Julia Roberts
Info
Julia Roberts is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades. With 12 of the films in which Roberts has starred earning at least $100 million at the domestic box office, she is considered one of the most bankable actresses in Hollywood. Her films have brought in box office receipts of over $3.8 billion globally. Roberts was the highest-paid actress in the world throughout most of the 1990s and in the first half of the 2000s.
Bio
Julia Roberts made her acting debut in the 1987 film Firehouse, where her work remains uncredited. Her first big screen appearance was in the film Satisfaction in 1988, alongside Liam Neeson and Justine Bateman. She had previously performed a small role opposite her brother Eric, in Blood Red, filmed in 1987, although it was not released until 1989.
Her first television appearance was in the initial season of the series Crime Story with Dennis Farina. Her first critical success with moviegoers was her performance in the independent film Mystic Pizza in 1988; that same year, she had a role in the fourth-season finale of Miami Vice. In 1989, she was featured in Steel Magnolias.
Roberts gained further notice from worldwide audiences when she starred with Richard Gere in the Cinderella-Pygmalionesque story, Pretty Woman, in 1990, playing an assertive freelance hooker with a heart of gold. The role also earned her a second Oscar nomination, this time as Best Actress, and second Golden Globe Award win, as Motion Picture Best Actress (Musical or Comedy).
Pretty Woman saw the highest number of ticket sales in the U.S. ever for a romantic comedy and made $463.4 million worldwide. The red dress Roberts wore in the film has been considered one of the most famous gowns in cinema. Roberts starred in the supernatural thriller Flatliners, in 1990. Her next film was the commercially successful thriller, Sleeping with the Enemy in 1991.
Julia played Tinkerbell in Steven Spielberg’s Hook, and starred as a nurse in Joel Schumacher’s romance film Dying Young; both films were also released in 1991, to a highly positive commercial response. Roberts took a two-year hiatus from the screen, during which she made no films other than a cameo appearance in Robert Altman’s The Player in 1992.
Roberts starred with Denzel Washington in the thriller The Pelican Brief in 1993. The film was a commercial success, grossing $195.2 million worldwide. None of her next film releases – I Love Trouble (1994), Prêt-à-Porter (1994), and Something to Talk About (1995) – were particularly well received by critics.
In 1996, she guest-starred in the second season of Friends and appeared with Liam Neeson in the historical drama Michael Collins, portraying Kitty Kiernan, the fiancée of the assassinated Irish revolutionary leader. Stephen Frears’ Mary Reilly, her other 1996 film, was a critical and commercial failure.
By the late 1990s, Roberts enjoyed renewed success in the romantic comedy genre. In My Best Friend’s Wedding in 1997, she starred opposite Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz, and Rupert Everett. The film was a global box-office hit and is considered to be one of the best romantic comedy films of all time. In 1998, Julia Roberts appeared on Sesame Street opposite the character Elmo, and starred in the drama Stepmom, alongside Susan Sarandon. While reviews were mixed, the film made $159.7 million worldwide.
Roberts paired with Hugh Grant for Notting Hill (1999), portraying a famous actress falling in love with a struggling book store owner. The film was the biggest British hit in the history of cinema, with earnings equalling $363 million worldwide.
She reunited with Richard Gere and Garry Marshall in Runaway Bride, also released in 1999. The film received generally mixed reviews from critics, but it did very well at the box office, grossing $309.4 million around the globe. Julia Roberts was a guest star in “Empire”, a Season 9 episode of the television series Law & Order.
In 2000, Julia Roberts portrayed real-life environmental activist Erin Brockovich in her fight against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) of California in the film Erin Brockovich, for which she became the first actress to be paid $20 million for a film. Erin Brockovich made $256.3 million worldwide, and the actress won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role.
In December 2000, Roberts, who had been the highest-paid actress through the 1990s, became the first actress to make The Hollywood Reporter’s list of the 50 most influential women in show business since the list had begun in 1992. Roberts’s first film following Erin Brockovich was the road gangster comedy, The Mexican in 2001, giving her a chance to work with long-time friend Brad Pitt. The Mexican earned $66.8 million at the U.S. box office.
Her next film, the romantic comedy America’s Sweethearts, starred Roberts along with Billy Crystal, John Cusack, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. A commercial success, it grossed over $138 million worldwide. In fall 2001, Roberts teamed with Steven Soderbergh for Ocean’s Eleven, a comedy-crime caper film and a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film of the same name, featuring an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon.
A success with critics and at the box office alike, Ocean’s Eleven became the fifth highest-grossing film of the year with a total of $450 million worldwide. In 2003, Roberts was cast in Mike Newell’s drama film Mona Lisa Smile, also starring Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Julia Stiles. Roberts received a record $25 million for her portrayal of a forward-thinking art history professor at Wellesley College in 1953 – the highest ever earned by an actress until then. The film garnered largely lukewarm reviews by critics.
In 2004, Roberts replaced Cate Blanchett in Mike Nichols’s Closer, a romantic drama film written by Patrick Marber, based on his award-winning 1997 play of the same name. The film also starred Jude Law, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owen. Also in 2004, she reprised the role of Tess Ocean in the sequel Ocean’s Twelve. Though less well-reviewed than Eleven, the film became another major success at the box office, with a gross of $363 million worldwide, mostly from its international run.
In 2005, she was featured in the music video for the single “Dreamgirl” by the Dave Matthews Band; it was her first music video appearance. Roberts appeared in The Hollywood Reporter’s list of the 10 highest-paid actresses every year from 2002 to 2005.
Besides providing her voice for roles in the 2006 animated films The Ant Bully and Charlotte’s Web, Julia Roberts made her Broadway debut in 2006, as Nan in a revival of Richard Greenberg’s 1997 play Three Days of Rain opposite Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd.
Although the play grossed nearly $1 million in ticket sales during its first week and was a commercial success throughout its limited run, her performance drew criticism. Her next film was Charlie Wilson’s War, with Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman, directed by Mike Nichols. It was released in 2007 to critical acclaim.
Fireflies in the Garden, an independent drama in which Roberts played a mother whose death sets the story in motion, also starred Ryan Reynolds and Willem Dafoe; the film was screened at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival and was subsequently shown in European cinemas-it did not get a North American release until 2011. In 2009, Roberts starred with Clive Owen in the moderately successful comic thriller Duplicity.
In 2010, Julia Roberts played a role in the romantic comedy Valentine’s Day and starred as an author finding herself following a divorce in the film adaptation of Eat Pray Love. While she received $3 million upfront against 3 percent of the gross for her six-minute role in Valentine’s Day, Eat Pray Love had the highest debut at the box office for Roberts in a top-billed role since America’s Sweethearts.
In 2011, she appeared in the romantic comedy Larry Crowne, opposite Tom Hanks, who directed and played the title role. The movie received generally mediocre reviews, although Roberts’s comedic performance was praised. In Mirror Mirror in 2012, the Tarsem Singh adaptation of Snow White, Roberts portrayed Queen Clementianna, Snow White’s evil stepmother, opposite Lily Collins.
In 2013, Julia starred alongside Meryl Streep and Ewan McGregor in the black comedy drama August: Osage County. In 2014, Roberts starred as Dr. Emma Brookner, a character based on Dr. Linda Laubenstein, in the television adaptation of Larry Kramer’s AIDS-era play, The Normal Heart, which aired on HBO; the film was critically acclaimed.
She also narrated “Women in Hollywood”, an episode of the second season of Makers: Women Who Make America, in 2014. In 2015, Roberts starred as a grieving mother opposite Nicole Kidman and Chiwetel Ejiofor in the little-seen film Secret in Their Eyes, a remake of the 2009 Argentine film of the same name, both based on the novel La pregunta de sus ojos by author Eduardo Sacheri.
In 2016, she reunited with Garry Marshall again to appear as an accomplished author who gave her child for adoption in the romantic comedy Mother’s Day, opposite Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Jason Sudeikis, and Timothy Olyphant. The film received negative reviews but budgeted at $25 million, was a moderate box office success, grossing $48.5 million. She also starred as a television director in the thriller Money Monster, directed by Jodie Foster and alongside George Clooney and Jack O’Connell.
In Wonder 2017, the film adaptation of the 2012 novel of the same name by R. J. Palacio, Roberts played the mother of a boy with Treacher Collins syndrome. The film received positive reception and with a worldwide gross of $305.9 million, Wonder emerged as one of Roberts’s most widely seen films. Roberts took on the role of a caseworker at a secret government facility in her first television series, Homecoming, which premiered on November 2, 2018, on Amazon Video.
In 2018, Julia Roberts starred in Ben is Back and is set to appear in Tickets to Paradise in 2022, alongside George Clooney.
Stats
Date of Birth: 28th October 1967
Height: 5’9″
Weight: 58 kg
Filmography
1987: Firehouse
1988: Satisfaction, Mystic Pizza
1989: Blood Red, Steel Magnolias
1990: Pretty Woman, Flatliners
1991: Sleeping with the Enemy, Dying Young, Hook
1992: The Player
1993: The Pelican Brief
1994: I Love Trouble, Prêt-à-Porter
1995: Something to Talk About
1996: Mary Reilly, Michael Collins, Everyone Says I Love You
1997: My Best Friend’s Wedding, Conspiracy Theory
1998: Stepmom
1999: Notting Hill, Runaway Bride
2000: Erin Brockovich
2001: The Mexican, America’s Sweethearts, Ocean’s Eleven
2002: Grand Champion, Full Frontal, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
2003: Mona Lisa Smile
2004: Tell Them Who You Are, Closer, Ocean’s Twelve
2006: The Ant Bully, Charlotte’s Web
2007: Charlie Wilson’s War
2008: Fireflies in the Garden, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
2009: Duplicity
2010: Valentine’s Day, Eat Pray Love
2011: Jesus Henry Christ, Love, Wedding, Marriage, Larry Crowne
2012: Mirror, Mirror
2013: August: Osage County
2015: Secret in Their Eyes
2016: Mother’s Day, Money Monster
2017: Smurfs: The Lost Village, Wonder
2018: Ben Is Back
2022: Ticket to Paradise
Awards
Academy Award for Best Actress, BAFTA Award for Best Film Actress in a Leading Role, Critics’ Choice Award for Best Movie Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Latest Articles
Did You Know George Clooney Convinced Julia Roberts To Do Ocean’s 11 For $20?
Friends: Julia Roberts Was Convinced By Matthew Perry To Come Onboard & The Scientific Way Will Win Your Heart!
Pretty Woman Star Julia Roberts Spent Time With Prostitutes Before Filming
Controversy
Julia Roberts faced backlash when people speculated that she cheated on her ex-husband, Danny Moder.
Some even claimed to have spotted the actress with another man.
FAQs
Q. Did Julia Roberts attend college?
A. Though the actress attended the George State University, the actress never graduated.
Q. What is Julia Robert’s net worth?
A. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Julia Robert’s net worth is $250 million.
Q. Is Julia Robert’s married?
A. Yes, Julia Robert’s is married to Danny Moder since 2002. Before this, she was married to Lyle Lovett from 1933 to 1995.