The breathtaking ease with which Julia Roberts has captivated Hollywood

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The breathtaking ease with which Julia Roberts has captivated Hollywood and legions of fans is a throwback to that Golden Age of Clark and Vivien Leigh a time when movie stars had that unmistakable star quality that could light up the screen with a larger-than-life glamour. Ever since the release of only her third major film, Pretty Woman the blockbuster that pulled in sales of over $400 million worldwide Roberts has wielded the power of being the number one female box office draw.

In Pretty Woman (1990) Roberts plays a down-on-her-luck prostitute who is whisked off the streets into the lap of luxury by a wealthy Prince Charming played by Richard Gere. This modern-day Cinderella story has parallels to Roberts's real-life rocket to fame a rather swift trip accomplished with a minimum of dues-paying and no formal training. Three days after her high school graduation, Roberts left her hometown of Smyrna, Georgia, for New York City.

Almost immediately she was offered a modeling contract by the CLICK agency, and shortly thereafter secured a role in her first feature film. Never mind that prior to this her sole acting credits were a couple of high school plays.

Roberts's older siblings, brother Eric and sister Lisa, are actor as well. It was at Lisa's apartment in new york that Roberts made her home away from home at age seventeen, and it was Eric who secured the novice actress her first movie role playing his on-screen sister in the still unreleased 1989 western Blood Red.

When Roberts moved to New York, her initial plan was to study acting. However, she soon found that the academic route just didn't work for her. As she told American Film, "I never really made it to acting school. I went to acting classes a few times, but it never seemed very conducive to what I wanted to do, somehow.