Julia Roberts: Pretty Woman on Magazine Covers

JuliaRoberts was born in 1967 as Julia Ruberto in Atlanta, GA. After graduating fromhigh school Roberts moved to New York City to live with her sister Lisa andbegan pursuing her acting career. At this time she changed her name to JuliaRoberts.

Theactress made her film debut alongside her brother Eric Roberts in 1987’s BloodRed, and the flop Satisfaction. The following year she garnered attention frommoviegoers and critics, including a nod by People magazine, which names her oneof the most-promising newcomers of 1988, with her role as a head-strongwaitress in the indie film Mystic Pizza; she also landed parts on popular TVshows like Miami Vice and Sesame Street. 

In1989 at age 22 Roberts gave one of the best performances of her career in thehit drama Steel Magnolias, in which she played a young wife struggling withdiabetes and motherhood. The fantastic performance earned Roberts a GoldenGlobe award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Robertsfollowed up her Steel Magnolias success with an even bigger box officesuccess—Pretty Woman. The romantic comedy’s modern-day Cinderella plot with atwist won audiences over and it quickly became a mega-hit, earning $463 millionat the box office. With Pretty Woman, Roberts was a bona fide movie star on theHollywood A-list. Again she earned an Academy Award nomination, this time forBest Actress.

Amidstthis early major career success, Roberts made many celebrity magazine headlinesfor her turbulent personal life, in which she dated a string of actorsincluding Liam Neeson, Dylan McDermott, Keifer Sutherland, whom she was engaged. Roberts made every celebrity magazinewhen she backed out of her nuptials to Sutherland and instead flew to Dublinwith actor Jason Patric, whom she dated briefly.

Robertsfollowing movies included modest successes like Flatliners, Dying Young, Sleepingwith the Enemy and Hook. At this time Roberts took a two-year hiatus frommovies prompting People magazine to ask on one of its 1993 covers, “Where isJulia Roberts?”

A few months later Robertssurprised everyone by marrying country singer Lyle Lovett three weeks aftermeeting each other. Less than two years later, in 1995, the couple separated,and subsequently divorced.

By 1996 Roberts was back on topat the box office with the hit My Best Friend’s Wedding, which she followed upwith another string of modest hits including Stepmom, Notting Hill and TheMexican. During this time Roberts was happily dating actor Benjamin Bratt.

Finallyin 2001, Roberts received an Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayalof the title character in Erin Brockovich. After the win, Roberts became thefirst woman to break into the $20-million-per-film club, which she received forher role in Mona Lisa Smile; with this paycheck Roberts became thehighest-paid actress in Hollywood at that time.

In2002 Roberts married Danny Moder, a cameraman she met while filming TheMexican. The pair wed secretly at Roberts’ New Mexico ranch but weddingpictures later appeared in People magazine. The couple became parents to twinsFinn and Hazel in 2004 and Henry in 2007. Upon starting a family Roberts scaledback her roles; since 2007 she has appeared in one movie a year includingCharlie Wilson’s War, Fireflies in the Garden, Duplicity and the upcomingFriday Night Knitting Club.

Since her breakthrough success Robertshas been a favorite subject among top-selling magazines. She was the firstactress to appear on the cover of Voguemagazine and the first woman to appear on the cover of GQ.  People magazine hasnamed her one of its “50 Most Beautiful People” eleven times and has appearedon the celebrity magazine’s cover a total of 29 times. In 2001 Ladies Home Journal magazine rankedher as the 11th most powerful woman in America. She has also appeared on thecovers of Allure, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Redbook and Good Housekeepingto name a few.