Movie star Julia Roberts began working in show business over 30 years ago.

Roberts has since appeared in over 50 films, and in the last couple of years, she made the leap to TV by starring on the first season of the Amazon series “Homecoming.”

After landing smaller roles throughout the 1980s, Roberts’ career exploded when audiences fell for her in “Pretty Woman” (1990). She later became the first woman to earn a $20 million dollar paycheck for her role in “Erin Brockovich” (2000).

She’s starred in her fair share of Hollywood hits and box-office flops, so read on for how Roberts went from a background actress to a household name.

Julia Roberts grew up in a creative family and decided to pursue acting right after high school.

Julia Roberts chose to move to New York to pursue an acting career instead of attending college. Brenda Chase/Getty
She moved from her home state of Georgia to New York City, following in the footsteps of her older siblings who were also actors.

”I had convinced myself that I had three choices: I could get married, I could go to college, or I could move to New York. Nobody was asking to get married and I didn’t want to go away to school, so I moved,” Roberts told the New York Times in 1990.
She quickly made a name for herself after landing her first roles in 1987.

Julia Roberts made her acting debut in 1987.  NBC
Roberts made her professional debut on an episode of “Crime Story” in 1987.

That same year, she also made her film debut in  “Firehouse” (1987) as an uncredited role.  She continued to land small parts throughout the late 1980s, including an appearance on an episode of “Miami Vice” and a supporting role in the movie “Satisfaction” (1988).

Roberts earned critical praise for her performance in “Mystic Pizza” (1988).

Critics loved Julia Roberts’ performance. IMDB
Roberts played a waitress at a pizza shop alongside Lili Taylor and Annabeth Gish in the 1988 coming-of-age story “Mystic Pizza.” Her performance caught the attention of critics, who foresaw stardom in her future.

“I have a feeling that ‘Mystic Pizza’ may someday become known for the movie stars it showcased back before they became stars,” critic Roger Ebert wrote in his 1988 review. “All of the young actors in this movie have genuine gifts.”
Her career took off after her award-winning performance in “Steel Magnolias.”

Julia Roberts won her first Golden Globe for this role. TriStar Pictures
The actress held her own against seasoned actresses Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Daryl Hannah, and Dolly Parton in the 1989 movie “Steel Magnolias.”

Roberts gave a scene-stealing performance as Shelby, for which she won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress.
In 1990, Roberts starred in “Pretty Woman” (1990) alongside Richard Gere.

Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman.”  Touchstone Pictures
Roberts played a sex worker who falls in love with a wealthy businessman in the 1990 romantic comedy “Pretty Woman.”

She soon went on to star in “Flatliners” (1990), “Sleeping with the Enemy” (1991), and “Dying Young” (1991).

The movie earned a reported $285 million worldwide, and Roberts won her second Golden Globe award and earned yet another Oscar nomination for the role.

Despite her rise to fame, Roberts told Vanity Fair in 1993 that she was too busy working to realize exactly how big of a star she was about to become.

“Then the movie came out and I was on the way to the airport and I got these phone messages from my agent … that Pretty Woman had done well and had great numbers, which meant nothing to me,” she said. “I went, Oh, that’s fine, whatever that means. I didn’t have a clue! Then I went back to work.”
Roberts took a break from acting, but returned to the big screen in 1993 with “The Pelican Brief.”

Julia Roberts took a break before “The Pelican Brief.” Warner Bros.
“She needed this time off. Deserved it,” director Joel Schumacher told Vanity Fair in 1993. “If she had kept up her professional pace, then people would have accused her of being a workaholic. You can’t win … she’s still so very young, and needed some time to herself so she could grow up a bit.”

After her break, Roberts starred opposite Denzel Washington in the legal thriller “The Pelican Brief.” The film was a financial success, earning a reported $195 million worldwide.

“They say I can open movies, and that’s nice in that it puts it into people’s minds that women can do it,” she told the New York Times ahead of the film’s release. “It’s not just Kevin Costner, not just Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not just the guys.”
After a series of box office disappointments, Roberts found success with “My Best Friend’s Wedding” in 1997.

“My Best Friend’s Wedding” was directed by P.J. Hogan. TriStar Pictures
Roberts appeared in a string of box-office flops from 1994 to 1996 including “I Love Trouble” (1994), “Something to Talk About” (1995), and “Mary Reilly” (1996).

But Roberts re-established herself as a box-office heavyweight with the success of “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” which reportedly earned close to $300 million worldwide.
Roberts’ career was back on track as she starred in several movies that made her a household name.

Julia Roberts was in lots of box-office hits. Universal Pictures
Roberts starred opposite Susan Sarandon in the 1998 tearjerker “Stepmom,” and went on to make audiences fall in love with her yet again in the 1999 romantic comedy “Notting Hill.”

She reunited with her “Pretty Woman” costar Gere in “Runaway Bride” (1999). All three films were major box-office hits that proved Roberts’ star power.

“She’s really Miss America, isn’t she? She’s got all the qualities that people want an American woman to have,” Roberts’ friend and “My Best Friend’s Wedding” costar Rupert Everett told Vanity Fair in 1999.

She became the highest-paid actress in Hollywood and won an Oscar for her performance in “Erin Brockovich” (2000).

Julia Roberts’ role in “Erin Brockovich” made her the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. Universal
According to Newsweek, Roberts took home a $20 million paycheck for “Erin Brockovich,” making her the highest-paid actress in Hollywood.

Although male stars regularly commanded similar amounts, Roberts reportedly had to fight to convince Universal Studios she was worth it.

“Julia earned it a long time ago, as far as I’m concerned,” former Universal chairman Stacey Snider told Newsweek in 2000. “And I think the studio was actually applauded for doing something that was deserved … All we did was confirm that there shouldn’t be a gender bias.”

Roberts won an Oscar for best actress for her performance, and she gave a memorable speech that included asking conductor Bill Conti stay seated and not play her off the stage.
Roberts continued to dominate at the box office in 2001.

Julia Roberts continued to be a Hollywood mainstay. Village Roadhouse Pictures
Following her Oscar win, Roberts starred in “The Mexican” (2001), “American Sweethearts” (2001), and “Oceans Eleven” (2001), which alone reportedly earned over $450 million worldwide.
The actress starred in six movies between 2002 and 2004 including “Closer” (2004) and “Ocean’s Twelve” (2004).

These films were not known as Julia Roberts’ best. Columbia Pictures
Roberts continued to work steadily over the next two years in some of the most poorly received films of her career. She teamed up again with director Steven Soderbergh for “Full Frontal” (2002), a film that Ebert wrote was “so amateurish that only the professionalism of some of the actors makes it watchable.”

Roberts branched out into darker material in 2004’s romantic drama “Closer,” which also starred Jude Law, Natalie Portman, and Clive Owen.

“The movie is so completely and utterly adult and intense,” Roberts told W magazine in 2004 of “Closer.” She added that the film was “so different than anything I ever do, or even get asked to do, frankly. I wouldn’t think of me for it.”

She also appeared in “Ocean’s Twelve,” which involved her character posing as famous actress Roberts in an all-too-meta attempt to pull off a heist.

Roberts took time off in 2005 after she gave birth to twins.

Julia Roberts’ work schedule changed after she had kids. Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
In November of 2004, the actress and husband Danny Moder welcomed twins, Hazel Moder and Phinnaeus Moder, into their lives, which prompted Roberts to take some time off.

In the same 2004 interview with W, Roberts assured fans she wasn’t planning to retire but would be pickier with the projects she decided to take on.

“The script will have to blow me away,” Roberts said. “The babies will be a great factor, like anything that makes your life more interesting and more enjoyable. Scripts will have to continue to compete with the quality of my life.”

In 2006, the actress returned to Hollywood with voiceover work and made her Broadway debut.

Julia Roberts was in “Charlotte’s Web.” Michael Buckner/Getty Images
In 2006, Roberts voiced Charlotte the spider in the live-action version of  “Charlotte’s Web,” and also lent her voice to the animated film “The Ant Bully.”

That same year, Roberts made her Broadway debut in the play “Three Days of Rain,” which received particularly harsh reviews from critics.
Roberts and her husband welcomed another son in 2007, and she continued to appear in a new movie each year until 2009.

Julia Roberts continued to be in one movie per year. IMDB
Roberts appeared in “Charlie Wilson’s War” (2007), “Fireflies in the Garden” (2008), and “Duplicity” (2009), but took issue with the idea that she had disappeared from Hollywood.

“Hang on. Let’s get a couple of things straight,” she told the Telegraph in 2008. “It’s not been years and years since I made a movie. I’m not coming back from the dead — I’d just had two kids!”
Roberts starred in “Eat Pray Love” in 2010 and reportedly received another massive paycheck for her appearance in “Valentine’s Day.”

“Eat Pray Love” and “Valentine’s Day” were both box-office hits. Warner Bros Pictures
Roberts played a woman on a journey to self-discovery in “Eat Pray Love.”  The film was a success at the box-office, reportedly earning over $200 million worldwide.

Roberts also appeared in the ensemble movie “Valentine’s Day,” for which she reportedly was paid a $3 million salary on top of 3% of the film’s gross earnings — that came out to $11,952 for each word spoken in the film, according to Vulture.
Since 2011, Roberts has taken on a variety of roles and earned another Oscar nomination.

Julia Roberts received another Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination. Relativity Pictures
In 2011, Roberts starred opposite Tom Hanks in “Larry Crowne” and played the evil queen in the retelling of Snow White in “Mirror, Mirror” the following year.

In 2013, she starred in “August: Osage County,” and was nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award.

In the following years, Roberts appeared in the HBO movie “The Normal Heart” (2014) and was part of the ensemble in “Mother’s Day” (2016), for which she earned $3 million for just four days of filming, according to Variety.

Roberts scored another box-office hit with the 2017 tearjerker “Wonder.”

Roberts starred on the first season of Amazon series “Homecoming.”

Julia Roberts was on an Amazon show. Amazon
The actress starred as a caseworker assigned to help soldiers transition back to civilian life on the first season of the Amazon series “Homecoming.”

The show marked a new chapter in her career as she ventured into serial TV for the first time and perhaps said goodbye to the genre that made her a star.

Roberts told Entertainment Tonight in 2018 that she thinks she’s had too much life experience to believably play a rom-com protagonist, to which she added, “Unless we [play] the parents of the people that are rom-com-ing.”

“There came a point in my career where people thought I had turned on romantic comedies, which I love them, I love to be in them, I love to watch them,” she said. “But sometimes, they just don’t work at a certain point of life experience. It’s not about age, it’s just about what people know that you know.”

In addition to appearing on a new series, Roberts returned to the big screen in the film “Ben Is Back” (2018) alongside Lucas Hedges.
She has projects set for the future.

MIKE BLAKE/Reuters
Although Roberts hasn’t starred on the screen since 2018, she is set to star on the TV series “Gaslit” alongside Sean Penn, Armie Hammer, and Joel Edgerton. Set to premiere in 2021, the show is about the 1972 Watergate scandal.

She is also set to produce and star in the film “Little Bee,” a movie adaption of Chris Cleave’s novel by the same name.