Born October 28, 1967, in Smyrna, Georgia, to Betty and Walter Roberts. Her parents divorced when she was four and her father died when she was nine. Right after high school, Roberts joined her sister in New York City and began modeling. Her brother Eric was already established as an actor.

In 1988, Roberts made a guest appearance on Miami Vice and that same year she made her film debut in Mystic Pizza. She followed up with a supporting role in the ensemble drama Steel Magnolias, costarring Sally Field, Dolly Parton, and Shirley MacLaine. Her performance as the doomed young bride earned Roberts a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Roberts made the leap to superstardom the following year, with her star turn as a Hollywood Boulevard prostitute who falls in love with her business mogul client in the smash hit Pretty Woman, co-starring Richard Gere. She garnered another Golden Globe and another Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress. By the time she appeared as herself in The Player, Roberts was one of the most sought after actresses in Hollywood. Fans adored her sweetness and infectious wide smile.

Roberts began a series of high-profile romantic relationships in 1991 when she was engaged to actor Kiefer Sutherland. Shortly before the scheduled wedding, the couple broke up, and Roberts was soon seen with actor Jason Patric. In 1993, Roberts married singer Lyle Lovett after a whirlwind courtship. However, the couple never lived together and were divorced less than two years later, though they have remained good friends.

Roberts, seeking to avoid typecasting, sought roles in more dramatic films, but audiences didn't flock to The Pelican Brief, I Love Trouble, Ready to Wear and Mary Reilly. She also appeared in the Woody Allen musical Everyone Says I Love You, as Allen's object of desire.

Roberts returned to her romantic-comedic form with 1997's My Best Friend's Wedding, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. Her next two films, Conspiracy Theory, with Mel Gibson, and Stepmom, costarring Susan Sarandon and Ed Harris, both did respectable business.

Roberts' «comeback» was confirmed in 1999 with the success of the sweet romantic comedy Notting Hill, which also marked a return of sorts for costar Hugh Grant. Further cementing her reign as the queen of the box office, Roberts reteamed with Gere and her Pretty Woman director, Garry Marshall, for another hit romantic comedy, Runaway Bride.

For her next big role, in Erin Brockovich, directed by Steven Soderbergh and costarring Albert Finney, Roberts commanded $20 million, making her the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. She earned every penny of her colossal salary, however, leading the film to a $125 million box office gross and winning almost every major critics' award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actor's Guild Award for Best Actress. The true story of a single mother who joins the staff of a law office and ends up taking on a corporate giant in a multimillion dollar lawsuit, Erin Brockovich garnered five Academy Award nominations, including a seemingly inevitable Best Actress nod for Roberts.

In early 2000, Forbes magazine ranked Roberts No. 1 on its Celebrity 100 «power» list-denoting the most total media coverage-and No. 12 on its «money» list. Her upcoming projects include the romantic comedy The Mexican, costarring Brad Pitt; the star-studded remake of the Rat Pack classic Ocean's Eleven, also featuring Pitt, George Clooney, and Matt Damon; and America's Sweethearts, costarring John Cusack and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

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