She could be considered "America's Sweetheart" reincarnated, and she would do well to follow the business example of Mary Pickford's prototype. In fact, America's Sweethearts (2001), an amusing Hollywood spoof, was one of Roberts's recent blockbuster hits, earning more than $93 million. Small wonder, then, that Julia Roberts reportedly commanded as much as $20 million when contracted for Erin Brockovich in 2000. Roberts's career is a study in Hollywood success.
Julia Fiona Roberts was born on October 28, 1967, in Smyrna, Georgia, the daughter of blacklisted screenwriter Walter Roberts, who had organized a writers' and actors' academy. At first, Roberts claimed not to be interested in acting, but after her brother Eric went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London and then appeared in some films, she became interested.
Roberts captured a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actress and an Oscar nomination as well. A year later, her role as a wholesome hooker in Pretty Woman propelled her to superstardom. She won a Golden Globe Best Actress Award and was nominated for another Oscar. Pretty Woman was the second-best-grossing film of 1990, earning more than $170 million.
Joel Schumacher cast her next in Flatliners (1990), with Kevin Bacon and Kiefer Sutherland, followed by Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), a romantic thriller that transported her to a new genre, and Dying Young (1991), which was something of a flop for her because it only made $32 million, in contrast to the $100 million Sleeping with the Enemy had made. Regardless, STEVEN SPIELBERG cast her as Tinkerbell in his James M. Barrie spin-off, Hook (1991).
Following her small part in ROBERT ALTMAN's The Player (1992), Roberts then was cast with DENZEL WASHINGTON in the adaptation of John Grisham's The Pelican Brief (1993), which restored her to top billing. For her role as a law student, she was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Female Performance. In 1994, she played another cameo performance for Robert Altman in the eccentric Pret-a-Porter, but more exotic projects were looming.
By the time she was cast in Stephen Frears's Mary Reilly (1996), Roberts was getting $10 million, but unfortunately Mary Reilly did not make enough to cover her salary. She was then cast to play the part of the IRA leader's wife in Michael Collins (1996), directed by Neil Jordan, a role that allowed Roberts to demonstrate her acting skills. She next turned to WOODY ALLEN, with whom she sang a duet in his Everyone Says I Love You (1996).
In 1997, Roberts returned to her strength, romantic comedy, in My Best Friend's Wedding, picking up another Golden Globe nomination. That same year, Roberts and MEL GIBSON teamed for Richard Donner's Conspiracy Theory. Stepmom, with SUSAN SARANDON and ED HARRIS, was her only movie in 1998. In 1999, she again returned to romantic comedy in Notting Hill, playing a movie star who is filming in London and who falls in love with a bookstore owner (Hugh Grant).
That pleasant comedy grossed $116 million. Her next film, reuniting her with her Pretty Woman costar RICHARD GERE, did even better. Runaway Bride made more than $152 million. When she turned from romantic comedy to drama with Erin Brockovich (2000), Roberts commanded a salary of $20 million. The award-winning film grossed more than $125 million. For her performance she won the Oscar Best Actress and the Golden Globe. Roberts was especially impressive in this film, playing a determined, foul-mouthed working-class woman who takes on the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in a pollution case and wins a huge settlement.
The Mexican (2001), starring Roberts and BRAD PITT, made $66 million and was followed by America's Sweethearts (2001), whose intake topped $92 million, and by Ocean's Eleven (2001), which grossed $137 million. Roberts's boxoffice charm was obviously working overtime that year, for a combined total of $295 million.
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