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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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