Julia Roberts: Snapshot

Name
Julia Roberts
Birth Date
October 28, 1967
Birth Place
Atlanta, Ga.
Julia Roberts won over audiences with her signature smile, booming laugh and red curls playing a loveable prostitute in Pretty Woman. But it was her role as a passionate crusader in Erin Brockovich that earned her an Oscar and made her the highest-paid actress at the time.

Any romantic comedy Roberts touched seemed to turn to box office gold, but it was her love life that kept fans intrigued. Roberts was engaged to Dylan McDermott and Kiefer Sutherland, married briefly to country singer Lyle Lovett and dated Benjamin Bratt for several years before marrying cameraman Danny Moder in 2002. Since giving birth to twins in 2004, she's taken on fewer film roles and welcomed another child in 2007.

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Julia Roberts: Video

Red Carpet Look Book

Watch as Hollywood's Pretty Woman evolves from '80s menswear to '90s Oscar winner to stylish mom of three.

(02:06)

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Julia Roberts: Five Fun Facts

  1. As a child Julia Roberts used to bite her toenails off instead of clipping them. "I was very limber," she told Movieline in 2002.
  2. Fittingly, Julia Roberts loves to play Celebrity, a game in which players come up with clues to help their partners guess famous people and places.
  3. At her 2002 wedding to Danny Moder, Julia Roberts served hot dogs, hamburgers and corn on the cob. But dessert was more upscale: a friend whipped up five cakes (four lemon and one chocolate raspberry), decorated with pictures of Indian deities including her favorite, the elephant god Ganesh.
  4. After giving birth to twins Hazel and Phinnaeus, Julia Roberts picked up a new hobby: The mom-of-two is now an expert knitter.
  5. Julia Roberts enjoys racing horses around a series of plastic barrels at her New Mexico ranch, a skill she picked up during childhood. "When I was a kid the barrels were steel oil drums," she tells In Style. "My knees were always a wreck. But I was proud of them."

Julia Roberts: Biography

1971

Julia Roberts

A Change at Home

Roberts' parents, Walter, a drama teacher, and Betty, a real estate agent, divorce when she is 4. While her father and older brother Eric remain in Atlanta, Roberts and her sister Lisa move to Smyrna, Ga., with their mom.

1985

Julia Roberts

June

Becoming a City Girl

A budding thespian, Roberts – whose first onstage role was playing Elizabeth Dole in a mock election campaign at her school – graduates from Campbell High School in Smyrna. A few months later, Roberts moves to New York to pursue acting full time.

1987

Julia Roberts

May

No Satisfaction

Roberts lands a part in her first movie, playing a hipster band member in the rock-musical Satisfaction. Though the film fails to satisfy critics, 19-year-old Roberts begins dating her costar Liam Neeson, 35. The pair move in together in Venice, Calif., but break up the next year.

Read More on Julia Roberts' Life

Photo Credits

Top Left: Lorenzo Agius/Getty Images

BIOGRAPHY (top to bottom): REX USA; Classmates Yearbook Archives; Kobal Collection/Wireimage

Edited by Mai Dinh, Janet Murphy