Julia Roberts Turns 54 — Her Movies And TV Shows Through The Years

Oct 28, 2021 by apost team

Julia Roberts has been one of the top leading ladies in Hollywood since she starred in the 1990 film "Pretty Woman," which is still the role she is most remembered for. The star has received numerous accolades for her acting, including an Academy Award and three Golden Globes. When counting all of her movies, Roberts' films have brought in a box office gross of over $3.8 billion globally. It's fair to say that she can be considered one of the international greats of acting and a movie icon of the modern age.

Roberts won her Academy Award for her titular role in the film "Erin Brockovich" in 2000. Some of her other popular films include "Steel Magnolias," "My Best Friend's Wedding" and "Ocean's Eleven." She has also been voted the most beautiful woman in the world five times by People magazine. Despite being one of the most famous people in the world, the actress does her best to keep herself and her family away from the public eye.

In keeping with her private nature, Roberts didn't marry another celebrity; instead, she married cinematographer Danny Moder in 2002. The couple met on the set of the movie "The Mexican," where Danny had been a cameraman and Julia the leading lady. Together they have three children — twins Phinnaeus and Hazel, 16, and a son named Henry, 14.

Today, Roberts turns 54 and as she enters another year in her hopefully still long on-going life, we take some time and look back upon her outstanding career and achievements. 

Roberts was born October 28, 1967, in Smyrna, Georgia, which is a suburb of Atlanta. She is the daughter of Betty Lou Bredemus and Walter Grady Roberts, who passed away from cancer in 1977 when Roberts was 10. 

Her parents were actors and playwrights, and they opened an acting school in Decatur, Georgia, while Roberts' mother was pregnant with her. One of her father's students was Yolanda, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. As a thank you to the family, Mrs. King paid for the hospital bill when Roberts was born.  

Her parents divorced in 1971, and Roberts' mother remarried to a man named Michael Motes that has been accused of being abusive and often unemployed. The Daily Mirror said, "Julia 'feared and despised' Motes, an alcoholic who is said to have made her life, and that of her siblings, a complete misery."

Roberts has not spoken out much about her childhood, but According to Daily Mirror, she did say: "I have very strong opinions about things, and I have a young (half) sister who is a product of my mother's second marriage, and out of respect for her and my mom, I don't think it's really fair." Roberts' half-sister, Nancy Motes, passed away from an apparent drug overdose in 2014.

After high school, Roberts moved to New York City to pursue a career in acting. She appeared in a few films beginning in 1988 but first found critical success with her role in "Steel Magnolias" in 1989. The role earned her an Academy Award nomination and won her a Golden Globe award. The star found worldwide success a year later with the iconic film "Pretty Woman." 

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Throughout most of the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, Roberts was the highest-paid actress in the world. In 2003 she was paid an unprecedented $25 million for starring in the film "Mona Lisa Smile." As of 2020, her net worth is an estimated $250 million. However, her demeanor and the way she views her success make her seem very approachable.

Roberts told Variety that she did not feel overwhelmed by making so much money or for being the highest-paid actress of the 90s. "It never felt like pressure. All the salaries in those days where there was just a lot of money to be spent making films — in a comical way, I thought, OK, sure, this is ridiculous, but I'll be part of this party. I'm just walking in a path that Barbra Streisand has hacked out with a machete, so to be the gardener that's picking some weeds that have come up since these incredible women before me have made a path for all of us to be artists in our own right — it was nice to feel that I had a little puzzle piece to that," said Roberts.

In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, the actress shared how she chooses her roles. "I just wait to see what comes along, as opposed to looking for it," said Roberts. "It makes it fun and organic." However, she adds, "there's an almost unfair bar that a script has to attain for me to say 'I'm going to pack everything up for this.'"

Apart from movies, Roberts has also worked on several TV shows and productions over the years. Most of the time, she has only been a special guest for a set number of episodes, but for the thriller series Homecoming, Roberts took on the role of Heidi Bergman, the main protagonist of the first season.

Happy birthday to Julia Roberts! What were your favorite movies that featured the actress? Tell us and pass this along to fellow fans!