Julia Roberts

2.1. Early life and education

Julia Fiona Roberts was born on October 28, 1967, in Smyrna, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. Her parents were Betty Lou Bredemus and Walter Grady Roberts. Her father was a Baptist, and her mother was a Catholic; Roberts herself was raised Catholic. As a child, Roberts aspired to be a veterinarian. She attended Fitzhugh Lee Elementary School, Griffin Middle School, and Campbell High School in Smyrna, where she played the clarinet in the school band.

After graduating from Campbell High School, Roberts briefly attended Georgia State University but did not complete her degree. She then moved to New York City to pursue an acting career, joining her older sister, Lisa Roberts Gillan. In New York, she signed with the Click Modeling Agency and enrolled in acting classes. The Screen Actors Guild records showed a "Julie Roberts" already registered, so she registered under her full birth name, "Julia Roberts."

2.2. Family background and ancestry

Roberts's parents, who were one-time actors and playwrights, met while performing in theatrical productions for the United States Armed Forces. They later co-founded the Atlanta Actors and Writers Workshop in Atlanta, located off Juniper Street in Midtown. While expecting Julia, they also ran a children's acting school in Decatur, Georgia. The children of Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King Jr., including their daughter Yolanda King, attended the school, with Walter Roberts serving as Yolanda's acting coach. In a significant act of gratitude for Walter Roberts's service in running the only racially integrated theater troupe in the region, and due to the Roberts family's financial difficulties at the time, Coretta King paid the Roberts's hospital bill when Julia was born.

Roberts's parents married in 1955. Her mother filed for divorce in 1971, which was finalized in early 1972. Julia's father died of cancer when she was ten years old, at the age of 44. In 1972, her mother married Michael Motes, who was reportedly abusive and frequently unemployed; Roberts openly expressed her dislike for him. The couple had a daughter, Nancy Motes, born in 1976. Nancy died at the age of 37 on February 9, 2014, from an apparent drug overdose. The marriage between Betty Lou and Michael Motes ended in 1983, with Betty Lou divorcing him on grounds of cruelty and stating that marrying him was the biggest mistake of her life.

Julia Roberts has two older siblings: brother Eric Roberts (born 1956) and sister Lisa Roberts Gillan (born 1965). Her niece, Emma Roberts (Eric's daughter), also became an actress. Julia and Eric were estranged for several years until 2004. Roberts is of English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, German, and Swedish descent. In a 2023 episode of Finding Your Roots, Roberts discovered that the surname of her biological paternal great-great-grandfather was actually Mitchell, not Roberts. During the same program, she also learned that some of her ancestors had owned slaves, a discovery that she described as "sad" but acknowledged as a typical part of that historical period. She is also a distant cousin of fellow actor Edward Norton.

3.1. Early career (1980s)

Roberts made her first television appearance as a juvenile rape victim in the episode "The Survivor" of the series Crime Story, alongside Dennis Farina, broadcast on February 13, 1987. Her big screen debut came in the dramedy Satisfaction (1988), where she starred as a band member seeking a summer gig, alongside Liam Neeson and Justine Bateman. Prior to this, she had filmed a small role in 1987 opposite her brother Eric in Blood Red, though it only featured two words of dialogue from her and was not released until 1989. In 1988, Roberts also had a role in the fourth-season finale of Miami Vice.

Her first significant critical success with moviegoers came with the independent romantic comedy Mystic Pizza (1988), in which she played a Portuguese-American teenage girl working as a waitress at a pizza parlor. Film critic Roger Ebert noted Roberts as a "major beauty with a fierce energy" and predicted that the film "may someday become known for the movie stars it showcased back before they became stars."

In Steel Magnolias (1989), a film adaptation of Robert Harling's 1987 play, Roberts starred as a young bride with diabetes, alongside Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, and Daryl Hannah. The casting director advocated for Roberts while she was filming Mystic Pizza, with Harling stating that her smile "lit everything up." Despite director Herbert Ross being notoriously tough on the newcomer, the film was a critical and commercial success. Roberts received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and her first Golden Globe Award win for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for her performance.

3.2. Rise to stardom (1990s)

Building on her 1989 Academy Award nomination, Roberts achieved widespread international fame when she starred with Richard Gere in the Cinderella-Pygmalionesque story, Pretty Woman (1990), playing an assertive freelance hooker with a heart of gold. Roberts secured the role after several prominent actresses, including Michelle Pfeiffer, Molly Ringwald, Meg Ryan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Karen Allen, and her Steel Magnolias co-star Daryl Hannah, turned it down. The role earned her a second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress, and her second Golden Globe Award win, for Best Actress - Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy). She was paid 300.00 K USD for the part. Pretty Woman set a record for the highest number of ticket sales in the U.S. for a romantic comedy and grossed 463.40 M USD worldwide. The red dress Roberts wore in the film has since become one of the most famous gowns in cinema history.

Her next film release was Joel Schumacher's supernatural thriller Flatliners (1990), in which Roberts played one of five students conducting clandestine experiments that produce near-death experiences. The film received a polarized critical reception but was profitable at the box office and has since become a cult film. In 1991, Roberts starred in the thriller Sleeping with the Enemy, portraying a battered wife attempting to start a new life in Iowa, which grossed 175.00 M USD. She also appeared as a winged, six-inch-tall tomboyish Tinker Bell in Steven Spielberg's fantasy film Hook, which earned 300.90 M USD, and an outgoing yet cautious nurse in her second collaboration with Joel Schumacher, the romance drama Dying Young, which grossed 82.30 M USD globally.

Roberts took a two-year hiatus from the screen, making only a cameo appearance in Robert Altman's The Player (1992). In early 1993, she was the subject of a People magazine cover story titled "What Happened to Julia Roberts?". She then starred with Denzel Washington in the thriller The Pelican Brief (1993), based on John Grisham's 1992 novel. In the film, she played a young law student who uncovers a conspiracy, putting herself and others in danger. The film was a commercial success, grossing 195.20 M USD worldwide. None of her subsequent film releases-I Love Trouble (1994), Prêt-à-Porter (1994), and Something to Talk About (1995)-were particularly well received by critics or significant box office draws. In 1996, she guest-starred in the second season of Friends (episode 13, "The One After the Superbowl"), and also had a brief romantic relationship with actor Matthew Perry around this time. She appeared with Liam Neeson in the historical drama Michael Collins (1996), portraying Kitty Kiernan, the fiancée of the assassinated Irish revolutionary leader. Her other 1996 film, Stephen Frears' Mary Reilly, was a critical and commercial failure.

By the late 1990s, Roberts enjoyed renewed success in the romantic comedy genre. In P. J. Hogan's My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), she starred opposite Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz, and Rupert Everett, as a food critic who realizes she is in love with her best friend and tries to win him back after he decides to marry someone else. Considered one of the best romantic comedies of all time, the film was a global box-office hit, earning 299.30 M USD. In her next film, Richard Donner's political thriller Conspiracy Theory (1997), Roberts starred with Mel Gibson as a Justice Department attorney. Mick LaSalle of San Francisco Chronicle praised Roberts's "fine acting," and the film grossed a respectable 137.00 M USD. In 1998, Roberts appeared on the television series Sesame Street opposite the character Elmo, and starred in the drama Stepmom, alongside Susan Sarandon, which revolved around the complicated relationship between a terminally-ill mother and the future stepmother of her children. While reviews were mixed-to-positive, the film made 159.70 M USD worldwide.

Roberts paired with Hugh Grant for Notting Hill (1999), portraying a famous actress who falls in love with a struggling book store owner. The film displaced Four Weddings and a Funeral as the biggest British hit in cinema history, with earnings equalling 363.00 M USD worldwide. An exemplar of modern romantic comedies, the film was well received by critics, with CNN reviewer Paul Clinton calling Roberts "the queen of the romantic comedy." In 1999, she also reunited with Richard Gere and Garry Marshall for Runaway Bride, in which she played a woman who has left a string of fiancés at the altar. Despite mixed reviews, Runaway Bride was another financial success, grossing 309.40 M USD around the globe. Roberts was a guest star in "Empire", a Season 9 episode of the television series Law & Order, with regular cast member Benjamin Bratt, who was her boyfriend at the time. Her performance earned her a nomination for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

3.3. Continued success (2000s)

Roberts became the first actress to be paid 20.00 M USD for a film when she took on the role of real-life environmental activist Erin Brockovich in her fight against the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) of California, in Erin Brockovich (2000). Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised Roberts for showing "the emotional toll on Erin as she tries to stay responsible to her children and to a job that has provided her with a first taste of self-esteem," while Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman found it a "delight to watch Roberts, with her flirtatious sparkle and undertow of melancholy." Erin Brockovich made 256.30 M USD worldwide and earned Roberts the Academy Award for Best Actress, among numerous other accolades, including a Golden Globe, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2000, she also became the first actress to make The Hollywood Reporter's list of the 50 most influential women in show business since the list began in 1992, and her Shoelace Productions company (now Red Om Films) secured a deal with Joe Roth.

Her first film following Erin Brockovich was the road gangster comedy The Mexican (2001), which gave her a chance to work with long-time friend Brad Pitt. Although the script was originally intended for an independent production without major stars, Roberts and Pitt, who had been looking for a project to do together, signed on. Despite being advertised as a typical romantic comedy star vehicle, the film did not solely focus on the actors' relationship, and they shared relatively little screen time together. The Mexican earned 66.80 M USD in North America. In Joe Roth's romantic comedy America's Sweethearts (2001), Roberts starred as the once-overweight sister and assistant of a Hollywood actress, alongside Billy Crystal, John Cusack, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Critics felt that despite its famous cast, the production lacked "sympathetic characters" and was "only funny in spurts," though it was a commercial success, grossing over 138.00 M USD worldwide. In her last film released in 2001, Roberts teamed with Erin Brockovich director Steven Soderbergh for Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960 film, featuring an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon. Roberts played Tess Ocean, the ex-wife of leader Danny Ocean (Clooney). A success with critics and at the box office alike, Ocean's Eleven became the fifth highest-grossing film of the year with a total of 450.00 M USD worldwide.

Roberts received a record 25.00 M USD, the highest ever earned by an actress at that time, to portray a forward-thinking art history professor at Wellesley College in 1953, in Mike Newell's drama Mona Lisa Smile (2003). The film garnered largely lukewarm reviews from critics, who found it "predictable and safe," but made over 141.00 M USD in theaters. In 2004, Roberts replaced Cate Blanchett in the role of an American photographer for Mike Nichols's film Closer, a romantic drama written by Patrick Marber, based on his 1997 play of the same name, co-starring Jude Law, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owen. She next reprised the role of Tess Ocean in Ocean's Twelve (2004), which was deliberately much more unconventional than the first film, epitomized by a sequence in which Roberts's character impersonates the real-life Julia Roberts, due to what the film's characters believe is their strong resemblance. Though less well-reviewed than Ocean's Eleven, the film became another major success at the box office, with a gross of 363.00 M USD worldwide. Roberts did not appear in the third and final film of the series, Ocean's Thirteen (2007). In 2005, she was featured in the music video for the single "Dreamgirl" by the Dave Matthews Band, her first music video appearance. Roberts appeared in The Hollywood Reporter's list of the 10 highest-paid actresses every year from 2002 (when the magazine began compiling its list) to 2005.

In 2006, Roberts voiced a nurse ant in The Ant Bully and a barn spider in Charlotte's Web. She made her Broadway debut on April 19, 2006, as Nan in a revival of Richard Greenberg's 1997 play Three Days of Rain opposite Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd. Although the play grossed nearly 1.00 M USD in ticket sales during its first week and was a commercial success throughout its limited run, her performance drew criticism. Ben Brantley of The New York Times described Roberts as being fraught with "self-consciousness (especially in the first act) [and] only glancingly acquainted with the two characters she plays." Writing in the New York Post, Clive Barnes declared, "Hated the play. To be sadly honest, even hated her. At least I liked the rain-even if three days of it can seem an eternity." In Mike Nichols' biographical drama Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Roberts starred as socialite Joanne Herring, the love interest of Democratic Texas Congressman Charles Wilson, opposite Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The film received considerable acclaim, made 119.50 M USD worldwide, and earned Roberts her sixth Golden Globe nomination.

The independent drama Fireflies in the Garden, in which Roberts played a mother whose death sets the story in motion, was screened at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival before being shown in European cinemas; it did not get a North American release until 2011. Roberts played a CIA agent collaborating with another spy to carry out a complicated con, opposite Clive Owen, in the comic thriller Duplicity (2009). Despite mixed reviews and moderate box office returns, critic A. O. Scott praised her performance: "Ms. Roberts has almost entirely left behind the coltish, America's-sweetheart mannerisms, except when she uses them strategically, to disarm or confuse. [...] She is, at 41, unmistakably in her prime." She received her seventh Golden Globe nomination for her role.

3.4. Recent activities (2010s-present)

In 2010, Roberts played a U.S. Army captain on a one-day leave, as part of a large ensemble cast, in the romantic comedy Valentine's Day. She received 3.00 M USD up front against 3 percent of the gross for her six-minute role. She also starred as an author finding herself following a divorce in the film adaptation of Eat Pray Love (2010). Eat Pray Love had the highest debut at the box office for Roberts in a top-billed role since America's Sweethearts. She appeared as the teacher of a middle-aged man returning to education in the romantic comedy Larry Crowne (2011), opposite Tom Hanks, who also served as the director. The film was poorly received by critics and audiences, although Roberts's comedic performance was praised. In Mirror Mirror (2012), the Tarsem Singh adaptation of Snow White, Roberts portrayed Queen Clementianna, Snow White's evil stepmother, opposite Lily Collins. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone felt that she tried "way too hard" in her role, while Katey Rich of Cinema Blend observed that she "takes relish in her wicked [portrayal] but could have gone even further with it." Mirror Mirror made 183.00 M USD globally.

In 2013, Roberts starred alongside Meryl Streep and Ewan McGregor in the black comedy drama August: Osage County, about a dysfunctional family that re-unites when their patriarch suddenly disappears. Her performance earned her nominations for the Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Critics' Choice Award, and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, among other accolades. It was her fourth Academy Award nomination. In 2014, Roberts starred as Dr. Emma Brookner, a character based on Dr. Linda Laubenstein, in the television adaptation of Larry Kramer's AIDS-era play, The Normal Heart, which aired on HBO. The film was critically acclaimed, and Vanity Fair wrote that Roberts "hums with righteous, Erin Brokovich-ian anger. Between this and August: Osage County, she's carving out a nice new niche for herself, playing brittle women who show their love and concern through explosive temper." Her role garnered her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie.

Roberts narrated "Women in Hollywood," an episode of the second season of Makers: Women Who Make America, in 2014, and appeared in Givenchy's spring-summer campaign in 2015. She starred as a grieving mother opposite Nicole Kidman and Chiwetel Ejiofor in Secret in Their Eyes (2015), a remake of the 2009 Argentine film of the same name, both based on the novel La pregunta de sus ojos by author Eduardo Sacheri. Unlike the original film, the American version received negative reviews and failed to find an audience. Donald Clarke of Irish Times concluded that a "sound job" by the cast "can't quite shake the whiff of compromise that hangs around the project." In 2016, Roberts reunited with Garry Marshall and reportedly received a 3.00 M USD fee for a four-day shoot, playing an accomplished author who gave her child for adoption, in the romantic comedy Mother's Day, which had a lackluster critical and commercial response. Her next film release was Jodie Foster's thriller Money Monster (2016), in which she starred as a television director, alongside George Clooney and Jack O'Connell. Sandra Hall of The Sydney Morning Herald stated, "It may be Hollywood melodrama but it's top of the range, giving Clooney and Roberts every opportunity to demonstrate the value of star power." The film made a respectable 93.30 M USD worldwide.

In Wonder (2017), the film adaptation of the 2012 novel of the same name by R. J. Palacio, Roberts played the mother of a boy with Treacher Collins syndrome. The Times felt that she "lifts every one of her scenes in Wonder to near-sublime places." With a worldwide gross of 305.90 M USD, Wonder emerged as one of Roberts's most widely seen films. In 2017, she also voiced a motherly Smurf leader in the animated film Smurfs: The Lost Village.

Roberts portrayed the mother of a troubled young man in Peter Hedges's drama Ben Is Back (2018). Shaun Kitchener of Daily Express remarked: "Roberts is often the best, or one of the best, things about any film she's in -and Ben Is Back is no different." The role of a caseworker at a secret government facility, in the first season of the psychological thriller series Homecoming, was Roberts's first regular television project. The series, which premiered on Amazon Video in November 2018, garnered acclaim from critics, who concluded it was an "impressive small-screen debut" for Roberts that "balances its haunting mystery with a frenetic sensibility that grips and doesn't let go." She received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Television Series - Drama.

In 2022, Roberts reunited with George Clooney for the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, which was released by Universal Pictures on October 21, 2022. She also played Martha Mitchell, a controversial figure throughout the Watergate scandal, in the political thriller television series Gaslit, based on the first season of the podcast Slow Burn by Leon Neyfakh. Roberts also starred as Amanda Sandford in the 2023 film Leave the World Behind, appearing alongside Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali. The movie is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam. The film was notably produced by Barack and Michelle Obama's company, Higher Ground Productions. In 2024, Roberts and Riley Keough were announced to narrate the audiobook version of Lisa Marie Presley's memoir From Here to the Great Unknown.

4.1. Production company

Roberts runs the production company Red Om Films with her sister, Lisa Roberts Gillan, and Marisa Yeres Gill. The name "Red Om" is "Moder" spelled backwards, a tribute to her husband's last name. Through Red Om Films, Roberts has served as an executive producer for various projects she has starred in, such as Eat Pray Love and Homecoming. The company has also produced projects in which she did not act, including the first four films of the American Girl film series, based on the popular doll line, which were released between 2004 and 2008.

4.2. Philanthropy and advocacy

Roberts has dedicated considerable time and resources to UNICEF and other charitable organizations. In 1995, she made a six-day visit to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, stating her purpose was "to educate myself." UNICEF officials hoped her visit would trigger a significant increase in donations, aiming for 10.00 M USD in aid at the time. In 2000, Roberts narrated Silent Angels: The Rett Syndrome Story, a documentary about Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder, designed to help raise public awareness about the disease.

In 2006, she became a spokeswoman for Earth Biofuels and was appointed chair of the company's newly formed advisory board, promoting the use of renewable fuels. In 2013, she participated in a Gucci campaign called "Chime for Change," which aims to promote female empowerment globally. In 2014, she lent her voice to Mother Nature in a short film for the Conservation International campaign Nature Is Speaking, intended to raise awareness about climate change.

4.3. Endorsements and public image

Roberts has leveraged her star power for significant brand endorsements. In 2006, she signed an endorsement deal with Italian fashion label Gianfranco Ferre, valued at 6.00 M USD. She was photographed by Mario Testino in Los Angeles for the brand's advertising campaign, which was distributed across Europe, Asia, and Australia. Since 2009, Roberts has served as Lancôme's global ambassador, a role in which she has been actively involved in the development and promotion of the brand's range of cosmetics and beauty products. In 2010, she signed a five-year extension with Lancôme for 50.00 M USD. Since 2021, Roberts has been the global face of Chopard's Happy Sport and Happy Diamonds collections campaigns, and in 2023, Chopard officially announced her as its Global Brand Ambassador.

Her public image has consistently been highly positive, often earning her the moniker "America's Sweetheart." She was the first actress to appear on the cover of Vogue and the first woman to appear on the cover of GQ. People magazine has named her the most beautiful woman in the world a record five times. In 2001, Ladies' Home Journal ranked her as the 11th most influential woman in the United States, surpassing figures like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and First Lady Laura Bush.

Roberts has also engaged in political endorsements. For the 2024 United States presidential election, she endorsed President Joe Biden for re-election and was involved in related fundraising efforts. She appeared with Kamala Harris at a campaign rally in the swing state of Georgia and also voiced a political advertisement for Harris. Her involvement drew criticism from Donald Trump, who ran against Harris in the election.

5.1. Relationships and marriage

Roberts has had several high-profile romantic relationships with fellow actors, including Jason Patric, Liam Neeson, Kiefer Sutherland, Dylan McDermott, Matthew Perry, and Daniel Day-Lewis. She was briefly engaged to Kiefer Sutherland, whom she met while filming Flatliners in 1990. They were scheduled to marry on June 14, 1991, but the engagement was called off just days before the wedding. Roberts later stated that the cancellation was a mutual decision and had been planned long before the public announcement. Following the breakup, Roberts traveled to Ireland with Sutherland's friend, Jason Patric.

On June 25, 1993, Roberts married country singer Lyle Lovett at St. James Lutheran Church in Marion, Indiana, just three weeks after they met. Their marriage was short-lived; they separated in March 1995 and subsequently divorced. From 1998 to 2001, Roberts dated actor Benjamin Bratt, who accompanied her to the 2001 Academy Awards where she won her Oscar. Three months later, in June 2001, Roberts and Bratt announced their separation, with Roberts stating that the "kind and gentle Benjamin" had changed.

Roberts met cameraman Daniel Moder on the set of her film The Mexican in 2000, while she was still dating Bratt. At the time, Moder was married to Vera Steimberg. He filed for divorce a little over a year later, and after it was finalized, he and Roberts wed on July 4, 2002, at her ranch in Taos, New Mexico. Together, they have three children: twins, a daughter named Hazel Patricia and a son named Phinnaeus Walter, born in November 2004. Their third child, a son named Henry Daniel Moder, was born in June 2007 in Los Angeles.

Roberts owns a penthouse apartment near Gramercy Park in Manhattan. Her family divides their time between homes in Taos, New York City, and Malibu, California. She no longer owns her Venice Beach residence. After marrying Moder, she purchased two beach properties in Malibu for 20.00 M USD and planned to build a long-term family mansion. The existing structures were demolished, and plans were made for a new 6.14 K ft² mansion with five bedrooms and six bathrooms, along with a tennis court and an Olympic-sized swimming pool, which was expected to be completed by Christmas 2007 and valued at over 4.00 M USD. Throughout her film career, Roberts has never appeared nude on screen. Even in her most revealing role in Flatliners, her upper body was exposed with a heart monitor, but her breasts were covered by a bra.

5.2. Ancestry and religious beliefs

On a 2023 episode of Finding Your Roots, Roberts learned that the surname of her biological paternal great-great-grandfather was actually Mitchell, not Roberts. During the same program, she also discovered that some of her ancestors had owned slaves, a revelation she described as "sad" but acknowledged as a typical aspect of that historical period in the American South. She is also a distant cousin of fellow actor Edward Norton.

In 2010, Roberts announced her conversion to Hinduism, stating that she did so for "spiritual satisfaction." She is a devotee of the guru Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj-ji), whose picture initially drew her to the faith. In September 2009, Swami Daram Dev of Ashram Hari Mandir in Pataudi, India, where Roberts was filming Eat Pray Love, gave her children new names after Hindu gods: Lakshmi for Hazel, Ganesh for Phinnaeus, and Krishna Balram for Henry. Her production company, Red Om Films, also incorporates the sacred Hindu sound "Om" in its name. Roberts has expressed a strict adherence to her Hindu beliefs, reportedly showing anger at the quick divorce of Katy Perry and Russell Brand after their Hindu wedding, suggesting they did not understand the gravity of the ceremony. Her sincerity in her faith has been recognized by Hindu organizations in the United States.

5.3. Political views and personal habits

Roberts has openly expressed her political views and support for candidates. In the lead-up to the 2024 United States presidential election, she endorsed President Joe Biden for re-election. She actively participated in his campaign, appearing with Kamala Harris at a rally in the swing state of Georgia and lending her voice to a political advertisement for Harris. Her involvement drew public criticism from Donald Trump, who was also running in the election.

Roberts is known for her preference for going barefoot, even at public events such as film festivals, talk shows, and her wedding to Lyle Lovett. This personal habit has been incorporated into several of her movie roles, notably as Tinker Bell in Hook.

6.1. Cultural impact

Roberts is widely regarded as a cultural icon, frequently referred to as "America's Sweetheart" due to her charming smile and relatable persona. Her significant impact on the romantic comedy genre is undeniable, with films like Pretty Woman, My Best Friend's Wedding, and Notting Hill redefining and elevating the genre in mainstream cinema. She also influenced the perception of female stars, proving that actresses could command massive box office success and high salaries, comparable to their male counterparts.

Her films have collectively grossed over 3.90 B USD globally, making her one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. She was the world's highest-paid actress throughout the majority of the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, setting new benchmarks for female compensation in the industry. Her influence extends beyond the box office, as she was the first actress to grace the cover of Vogue and the first woman to appear on the cover of GQ. Her widespread appeal is further highlighted by People magazine naming her the most beautiful woman in the world a record five times.

6.2. Critical evaluation and accolades

Roberts's career has been marked by both critical acclaim and consistent box office success. Her most commercially successful films, as of 2021, include:

• Pretty Woman (1990)
• Hook (1991)
• Sleeping with the Enemy (1991)
• The Pelican Brief (1993)
• My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
• Notting Hill (1999)
• Runaway Bride (1999)
• Erin Brockovich (2000)
• Ocean's Eleven (2001)
• Ocean's Twelve (2004)
• Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
• Valentine's Day (2010)
• Eat Pray Love (2010)
• Mirror Mirror (2012)
• Money Monster (2016)
• Wonder (2017)

Roberts has received four Academy Award nominations throughout her career. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress at the 73rd Academy Awards for her titular portrayal in Erin Brockovich, a performance that also earned her a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She previously won Golden Globe Awards for her performances in Steel Magnolias and Pretty Woman, and as of 2019, she has garnered eight Golden Globe nominations in total. Roberts has also received two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations: one for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her guest role on Law & Order, and the other for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Television Movie for her performance in The Normal Heart.

Critics have often praised her unique blend of charm, fierce energy, flirtatious sparkle, and an underlying melancholy that adds depth to her characters. Her ability to portray strong, sometimes brittle women with explosive temper, as noted in her roles in Erin Brockovich and August: Osage County, has been particularly highlighted. Her global influence as an actress has been recognized on scales like the Ulmer Scale, where she is considered a top-tier star, capable of drawing audiences to films based on her presence alone.