completed in 1986, was not released until 1989. She once appeared on Sesame Street opposite the character Elmo, demonstrating her ability to change emotions. Roberts first caught the attention of moviegoers with her performance in the independent film Mystic Pizza in 1988. The following year she was featured in Steel Magnolias as a young bride battling diabetes and garnered her first Oscar nomination (as Best Supporting Actress) for her performance. She catapulted to worldwide fame when she co-starred with Richard Gere in the Cinderella story Pretty Woman in 1990.
The role also earned her a second Oscar nod, this time as Best Actress. Her next box office success was the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy, playing a battered wife who escapes her demented husband and starts a new life in Iowa. She played Tinkerbell in Steven Spielberg's Hook in 1991, which was followed by a two-year period of 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?"
She starred alongside Liam Neeson in the 1996 film Michael Collins. Later that year, she co-starred with Denzel Washington in the successful The Pelican Brief, based on the John Grisham novel. Over the next few years, she starred in a series of films that were critical and commercial failures, primarily because she was cast in roles that strayed too far from her film persona. She broke her losing streak with the hugely popular comedy My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), and eventually regained her earlier reputation as an actress who could open a movie and guarantee box office success. She also starred with Hugh Grant in the popular 1999 film Notting Hill.
In 2001, she won critical acclaim and finally received a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich, who helped wage a successful lawsuit against energy giant Pacific Gas & Electric. Her acceptance speech was one of the longest in Oscar history. It was criticised for being slightly ungracious and became fodder for late-night comedians. At the same time, Roberts's win created a mild uproar in the film community because she had beaten out Ellen Burstyn's portrayal of Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream. Roberts's win over Burstyn is frequently cited as an example of the Academy's tendency to award popularity over artistic merit[citation needed]. Whilst presenting the Best Actor Award to Denzel Washington the following year she made a gaff when she said she was glad Tom Conti wasn't there. She meant the conductor Bill Conti who tried to hasten the conclusion of her speech the previous year but named the British actor instead.[6] Subsequently, Roberts would team up with Erin Brockovich director Steven Soderbergh for three more films: Ocean's Eleven, Full Frontal, and Ocean's Twelve.
Roberts recently enjoyed her Broadway debut as Nan in "Three Days of Rain" opposite Alias and Kitchen Confidential star Bradley Cooper, and The 40 Year Old Virgin star, Paul Rudd, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Although the play grossed nearly one million dollars in ticket sales its first week out and continued to be a commercial success throughout its limited run, most critics have heavily criticized Roberts' performance and the play itself. Even New York Times' critic Ben Brantly, a self proclaimed 'Juliaholic', described her as being fraught with "self-consciousness (especially in the first act) [and] only glancingly acquainted with the two characters she plays." Three Days of Rain received two Tony Award nominations in stage design categories, but took home neither prize. Julia Roberts did, however, receive a Broadway.com audience award (a minor theatrical prize) for her performance.
As of February 25, 2007, Roberts's films have grossed $2,203,765,451 at the American box office making her the biggest female movie star in history. She was also placed at the pinnacle of the Ulmer Scale, a comprehensive guide to the global star power of actors and directors in independent and studio films created by James Ulmer, ahead of such other luminaries as Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks. This was partly owing to her ability to attract filmgoers solely on the basis of her name's appearance above the title and without the support of a male co-star, something few other actresses are able to do.
Personal life
Roberts with Private First Class Sowell at Incirlik hospital, Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, December 7, 2001
Roberts's personal life has often been in the spotlight, a fact reflected in her Notting Hill, a romantic comedy about a famous actress falling for a bookstore owner played by Hugh Grant. Her character, Anna Scott, was said to be closely modeled on Roberts herself. (When asked in one scene how much she was paid to appear in a movie, Scott replies "fifteen million dollars" —-- precisely the amount Roberts had received to appear in the film.)
Relationships
Roberts' has had numereous famous boyfriends, including Kiefer Sutherland, Lyle Lovett, Jason Patric, Daniel Day-Lewis, Matthew Perry, Dylan Walsh. Roberts met Kiefer Sutherland, her co-star in Flatliners from 1990. Sutherland left his wife and children and moved in with Roberts. In August 1990, Roberts and Sutherland announced their engagement, with a wedding of 14 June 1991. Roberts cancelled the wedding when she discovered Sutherland had had an affair with a stripper named Amanda Rice. Roberts went to Europe with Jason Patric after she and Sutherland broke up. Eventually, she married country singer Lyle Lovett after the couple had known each other for a few weeks.The wedding was planned on very short notice and was held in Marion, Indiana. Two years later, in March 1995, the couple announced that they were separating. This started a string of many, many handsome famous boyfriends and relationships.
For the Christmas '98 premiere of Stepmom, Roberts appeared with television actor Benjamin Bratt. In late June 2001, Roberts and Bratt announced they were breaking up. "It's come to a kind and tender-hearted end," she said of their relationship.[citation needed] Roberts also briefly dated Friends star Matthew Perry and actor Daniel Day-Lewis. For a time, she lived with actor Liam Neeson.
Roberts met her current husband, cinematographer Danny Moder, on the set of her movie The Mexican in 2000. He was already married to Vera Steinberg Moder, but they eventually divorced. Roberts and Moder were married on Fourth of July, 2002, at her ranch in Taos, New Mexico. On November 28, 2004, they became the parents of fraternal twins, daughter Hazel Patricia and son Phinnaeus Walter, and they are expecting their third child in July 2007. Roberts bought a penthouse in Manhattan's Gramercy Park neighborhood. She reportedly loves to shop anonymously, buying her own organic greens on weekends at the market in nearby Union Square. She and her family divide their time between their homes in New York City, Malibu, California, and their 50-acre retreat in Taos.[citation needed]
Charities
Roberts has a production company called Red Om Films ("Moder" spelled backwards; formerly "Shoelace Productions") and has given of her time and resources to Unicef as well as to other charitable organizations."In the Spring of 1995, Roberts, 27, an enthusiastic supporter of UNICEF, asked if she could meet some of the relief agency's neediest recipients. And so, on May 10, she arrived in Port-au-Prince 'to educate myself.' The poverty she found was overwhelming. 'My heart is just bursting,' she said. Unicef officials hope her six-day visit will trigger an outburst of giving: $10 million in aid is still needed. Roberts herself had no need for journalists, whom she kept at arm's length. 'You in the orange shirt!' she snapped at one cameraman. 'Out!' She did turn on the charm for Haiti's President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, 42, who glowingly described Roberts as a 'Hollywood Haitian'. Asked by a reporter if she would consider making a movie in Haiti, Roberts replied, 'Certainly. Are you offering me a script?' No, but Aristide may have come up with a title."
In 2000, Julia narrated "Silent Angels", a documentary about Rett syndrome, which was shot in Los Angeles, Baltimore and New York. The documentary is designed to help raise public awareness about the disease.
In July 2006, Earth Biofuels announced that Roberts became a spokeswoman for the company and will be chairman of the company’s newly formed Advisory Board promoting the use of renewable fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol.
She has been named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" a record-setting ten times. She maintains a close friendship with actress-activist Susan Sarandon.
