Julia Roberts | Life's journey from Julia Roberts | Julia Roberts Image

Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the 1990s romantic comedy Pretty Woman, which grossed $464 million worldwide. After receiving Academy Award nominations for Steel Magnolias in 1990 and Pretty Woman in 1991, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 2001 for her performance in Erin Brockovich. Her films My Best Friend's Wedding, Mystic Pizza, Notting Hill, Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day, The Pelican Brief, Ocean's Eleven and Twelve have collectively brought box office receipts of over $2.4 billion, making her one of the most successful actors in terms of box office receipts.

Julia had become one of the highest-paid actresses in the world, topping the Hollywood Reporter's annual "power list" of top-earning female stars from 2005 to 2006. Her fee for 1990's Pretty Woman was $300,000; in 2003, she was paid an unprecedented $25 million for her role in Mona Lisa Smile. As of 2010, Julia's net worth was estimated to be $140 million.

Julia has been named one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" eleven times, tied with Halle Berry. In 2001, Ladies Home Journal ranked her as the 11th most powerful woman in America, ahead of then national security advisor Condoleezza Rice and former first lady Laura Bush. Julia has a production company called Red Om Films.

Julia has brought to life some of the books from American Girl as films, serving as executive producer alongside her sister Lisa. The company's product lines and services are focused on pre-teen-girl characters from various periods of American history, embodied as dolls and featured in narratives including books and movies. Julia has produced four movies.

Julia has had reported romantic relationships with numerous famous men, including Liam Neeson, Dylan McDermott, Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patric, Lyle Lovett, Matthew Perry, and Benjamin Bratt. She was briefly engaged to McDermott, her Steel Magnolias co-star, and supposedly suffered from mental issues resulting from that breakup according to director Steven Spielberg on the set of the film Hook. She met Sutherland in 1990, when he was her co-star in Flatliners. In August 1990, Julia and Sutherland announced their engagement, with an elaborate studio-planned wedding scheduled for June 14, 1991. Julia broke the engagement three days before the wedding. Julia subsequently went to Ireland with Jason Patric, a friend of Sutherland's. On June 25, 1993, she married country singer Lyle Lovett. The wedding took place at St. James Lutheran Church in Marion, Indiana, near where Lovett was appearing on tour with his band. In March 1995, the couple separated, and subsequently divorced.

In 1998, Julia began dating Law & Order star Benjamin Bratt, and he was her escort for the March 25, 2001 Academy Awards ceremony at which she won her Oscar. Three months later, in June 2001, Julia and Bratt announced that they were no longer a couple. "It's come to a kind and tenderhearted end," she said of their relationship.

Julia met her current husband, cameraman Daniel Moder, on the set of her movie The Mexican in 2000, while she was still dating Bratt. At the time, Moder was married to Vera Steimberg Moder. He filed for divorce a little over a year later, and after it was finalized, he and Julia wed on July 4, 2002, at her ranch in Taos, New Mexico. Together, they have three children, twins Hazel Patricia Moder and Phinnaeus "Finn" Walter Moder (born November 28, 2004) and Henry Daniel Moder (born June 18, 2007).

Julia disclosed in a 2010 interview for Elle magazine that she is practicing Hinduism. Julia is a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj-ji). A picture of Neem Karoli Baba drew Julia to Hinduism.

Julia has given her time and resources to UNICEF as well as to other charitable organizations. On May 10, 1995, Julia arrived in Port-au-Prince, as she said, "to educate myself". The poverty she found was overwhelming. "My heart is just bursting", she said. UNICEF officials hoped that her six-day visit would trigger an outburst of giving: $10 million in aid was sought at the time.

In 2000, Julia narrated Silent Angels, a documentary about Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder, which was shot in Los Angeles, Baltimore and New York. The documentary was designed to help raise public awareness about the disease. In July 2006, Earth Biofuels announced Julia as a spokeswoman for the company and as chair of the company's newly formed Advisory Board promoting the use of renewable fuels.

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