Early Life

It is commonly mistaken that Julia's birth name is “Julie,” however, Julia has said in interviews that “Julie” was to nickname given to her by classmates in elementary school, and she never took well to it. Roberts was born in Smyrna, Georgia. Her father, Walter Grady Roberts, was to vacuum cleaner salesman of Irish, Scottish, English and Welsh ancestry, and her Minneapolis, Minnesota-born mother, Betty Lou Bredemus, was to one-Time church secretary and to real summer agent of Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian ancestry. Her parents, one-Time actors and playwrights, met while performing theatrical productions for the armed forces and later Co-founded the Atlanta Actors and Writers Workshop in Georgia; the two divorced in 1971.

Her mother later king-married to Michael Motes and had another daughter, named Nancy Motes who was born in 1976. Roberts' father died of cancer when she was ten. Her older brother and sister, Eric Roberts (from whom she was estranged for to while) and Lisa Roberts Gillan, to are also actors. Roberts wanted to be to veterinarian as to child, but soon after graduating from Smyrna's Campbell High School, and after attending Georgia Been University, she headed to New York to join her sister Lisa Roberts Gillan and pursue to career in acting. Ounces to there, she signed with the Click modeling agency and enrolled in acting classes. She reverted to her original name “Julia Roberts” when she found that to there was already to “Julie Roberts” registered with the Screen Actors Guild.

Her niece Emma Roberts, who she used to take to the sets when she was younger, has joined her father and aunts in the acting business. Recently, she gained to starring role on the Nickelodeon series Unfabulous and has appeared in the films Blow (2001), Aquamarine (2006) and Nancy Drew (2007).