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Julia Fiona Roberts (28 October 1967) is an Academy Award-winning American film
actress and former fashion model. She shot to fame during the early 1990s after
starring in the romantic comedy, Pretty Woman, opposite Richard Gere.
Since then, Roberts has become the highest-paid actress in the world, topping
the Hollywood Reporter's annual power list of top-earning female stars for four
consecutive years (2002-2005). Her career includes films such as Pretty Woman,
Runaway Bride, and Ocean's Eleven, which have collectively earned box office
receipts well over $2 billion.
She won the Best Actress Academy Award in 2001 for her critically praised turn
as the title character in Erin Brockovich after two previous nominations during the
1990s. For her fame and wholesome image, she is often referred to as "America's
Sweetheart". An unprecedented $25 million was paid to Roberts for her role in
2003's Mona Lisa Smile.
As of 2007, Roberts' net worth was estimated around US$140,000,000. She was also
the first actress to appear on the cover of Vogue and the first woman to land on
the cover of GQ. She has been named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful
People in the World" a record-setting eleven times, tied with Halle Berry. In 2001
Ladies Home Journal ranked her as the 11th most powerful woman in America beating
out then national security advisor Condoleeza Rice and first lady Laura Bush.
She maintains a close friendship with actress-activist Susan Sarandon.
It is commonly mistaken that Julia's birth name is "Julie," however, Julia has said
in interviews that "Julie" was a nickname given to her by classmates in elementary
school, and she never took well to it.
Roberts was born in Smyrna, Georgia. Her father, Walter Grady Roberts, was a
vacuum cleaner salesman, and her Minneapolis, Minnesota-born mother, Betty Lou
Bredemus, was a one-time church secretary and a real estate agent.
Her parents, one-time actors and playwrights, met while performing theatrical
productions for the armed forces and later co-founded the Atlanta Actors and
Writers Workshop in Georgia; the two divorced in 1971. Her mother later re-married
to Michael Motes. Roberts's father died of cancer when she was 10.
Her elder brother, Eric Roberts, from whom she is estranged, is also an actor,
as is her niece, Emma Roberts, whom she would often take along on sets when she was
younger. Roberts wanted to be a veterinarian as a child, but soon after graduating
from Smyrna's Campbell High School, and attending Georgia State University, she
headed to New York to join her sister and pursue a career in acting.
Once there, she signed with the Click modeling agency and enrolled in acting
classes. She reverted to her original name "Julia Roberts" when she found that
there was already a "Julie Roberts" registered with the Screen Actors Guild.
Source : Some of the information on this page came
from a Wikipedia article and is licensed under the GNU Documentation
License. ©2008 www.geneticmatrix.com.
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