Julia Roberts

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Julia Roberts
Image:Julia Roberts in May 2002.jpg
Julia Roberts
Birth name Julie Fiona Roberts
Born October 28 1967 (1967-10-28) (age 41)
Smyrna, Georgia
Occupation actress, producer
Years active 1987 - present
Spouse(s) Lyle Lovett (1993-95)
Daniel Moder (2002-)

Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28 1967) is an Academy Award-winning American film actress and former fashion model. She shot to fame during the early 1990s after starring in the romantic comedy, Pretty Woman, opposite Richard Gere, which grossed US$463 million worldwide. She won the Best Actress Academy Award in 2001 for her critically praised turn as the title character in Erin Brockovich and earned Oscar nominations as Best Supporting Actress for Steel Magnolias (1989) and Best Actress for Pretty Woman (1990). Her films, which also include The Pelican Brief, My Best Friend's Wedding, Notting Hill, Runaway Bride, and Ocean's Eleven, have collectively earned box office receipts well over US$2 billion.

Roberts has become the highest-paid actress in the world, topping the Hollywood Reporter's annual power list of top-earning female stars for four consecutive years (2002-2005). Her fee for 1990's Pretty Woman was $300,000; in 2003, she was paid an unprecedented $25 million for her role in Mona Lisa Smile. As of 2007, Roberts' net worth was estimated to be US$140 million.[1]

Roberts was the first actress to appear on the cover of Vogue and the first woman to land the cover of GQ. She has been named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" eleven times, tied with Halle Berry. In 2001 Ladies Home Journal ranked her as the 11th most powerful woman in America, beating out then national security advisor Condoleezza Rice and first lady Laura Bush.[2] Roberts has a production company called Red Om Films ("Moder" spelled backwards; formerly Shoelace Productions).

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

It is commonly mistaken that Julia's birth name is "Julie"; however, Roberts has said in interviews that "Julie" was a nickname given to her by classmates in elementary school, and she never took well to it. Roberts was born in Smyrna, Georgia. Her father, Walter Grady Roberts, was a vacuum cleaner salesman, and her Minneapolis, Minnesota-born mother, Betty Lou Motes (née Bredemus), was a one-time church secretary and real estate agent.[3] 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.[4] Her mother later married Michael Motes and had another daughter, named Nancy Motes who was born in 1976. Roberts' father died of cancer when she was ten. Her older brother and sister, Eric Roberts (from whom she was estranged for a while) and Lisa Roberts Gillan, are also actors. Roberts wanted to be a veterinarian as a child, but soon after graduating from Smyrna's Campbell High School,[5] and after attending Georgia State University, she headed to New York to join her sister Lisa Roberts Gillan 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 discovered that a "Julie Roberts" was already registered with the Screen Actors Guild.

Her niece, Emma Roberts, whom Julia used to take to movie sets when she was a young girl, has joined her father and aunts in the acting business. Recently, Emma gained a starring role on the Nickelodeon series Unfabulous and has appeared in the films Blow (2001), Aquamarine (2006) and Nancy Drew (2007).

[edit] Career

[edit] 1986—1989, Early career

Roberts made her film debut playing a supporting role opposite her brother, Eric, in Blood Red (she has just two words of dialogue), which, although completed in 1986, was not released until 1989. Her first television appearance was as a juvenile rape victim in the initial season of the series Crime Story with Dennis Farina, in the episode titled "The Survivor," broadcast on February 13, 1987. She also 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; that same year, she had a role in the last episode of season four of Miami Vice. 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.

[edit] 1990—2000, Breakout role and eventual success

Roberts catapulted to worldwide fame when she co-starred with Richard Gere in the Cinderella/Pygmalianesque story Pretty Woman in 1990. Roberts won the role after the first two choices for the part, Molly Ringwald and Meg Ryan both turned it down. 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, Patrick Bergin, and begins a new life in Iowa. She played Tinkerbell in Steven Spielberg's Hook in 1991, which was followed by a two-year hiatus, during which she made no films 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?"

In 1993, she co-starred with Denzel Washington in the successful The Pelican Brief, based on the John Grisham novel. She also starred alongside Liam Neeson in the 1996 film Michael Collins. 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 starred with Hugh Grant in the popular 1999 film Notting Hill. That same year, she also starred in Runaway Bride, the second film with the Julia Roberts-Richard Gere duo.

Roberts was a guest star on the Law & Order television series, in a well-received episode broadcast on May 5, 1999 entitled "Empire," with her then-boyfriend, series regular Benjamin Bratt.

[edit] 2001—2005, continued success

In 2001, Roberts received the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Erin Brockovich, who helped wage a successful lawsuit against energy giant Pacific Gas & Electric. Whilst presenting the Best Actor Award to Denzel Washington the following year, she made a gaff when she said she was glad that Tom Conti wasn't there. She meant the conductor Bill Conti, who had tried to hasten the conclusion of her Oscar speech the previous year, but instead named the British actor.[6] Roberts would team up with Erin Brockovich director Steven Soderbergh for three more films: Ocean's Eleven (2001), Full Frontal (2002), and Ocean's Twelve (2004).

In 2005, she was featured in the music video for the hit single "Dreamgirl" by the Dave Matthews Band. Roberts is reported to be a longtime fan of the band.

[edit] 2006 Broadway Debut

Julia Roberts made her Broadway debut on April 19, 2006 as Nan in a revival of Richard Greenberg's 1997 play, Three Days of Rain opposite Alias and Kitchen Confidential star Bradley Cooper, and The 40 Year Old Virgin star, Paul Rudd. Although the play grossed nearly US$1 million dollars in ticket sales during its first week and was a commercial success throughout its limited run, most critics heavily criticized Roberts' performance. The 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." Brantley also criticized the production of “Greenberg's slender, elegant play,” writing, “it's almost impossible to discern its artistic virtues from this wooden and splintered interpretation, directed by Joe Mantello.” Three Days of Rain received two Tony Award nominations in stage design categories, but took home neither prize. Roberts did, however, receive a Broadway.com audience award (a minor theatrical prize) for her performance.

[edit] 2006—present

Roberts's two films released in 2006, The Ant Bully and Charlotte's Web, were both animated features for which she provided only voice acting. Her next film, Charlie Wilson's War, with Tom Hanks and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, directed by Mike Nichols and based on the book by former CBS journalist George Crile; it was released on December 21, 2007. Fireflies in the Garden, also starring Ryan Reynolds and Willem Dafoe is currently in post-production, with release set for 2008. It has also been announced that Roberts will star in The Friday Night Knitting Club, based on the novel of the same name by Kate Jacobs.

[edit] Influence

As of February 2007, Roberts's films have grossed $2,204,631,930 at the American box office making her the biggest female movie star in history and reaching this feat with only 31 films to her name.[7] 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 have been able to do.

[edit] Personal life

Image:Julia Roberts at Incirlik.jpg
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, another star with a high-profile personal life.

[edit] Relationships

Roberts has had widely reported romantic relationships with numerous famous men, including Liam Neeson, Dylan McDermott, Kiefer Sutherland, Lyle Lovett, Daniel Day-Lewis, Matthew Perry, and Benjamin Bratt. She was briefly engaged to McDermott, her Steel Magnolias co-star. She met Sutherland in 1990, when he was her co-star in Flatliners; he left his wife and children to move in with Roberts. In August 1990, Roberts and Sutherland announced their engagement, with an elaborate studio-planned wedding scheduled for June 14 1991. Roberts broke the engagement three days before the wedding when she discovered Sutherland had been meeting with a stripper named Amanda Rice. Roberts subsequently went to Ireland with Jason Patric, a friend of Sutherland's. On June 27, 1993, she married country singer Lyle Lovett; the couple had met only three weeks earlier. The wedding took place on 72-hours' notice and was held in Marion, Indiana, near where Lovett was appearing on tour with his band. Less than two years later, in March 1995, the couple announced their separation. They subsequently divorced.

In 1998, Roberts began dating Law & Order star Benjamin Bratt, who was her escort for the March 25, 2001 Academy Awards ceremony at which she won her Oscar. Three months later, in June 2001, Roberts and Bratt announced that they were no longer a couple. "It's come to a kind and tenderhearted end," she said of their relationship.[8]

Roberts met her current husband, cameraman Daniel Moder, on the set of her movie The Mexican in 2000 and they began an affair. Though at the time, Moder was married to Vera Steinberg Moder, he filed for divorce a little over a year later, and after it was finalized, he and Roberts wed on Fourth of July 2002, at her ranch in Taos, New Mexico.[9]

On November 28, 2004, they became the parents of fraternal twins, daughter Hazel Patricia and son Phinnaeus Walter. Their third child, son Henry Daniel Moder, was born on June 18 2007 in Los Angeles.[10][11]

Roberts has long owned a penthouse apartment 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 Taos New Mexico, New York City, Malibu, and Venice Beach, California.

It is believed that Julia no longer owns the Venice Beach property. Shortly after marrying Moder, she purchased two beachfront lots in Malibu for $20,000,000 and began planning an exclusive compound that would be the family's permanent home. She razed the original structure on the property and made plans for the construction of a new 6,144 sq. ft. mansion. The home is expected to be complete in time for Christmas 2007 and has 5 bedrooms and six bathrooms. The property also will have a tennis court and olympic swimming pool. When complete the market value could be as high as $40 million.

Roberts has never done a nude scene in her entire film career.[12] This was especially noted in the movie "Flatliners", where her top is open with the cardio sensors on her chest, but her breasts are covered with a bra.

[edit] Charities

Roberts has given her time and resources to UNICEF as well as to other charitable organizations. In Spring 1995, Roberts, an enthusiastic supporter of UNICEF, asked if she could meet some of the relief agency's neediest recipients. On May 10, she arrived in Port-au-Prince, as she said, "to educate myself." The poverty she found was overwhelming. "My heart is just bursting," she said. UNICEF officials hoped that her six-day visit would trigger an outburst of giving: $10 million in aid was sought at the time.

In 2000, Roberts narrated Silent Angels, a documentary about Rett syndrome, which was shot in Los Angeles, Baltimore and New York. The documentary was designed to help raise public awareness about the disease. In July 2006, Earth Biofuels announced Roberts as a spokeswoman for the company and as chair of the company’s newly formed Advisory Board promoting the use of renewable fuels.

[edit] Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1987 Firehouse Babs
1988 Blood Red Maria Collogero
Miami Vice Polly Wheeler TV (season 4 episode 22: Mirror Image)
Mystic Pizza Daisy Arujo
Baja Oklahoma Candy Hutchins TV
Satisfaction (film) aka Girls of Summer Daryle
1989 Steel Magnolias Shelby Eatenton Latcherie Academy Award nomination: Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe win: Best Supporting Actress
1990 Flatliners Rachel Mannus
Pretty Woman Vivian Ward Academy Award nomination: Best Actress
BAFTA nomination: Best Actress
Golden Globe win: Best Musical/Comedy Actress
1990 Hook Tinkerbell
Dying Young Hilary O'Neil
Sleeping with the Enemy Sara Waters/Laura Burney
1992 The Player Cameo
1993 The Pelican Brief Darby Shaw
1994 Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter) Anne Eisenhower
I Love Trouble Sabrina Peterson
1995 Something to Talk About Grace King Bichon
1996 Everyone Says I Love You Von Sidell
Michael Collins Kitty Kiernan
Mary Reilly Mary Reilly
1997 Conspiracy Theory Alice Sutton
My Best Friend's Wedding Julianne Potter Golden Globe nominaton: Best Musical/Comedy Actress
1998 Stepmom Isabel Kelly
1999 Runaway Bride Maggie Carpenter
Notting Hill Anna Scott 300.00$US
2000 Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich Academy Award win: Best Actress
BAFTA win: Best Actress
Golden Globe win: Best Drama Actress
2001 Ocean's Eleven Tess Ocean
America's Sweethearts Kathleen "Kiki" Harrison
The Mexican Samantha Barzel
2002 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind Patricia Watson
Grand Champion Jolene
Full Frontal Catherine/Francesca
2003 Mona Lisa Smile Katherine Ann Watson 25.000$US
2004 Ocean's Twelve Tess Ocean
Closer Anna
2006 Charlotte's Web Charlotte Voice
The Ant Bully Hova Voice
2007 Charlie Wilson's War Joanne Herring
2008 Fireflies in the Garden Lisa Waechter Post - Production
The Friday Night Knitting Club Georgia Walker Pre - Production
Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert Announced
Happiness Sold Separately Elinor Announced
2009 Duplicity Pre - Production

[edit] Awards

[edit] Awards won

  • 1990: Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Steel Magnolias
  • 1991: Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical Pretty Woman
  • 1991: ShoWest Female Star of the Year
  • 1991: People's Choice Award for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
  • 1992: People's Choice Award for Favourite Comedy Motion Picture Actress and Favourite Dramatic Motion Picture Actress
  • 1994: National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble Pret-a-Porter
  • 1994: People's Choice Award for Favourite Dramatic Motion Picture Actress
  • 1997: Hasty Pudding Theatricals for Woman of the Year
  • 1998: Blockbluster Entertainment Award for Favourite Actress - Comedy My Best Friend's Wedding and Favourite Actress - Suspense Conspiracy Theory
  • 1998: ShoWest Award for International Star of the Year
  • 1998: People's Choice Award for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
  • 1999: Blockbluster Entertainment Award for Favourite Actress- Drama Stepmom
  • 2000: People's Choice Award for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
  • 2001: People's Choice Award for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
  • 2001: American Museum of the Moving Image Honoree Award
  • 2001: Academy Award, BAFTA, Golden Globe, National Board of Review, Critic's Choice Award, Blockbuster Entertainment Award, London's Critic's Circle Film Award, Los Angeles Film Critic's Association Award, MTV Movie Award, San Diego Film Critic's Society Award, Teen Choice Award and Screen Actors Guild for Best Actress in Erin Brockovich
  • 2002: People's Choice Award for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
  • 2003: People's Choice Award for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
  • 2004: National Board of Review Award for Best Acting by an Ensemble Closer
  • 2004: People's Choice Award for Favourite Motion Picture Actress
  • 2005: People's Choice Award for Favourite Female Movie Star
  • 2007: 22nd American Cinematheque Award
Awards
Preceded by
Sigourney Weaver
for Working Girl 		Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
for Steel Magnolias 		Succeeded by
Whoopi Goldberg
for Ghost
Preceded by
Jessica Tandy
for Driving Miss Daisy 		Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
for Pretty Woman
1991 		Succeeded by
Bette Midler
for For the Boys
Preceded by
Hilary Swank
for Boys Don't Cry 		Academy Award for Best Actress
for Erin Brockovich
2000 		Succeeded by
Halle Berry
for Monster's Ball
Preceded by
Annette Bening
for American Beauty 		BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
for Erin Brockovich
2001 		Succeeded by
Judi Dench
for Iris
Preceded by
Annette Bening
for American Beauty 		Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture
for Erin Brockovich
2000 		Succeeded by
Halle Berry
for Monster's Ball
Preceded by
Hilary Swank
for Boys Don't Cry 		Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama
for Erin Brockovich
2001 		Succeeded by
Sissy Spacek
for In the Bedroom

[edit] Awards nominated

  • 1989: Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actress in Mystic Pizza
  • 1989: Young Artist Awards for Best Young Actress in a MOtion Picture- Drama Mystic Pizza
  • 1989: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Steel Magnolias
  • 1990: Academy Awards and BAFTA for Best Actress in Pretty Woman
  • 1991: Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress Flatliners
  • 1992: Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films Saturn Award for Best Actress Sleeping with the Enemy
  • 1992: MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance and Most Desirable Female Dying Young
  • 1994: MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performane The Pelican Brief
  • 1997: Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical My Best Friend's Wedding
  • 1998: MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performane and Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture- Comedy or Musical My Best Friend's Wedding
  • 1999: Golden Globe for 'Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical Notting Hill
  • 1999: Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series Law & Order
  • 1999: Kid's Choice Awards Blimp Award for Favourite Movie Actress Stepmom
  • 2000: Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favourite Actress- Comedy/Romance Notting Hill and Runaway Bride,Csapnivalo Awards Golden Slate Best Female Performance and MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance Runaway Bride
  • 2000: Kid's Choice Awards Blimp Award for Favourite Movie Actress Notting Hill and Runaway Bride and Blimp Award for Favourite Movie Couple Notting Hill
  • 2000: Golden Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical Notting Hill
  • 2001: Chicago Film Critic's Association, Las Vegas Film Critics Society Sierra Award, Online Film Critics Society, Golden Satellite Award-Drama and Empire Awards (UK) for Best Actress Erin Brockovich and MTV Movie Award for Best Line from a Movie Erin Brockovich
  • 2001: Teen's Choice Award for Film-Choice Chemistry The Mexican
  • 2002: PhoenixFilm Critics Society Award for Best Acting Ensemble Ocean's Eleven
  • 2005: Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Ensemble Closer and Ocean's Twelve
  • 2007: Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a supporting role (Comedy or Musical) "Charlie Wilson's War"

[edit] Further reading

  • Julia: Her Life by James Spada (New York: St Martin's Press, 2004)[13]
  • Julia Roberts: America's Sweetheart by Mark Bego (New York: AMI Books, 2003)[14]
  • Julia Roberts Confidential: The Unauthorised Biography by Paul Donnelley (London: Virgin, 2003)[15]
  • Julia Roberts: Pretty Superstar by Frank Sanello (Edinburgh: Mainstream 2000)[16]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/17/richest-women-entertainment-tech-media-cz_lg_richwomen07_0118womenstars_lander.html
  2. ^ http://www.lhj.com/lhj/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/lhj/story/data/powerindex_10012001.xml
  3. ^ http://landing.ancestry.com/famoustree/index.aspx?name=roberts&offerId=0:679:0
  4. ^ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019215/bio
  5. ^ http://www.cobbk12.org/~campbellhs
  6. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0006015/news Julia Roberts criticized for behavior at Oscars
  7. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Actor&id=juliaroberts.htm
  8. ^ http://www.people.com/people/article/0,26334,622133,00.html
  9. ^ Schneider, Karen (2002-07-11). Hideaway Bride. People Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
  10. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070618/ap_on_en_mo/people_julia_roberts
  11. ^ http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20042936,00.html
  12. ^ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000210/bio
  13. ^ http://www.jamesspada.com
  14. ^ http://www.markbego.com
  15. ^ http://www.pauldonnelley.com
  16. ^ http://hometown.aol.com/fsanello/ghostwriter/frank_sanello.htm

[edit] External links

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Persondata
NAME Roberts, Julia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Julie Roberts
SHORT DESCRIPTION Academy Award-winning American actress
DATE OF BIRTH October 28 1967 (1967-10-28) (age 41)
PLACE OF BIRTH Smyrna, Georgia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
ar:جوليا روبرتس

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