Julia is one of only a handful of women in Hollywood so powerful that her name carries enough weight to make movies sprout where there were once only screenplays and dreams. That power hasn’t waned as Julia has grown from the 23-year-old girl who took the world’s breath away in Pretty Woman into an Oscar-winning actress in her 40s who can still fill an entire theater with her laugh. Neither has the kilowatt power of that famous smile waned.
Julia comes from an acting family. Her parents were actors and playwrights who met while performing theater for the armed forces. Betty Lou and Walter Roberts settled in Atlanta, Georgia, where Julia was born. Her brother Eric, sister Lisa and now her niece, Emma, all followed their parents into show business. None, however, had the kind of star power that Julia was able to ignite.
Not only is Julia one of the biggest movie stars on the planet, she’s got a nice little family: three babies, all with un-embarrassing yet unique names, Hazel, Finn and Henry, and a nearly 10-year and counting marriage to director of photography, Daniel Moder. In 2010, Julia announced that she had taken up Hinduism, and is a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaj-ji). She is also active with UNICEF and other international charities.
Julia’s career is a study in interesting and fortuitous choices, both those made by Julia and by others. Perhaps it’s only because she has been a part of, and been considered for, so many classic films that her role choices seem so fateful. On the other hand, maybe she’s just better than most at knowing what suits her and what doesn’t.
Pretty Woman was famously offered to three other women before Julia took the role — Molly Ringwald (the movie would have suddenly become a story of child prostitution, when Molly appears to be 12 when playing against Richard Gere), Meg Ryan (the movie becomes the story of the hooker who can’t get work because NOBODY believes she’s a hooker), and Daryl Hannah (oh the wrongness, there are no words). Can you imagine? I can’t. Though I can imagine, neigh, pretty much guarantee, that Pretty Woman would not have been one of the highest grossing films of the 1990s if it hadn’t had Julia to walk the fine line between “believable as a hooker” and “so charming you can’t help but marry her.”
Julia also turned down several roles that, had she tried to play them, probably would have destroyed her career and the careers of others. Picture Julia Roberts trying to play Viola de Lessep in Shakespeare in Love. I can’t, and obviously, neither could Julia, since she passed on the role.
Comediva know thy self! That’s what we can learn from Julia. Every move made by this extraordinary lady that was true to her distinctive Julia Robertsness has been a success… those that didn’t really ring true with her brilliant, sultry charm (cough, Mary Reilly, cough) were flops. So take note, and get to know the real you, then celebrate that chick (or dude) for all you’re worth!
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