Biography
Born during the late '60s, Georgia native Julia Roberts was raised in a fervently pro-theater environment. Her parents regularly hosted acting and writing workshops, and both of the Roberts children (Julia and her brother Eric) showed an interest in the performing arts at an early age. Ironically enough, Eric was the first to break into film; in 1978, one year after their father died of lung cancer at 47, Eric Roberts starred in director
Frank Pierson's psychological drama
King of the Gypsies. Though her older brother would go on to have a solid acting career, it was, of course, Julia Roberts who earned a spot among Hollywood's elite.
After making her film debut in
Blood Red -- which wouldn't be released until 1989, despite having been completed in 1986 -- and appearing in several late '80s television features, Roberts got her first real break in the 1988 made-for-cable drama
Satisfaction. That role, consequently, led to her first significant supporting role -- a feisty pizza parlor waitress in 1989's
Mystic Pizza with
Annabeth Gish,
Lili Taylor, and a then 19-year-old
Matt Damon. While
Mystic Pizza was not a star-making film for Roberts, it certainly helped earn her the credentials she needed to land the part of Shelby, an ill-fated would-be mother in
Steel Magnolias. The 1989 tearjerker found her acting alongside
Sally Field and
Shirley MacLaine, and culminated in an Oscar nomination for Roberts.
While the success of
Steel Magnolias played no small part in launching Roberts' career, and undoubtedly secured her role in the mediocre
Flatliners (1990) with former flame
Kiefer Sutherland, it was director
Garry Marshall's romantic comedy
Pretty Woman with
Richard Gere that served as her true breakthrough role. Roberts' part in
Pretty Woman (a good-hearted prostitute who falls in love with a millionaire client) made the young actress a household name and cemented what would become a permanent spot in tabloid fodder. Roberts broke off her engagement with Sutherland in 1991, just three days before they were scheduled to be married, and surprised the American public in 1993, when she began her two-year marriage to country singer
Lyle Lovett. Roberts' personal life kept her name in the spotlight despite a host of uneven performances throughout the early '90s (neither 1991's
Dying Young or
Sleeping With the Enemy garnered much acclaim), as did a reputed feud with
Steven Spielberg during the filming of
Hook (1991).
Luckily, Roberts made decidedly less embarrassing headlines in 1993, when her role alongside future Oscar winner
Denzel Washington in
The Pelican Brief reaffirmed her status as a dramatic actress. Her career, however, took a turn back to the mediocre throughout the following year; both
Prêt-à-Porter and
I Love Trouble proved commercial flops, and
Mary Reilly (1996) fizzled at the box office as well. The downward spiral reversed directions once again with 1996's
Michael Collins and
Conspiracy Theory with
Mel Gibson, and led to several successful comic roles including
Notting Hill with
Hugh Grant,
Runaway Bride, and most notably,
My Best Friend's Wedding with
Rupert Everett and a then virtually unknown
Cameron Diaz.
Roberts' biggest success didn't present itself until 2000, though, when she delivered an Oscar-winning performance playing the title role in
Steven Soderbergh's
Erin Brockovich. The film, based on the true story of Erin Brockovich, a single mother who, against all odds, won a heated battle against corporate environmental offenders, earned Roberts a staggering 20-million-dollar salary. Officially the highest paid actress in Hollywood, Roberts went on to star in 2001's
America's Sweethearts with
Billy Crystal,
Catherine Zeta-Jones, and
John Cusack, as well as
The Mexican with
Brad Pitt. While on the set of
The Mexican, Roberts met cameraman Danny Moder, whom she would marry in 2001 almost immediately after ending a four-year relationship with fellow actor
Benjamin Bratt. Indeed, 2001 was a banner year for Roberts; in addition to
America's Sweethearts and
The Mexican, Roberts starred in the crime caper
Ocean's Eleven, in which she rejoined former co-stars
Brad Pitt and
Matt Damon, and acted for the first time with
George Clooney and
Don Cheadle.
Julia Roberts worked with Soderbergh once again in 2002's
Full Frontal, which, despite a solid cast including
Mary McCormack and
Catherine Keener, among others, did not even begin to fare as well as
Erin Brockovich.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), which featured Roberts as a femme fatale alongside
George Clooney,
Sam Rockwell, and
Drew Barrymore did much better, and preceded 2003's
Mona Lisa Smile with young Hollywood's
Julia Stiles,
Kirsten Dunst, and
Maggie Gyllenhaal. In 2004, Roberts is slated to film the sequel to
Ocean's Eleven -- the aptly titled
Ocean's Twelve. A supporting performance in the animated 2006 feature
The Ant Bully marked the glamorous Hollywood beauty's first foray into the world of animation, and in Christmas of 2006 filmgoers could hear Roberts on the big screen once again when she took on the role of everone's favorite selfless spider in
Charlotte's Web. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide