Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress and producer. She established herself as a leading lady in Hollywood after headlining the romantic comedy film Pretty Woman (1990), which grossed $464 million worldwide. She has won three Golden Globe Awards, from eight nominations, and has been nominated for four Academy Awards for her film acting, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Erin Brockovich (2000).
Her films have collectively brought box office receipts of over $2.8 billion, making her one of the most bankable actresses in Hollywood. Her most successful films include Mystic Pizza (1988), Steel Magnolias (1989), Pretty Woman (1990), Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), The Pelican Brief (1993), My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999), Runaway Bride (1999), Erin Brockovich (2000), Ocean’s Eleven (2001), Ocean’s Twelve (2004), Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), Valentine’s Day (2010), Eat Pray Love (2010), Money Monster (2016), and Wonder (2017). Roberts was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her performance in the HBO television film The Normal Heart (2014). In 2018, she starred in the Prime Video psychological thriller series Homecoming.
Roberts was the highest-paid actress in the world throughout most of the 1990s and in the first half of the 2000s. 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 (2003). As of 2017, Roberts’s net worth was estimated to be $170 million. The People magazine has named her the most beautiful woman in the world a record five times.
Relationships and marriages
Roberts had romantic relationships with actors Jason Patric, Liam Neeson, Kiefer Sutherland, Dylan McDermott, and Matthew Perry. She was briefly engaged to Sutherland; they broke up three days before their scheduled wedding on June 11, 1991.
On June 25, 1993, she married country singer Lyle Lovett; the wedding took place at St. James Lutheran Church in Marion, Indiana. They separated in March 1995 and subsequently divorced. From 1998 to 2001, Roberts dated actor Benjamin Bratt.
Roberts and her husband, cameraman Daniel Moder, met on the set of her film The Mexican in 2000 while she was still dating Bratt.
At the time, Moder was married to Vera Steimberg. He filed for divorce a little over a year later, and after it was finalised, he and Roberts wed on July 4, 2002, at her ranch in Taos, New Mexico. Together, they have three children: twins, a daughter and a son, born in November 2004, and another son born in June 2007.
Religious beliefs
In 2010, Roberts said she was a Hindu. Roberts is a devotee of the guru Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj-ji), a picture of whom drew Roberts to Hinduism.
In September 2009, Swami Daram Dev of Ashram Hari Mandir in Pataudi, where Roberts was shooting Eat Pray Love, gave her children new names after Hindu gods: Laxmi for Hazel, Ganesh for Phinnaeus and Krishna Balram for Henry.
Philanthropy
Roberts has given her time and resources to UNICEF as well as to other charitable organisations. On May 10, 1995, Roberts 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 the Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder. The documentary was designed to help raise public awareness about the disease.
In July 2006, Roberts became a spokeswoman for Earth Biofuels, as well as Chair of the company’s newly formed Advisory Board promoting the use of renewable fuels. She supported Gucci’s ‘Chime For Change campaign which aims to spread female empowerment.
Roberts was the voice of Mother Nature in a 2014 short film for Conservation International, intended to raise awareness about climate change.