A true Hollywood queen! Julia Roberts established herself as a leading actress in 1990’s Pretty Woman and has since continued to be one of Hollywood’s most prominent stars.
The Wonder actress was born in a suburb outside of Atlanta, Georgia where her parents ran a children’s acting school. While Roberts initially attended Georgia State University following high school, she ultimately decided to drop out early to pursue an acting career in New York City.
Following her role in 1989’s Steel Magnolias, for which she received her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, the Ben Is Back star scored her first starring role in 1990’s Pretty Woman opposite Richard Gere. The romantic comedy was an instant hit, leading to her becoming a global sensation.
“They say I can open movies, and that’s nice in that it puts into people’s minds that women can do it,” Roberts told The Guardian in a 2009 interview. “It’s not just Kevin Costner, not just Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not just guys.”
After her rise to fame in Pretty Woman, Roberts continued her success throughout the following decades starring in fan-favorite films such as 1999’s Notting Hill, 2000’s Erin Brockovich, 2001’s Ocean’s Eleven, 2013’s August: Osage County and many more.
Throughout her career, she has received numerous accolades including winning Best Actress for her role in Erin Brockovich, three Golden Globe Awards for Erin Brockovich, Pretty Woman and Steel Magnolias and three Emmy nominations.
Although the Eat Pray Love star has had many impressive accomplishments, Roberts has shared that being an actor is “not [her] only dream come true.”
“The life I’ve built with my husband,” Roberts said in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning in October 2022 when asked about about her other aspirations. “The life we’ve built with our children. And that’s the best stuff … The point is to come home at the end of the day triumphantly to them.”
Roberts married cinematographer Danny Moder in 2002 and the twosome share three kids together – twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, born in 2004, and son Henry, born in 2007.
“When I’m not working, [being a homemaker] is my full-time job,” the Ticket to Paradise star shared. “It isn’t rainbows and kittens every day, but it does bring me a lot of joy.”
Before her marriage to Moder, Roberts was married to Lyle Lovett from 1993 to 1996. She has also been romantically linked to high-profile actors including Kiefer Sutherland, Matthew Perry, Daniel Day-Lewis and Liam Neeson.
However, the Mystic Pizza actress has implied that none of her past romances shook her quite like meeting Moder.
“I think that first kind of real … ‘seismic shift’ was meeting Danny,” she said in a 2018 interview on “Goop” podcast. “Getting married to Danny. That was the first, like, my life will never be the same in the most incredible, indescribable way.”
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Keep scrolling for a look back at Roberts’ life and career over the years:
