Julia Roberts is one of the worlds most well known actresses. That famous smile has graced the red carpet hundred of times and she is one of the most powerful women in Hollywood, being named the biggest female movie star of all time.She was born Julia Fiona Roberts on 28th October 1967 in Smyrna, Georgia. When she was young she loved animals and she originally wanted to be a vet. However, after graduating of Georgia State University she moved to New York where she signed to an agency and began to pursue a career in modelling and acting.She made her acting debut supporting her brother Eric in Blood Red in which she had just two words of dialogue. He break came when she starred in the independent move Mystic Pizza in 1988, gaining her recognition and attention from the industry. She then went on to appear in Steel Magnolias the following year and won Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars for her performance.Since then her career has gone from strength to strength. Her most famous role came when she played Vivian Ward alongside Richard Gere in the phenomenally popular Pretty Woman. The Cinderella rags-to-riches story of a prostitute who is hired by a wealthy businessman to accompany him to flashy events and parties won the hearts of movie-goers all over the world.
This role won her the Oscar for Best Actress in 1990 and catapulted her to world-wide stardom.
Throughout the nineties roles in films such as My Best Friends Wedding, Runaway Bride and Notting Hill, in which she plays an actress who falls in love with dowdy book shop owner Hugh Grant, meant she continued to climb the Hollywood A-list ladder.
She became an actress who could guarantee a film would be an instant box office hit.
With continued success into the next decade she once again won the Best Actress Oscar for her part in Erin Brockovich in 2001 and became the first actress to ever command over $20 million for a film. She also appeared in both Oceans 11 and 12.
All this has meant that she is one of the worlds highest paid actresses, earning $25 million for Mona Lisa Smile in 2003. Her films have grossed over $2 billion in the US box office.
A regular on Most Beautiful People lists she is well-liked and respected within the industry, being voted the 7th Greatest Movie Star of All Time in Premiere Magazine in 2005.
Her acting career has not been limited to the silver screen. In April 2006 Julia made her Broadway debut playing Nan in a revival of Richard Greenbergs 1997 play The Days of Rain with Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd.
Although the play had a limited run it was hugely successful throughout and grossed nearly $1 million in ticket sales. However, Julia Roberts was criticised for her performance, with Ben Brantly of the New York Times describing her performance as being fraught with "self-consciousness (especially in the first act) [and] only glancingly acquainted with the two characters she plays."
Julias famous movie-star-hounded-by-the-press role in Notting Hill was somewhat a reflection of her own life as she has often been in the glare of the media.
She has had a string of supposed high-profile Hollywood romances including links with Matthew Perry, Liam Neeson and Daniel Day Lewis.
One of her most famous relationships was with Keifer Sutherland, who left his wife and children to move in with the actress before they announced their engagement in 1990.
This relationship fell apart three days before their wedding when Julia discovered he had been meeting a stripper in secret.
After a very short lived marriage to country singer Lyle Lovett in 1993 she finally found happiness with married cameraman Daniel Moder, who she met on the set of The Mexican in 2000. Daniel filed for a divorce after their affair became serious and they married in 2002.
The couple have twins named Hazel Patricia and Phinnaeus Walter who were born in 2004. Julia became a proud parent once again in June 2007 when she gave birth to their son Henry Daniel Moder.
Julia is also a keen supported of the charity UNICEF. On a trip to Haiti in 1995 she said: "My heart is just bursting," when she encountered the evertreme poverty.
Her visit prompted $10 million in aid to be given at the time.
Successful, rich and still in demand, Julia Roberts has certainly made a name for herself as one of the biggest stars the industry has seen.
She will be returning to our screens this year when her latest film, Charlie Wilsons War comes out on 11th January.
Female First Jacqueline Farrer
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