Julia Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. She was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing the title role in the movie Erin Brockovich. She is sister to Eric Roberts.
Born Julie Fiona Roberts in Smyrna, Georgia, Roberts received worldwide fame with Pretty Woman in 1990, which also earned her an Oscar nomination. Her next huge box-office success was Sleeping With the Enemy. She played in Steven Spielberg's Hook in 1991. For the two following years she only had a cameo appearance in Robert Altman's The Player (1992).
In 1993 she returned in the highly successful The Pelican Brief based on a John Grisham novel of the same title. Grisham wrote the lead female character, Darby Shaw, specifically for Roberts to play. In the following years most of her films were huge box-office successes. She won critical claim and an Oscar for best actress for her portrayal of civil rights campaigner Erin Brockovich in the 2001 movie of the same name.
Roberts's personal life has often been the subject of the public spotlight. This aspect of Roberts's life was highlighted in her 1998 movie Notting Hill - a romantic comedy about a famous actress and an 'ordinary guy' falling in love. Roberts's character, actress Anna Scott, was said to be closely modelled on Roberts herself, to the extent that when asked in one scene how much she was paid to appear in a movie, Scott replied "Fifteen million dollars". This is precisely the amount Roberts received to appear in Notting Hill. Roberts was engaged to actor Kiefer Sutherland in 1991 but ended the relationship shortly before the wedding. Roberts later married country and western singer Lyle Lovett before divorcing him in 1995. On 4 July 2002 she married cameraman Daniel Moder in Taos, New Mexico.