American actress, winner of the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in “Steel Magnolias,” 1989 and a second Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in “Pretty Woman” in 1990. With Academy Award nominations for the same roles, she became the highest paid actress of her generation, earning $12 million per film.
Roberts is one of three children born to vacuum cleaner salesman Walter Roberts and church secretary and actress Betty Motes. Dad was a onetime actor and writer who wed Betty in 1955 after touring military bases in productions of “George Washington Slept Here.” While daughter Julia grew up in Smyrna, Walter and Betty ran a theater school in nearby Piedmont Park where “by the time I could walk and talk and formulate my thoughts” she wanted to be an actress, yet her avowed goal in life was to become a veterinarian. At age four her parents divorced. Julia and sister Lisa (born 1965) lived with her mom while brother Eric (born 1956) lived with dad. Home was a battleground and Betty’s second husband showed little affection toward his stepdaughters. Julia sorely missed having a positive male role model in her life. Five years later, her dad, whom she loved deeply, died of cancer leaving her clinging to her brother Eric for male emotional support.
While attending high school, Julia spent much time daydreaming alone in her room while trying to keep up appearances in the correct designer jeans and “flirting like Scarlett O’Hara.” Immediately after graduation, at 18 she collected a trust fund of $29,000 and moved out, joining sister Lisa in New York to launch an acting career.
While working in a shoe store to support herself, she initially had no luck despite her unceasing efforts. Brother Eric, himself an actor with a role in the film “Blood Red,” persuaded the director to allow Julia to join the cast in 1986 with a bit part.
In 1988, after dying her hair dark brown, Julia was cast in the film “Mystic Pizza,” followed by “Satisfaction.” The following year she was cast opposite veteran actress Shirley MacLaine, Sally Field and Darryl Hannah in the film “Steel Magnolias” in a role which won her critical and popular acclaim, making her an instant star. “Pretty Woman” followed the next year and Julia, as she was now known, was an established star. A steady stream of films followed including, “Flatliners,” 1990, “Sleeping With The Enemy,” 1991, “The Pelican Brief,” 1993, “Something To Talk About,” 1996, “Conspiracy Theory,” 1997 and “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” 1997.
Roberts owns a duplex apartment in New York, a house in Hollywood Hills and a 50-acre retreat near Taos, NM. A hard worker for charity, Roberts donates much time and resource to UNICEF, traveling to Haiti and India to promote goodwill and helping children in need.
By 2000, Roberts had apparently overcome former insecurities and was comfortable with her role as a superstar, getting great reviews for the newly released “Erin Brockovich” and happily spending time with her beau, actor Benjamin Bratt. She and Bratt, 32, have been seriously dating since 1998, a difficult feat when they live on different coasts.
Over the years Julia has had relationships with various costars and other men in her life and career, playing the role of “Runaway Bride” in her private life. After costarring with Liam Neeson in “Satisfaction,” 1988, they lived together in Venice, CA for a short time. She was briefly engaged to Dylan McDermott, who played her husband in “Steel Magnolias,” 1989. Roberts and Kiefer Sutherland were inseparable in 1991 since meeting on the set of “Flatliners” the previous year. Engaged to be married on 6/14/1991, she dumped him at the altar, running off with actor Jason Patric. She met 35-year-old country music star Lyle Lovett while filming “The Player,” 1992. In a sudden move that surprised everyone, they married on 6/25/1993 in Marion, IN. (Lovett was born 11/01/1956, Klein, Texas.) The marriage ended in divorce on 3/22/1995 though they remain best friends.
Roberts made a couple with actor Daniel Day-Lewis in 1995, and briefly dated Matthew Perry, whom she met while filming an episode of “Friends” in 1995. Her beau in 1995-’96 was Pat Mannochia (aka Pasquale Mannochia), health club owner and former hockey player, followed by actor Ross Partridge, in 1996-’97. After four years with Benjamin Bratt, they ended the affair in May 2001. She was soon seen with cameraman Danny Moder, 32, whom she married at midnight on 7/04/2002 at her 40-acre estate outside of Taos, NM. Moder was born 1/31/1969, Los Angeles, CA.
On 1/21/2001, Roberts was awarded the Golden Globe for her most recent picture, “Erin Brockovich.”
The expectant mother of twins experienced contractions on October 23, 2004 and was admitted to a hospital. Doctors deemed her situation not serious but ordered bed rest for the remainder of her term. The twins were due in January 2005.
The actress delivered a girl and a boy on November 28, 2004 at about 3 AM PST in a Los Angeles, CA hospital. The twins’ names are Phinnaeus Walter Moder and Hazel Patricia Moder and their data is taken from news reports.
The actress made her Broadway debut in “Three Days of Rain.” The play, which began a week of previews on March 28, 2006, was scheduled to open officially on April 19, 2006.
She and her husband welcomed the newest addition to their family, a son named Henry Daniel Moder, born on June 18, 2007 in Los Angeles “early in the morning.”
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