Who Is Julia Roberts? Biography, Age, Movies, Family and Career
Who Is Julia Roberts? Biography, Age, Movies, Family and Career
Julia Roberts is an American actress who became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars with Pretty Woman (1990) and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Erin Brockovich (2000). She was also among the highest-paid actresses of the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2026 she is still working, with a Golden Globe nomination for After the Hunt behind her and a book adaptation reportedly lined up.
Who Is Julia Roberts?
Roberts built her reputation on a rare mix of romantic-comedy charm and serious dramatic range. She has played everyone from a Hollywood escort in a fairy-tale romance to a real-life legal clerk who helped take on a power company. Her full name is Julia Fiona Roberts, and she is an actress and a producer who co-runs a production company.
How Old Is Julia Roberts?
She was born on October 28, 1967, which makes her 58 years old as of October 2026. She turns 59 later this month.
Where Is Julia Roberts From?
Roberts was born in Smyrna, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, and is American. She is the youngest of three children and grew up in a family connected to performing. Her older brother, Eric Roberts, is also an actor, and her niece, Emma Roberts, followed them into the business.
Early Life and Education
Profiles describe her childhood as creative, with parents who were involved in running a children’s acting school in the Atlanta area. Roberts attended Georgia State University but did not graduate. She moved to New York, signed with a modeling agency and, according to Britannica, failed to land any jobs at first, which pushed her toward acting.
How Did Julia Roberts Start Her Career?
Her first leading role was in Mystic Pizza (1988), where she played a young woman working at a pizzeria in a small Connecticut town. The next year she appeared in Steel Magnolias (1989) among a cast of veteran actresses. The role brought her a Golden Globe and her first Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actress.
Career and Major Achievements
Pretty Woman (1990), co-starring Richard Gere, was the top-grossing film of its year and made her a household name. It earned her a second Golden Globe and a second Oscar nomination. She followed it with the thriller Flatliners (1990) and Steven Spielberg’s Hook (1991), and later reteamed with Gere for Runaway Bride (1999).
Her biggest professional milestone came with Erin Brockovich (2000). She played the title character in the true story of a legal assistant who helped fight a California utility over contaminated water. Roberts won the Oscar for Best Actress, and the film reportedly made her the first actress to command a $20 million salary for a single movie. The same year she launched Shoelace Productions, and she later ran a production company called Red Om Films with partners.
She then moved into ensemble work, appearing in Ocean’s Eleven (2001) and Ocean’s Twelve (2004) alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. She voiced Charlotte in the 2006 animated film Charlotte’s Web, starred in Eat Pray Love (2010), and earned a fourth Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actress, for playing Meryl Streep’s daughter in August: Osage County (2013).
In more recent years she has worked in television and streaming, including Amazon’s Homecoming, and returned to romantic comedy with Ticket to Paradise (2022) opposite Clooney. In 2025 she starred in Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt, playing a university professor whose life is upended by an accusation against a colleague. The film received a lukewarm commercial response, according to some reports.
Awards and Recognition
She has won three Golden Globes, for Steel Magnolias, Pretty Woman and Erin Brockovich, and one Academy Award, for Erin Brockovich, with four Oscar nominations in total. At the 83rd Golden Globes in January 2026, she was nominated for Best Actress in a drama for After the Hunt. She did not win, but when she appeared to present the award for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, the room gave her a standing ovation, which made headlines. A full awards list should be checked against the official records before publication.
Personal Life and Family
Roberts married country singer Lyle Lovett in 1993, and they divorced in 1995. While filming The Mexican she met cinematographer Danny Moder, and the couple have been married since 2002. They have three children. She has largely kept her children out of the public eye, so this article does not go into further detail.
Net Worth
No verified figure for her personal wealth is available, so none is given here. Her reported $20 million salary for Erin Brockovich is a fee for one film and is not a measure of net worth.
What Is Julia Roberts Doing Now?
In May 2026, Deadline reported that she will star in and produce a film adaptation of Katy Hays’s novel Home Economics, with 3000 Pictures, a Sony company, acquiring the rights. Some reports also say she is expected to return as Tess in a future Ocean’s film, which currently has no release date, and that item is not confirmed in the sources I found.
Legacy and Influence
Roberts helped redefine what a female movie star could earn and command at the box office, and her breakthrough role in Pretty Woman is still one of the best-known romantic comedies of all time. She also showed that a rom-com lead could win an Oscar for a straight dramatic performance. Her longevity, more than three decades after her debut, is part of her standing.
Frequently Asked Questions About Julia Roberts
How old is Julia Roberts?
She was born on October 28, 1967, and is 58 as of October 2026.
What is Julia Roberts best known for?
She is best known for Pretty Woman and for winning the Best Actress Oscar for Erin Brockovich.
Where was Julia Roberts born?
She was born in Smyrna, Georgia.
Is Julia Roberts married?
Yes. She is married to cinematographer Danny Moder.
Does Julia Roberts have children?
Yes, she has three children.
How many Oscars has Julia Roberts won?
She has won one, for Erin Brockovich, and has four nominations.
Is Julia Roberts related to Eric and Emma Roberts?
Yes. Eric Roberts is her older brother, and Emma Roberts is her niece.
What is Julia Roberts doing now?
She is attached to star in and produce Home Economics, based on Katy Hays’s novel, according to May 2026 reports.
What is Julia Roberts’s net worth?
No reliable figure is available.
