HOLLYWOOD CAMP

Julia Roberts

Julie Fiona Roberts was born on October 28, 1967, in Smyrna, Georgia. The daughter of a vacuum salesman and a church secretary, Julia isn't the only Roberts to have pursued an acting career: her brother and sister are also actors, albeit not as famous as Julia -- few even know their names.

julia roberts the actress

As a 17-year-old girl with big dreams, Julia headed to the Big Apple to join her actress sister, Lisa. Starting out as a model in order to make a living, Julia took acting classes on the side in order to perfect her trade. She finally received her big break after her brother, B-movie actor Eric Roberts, convinced a director to cast his little sister in the film Blood Red (1989).

Fours years passed between the production of Blood Red and its release, over the span of which Julia found television work on such series as Crime Story and Miami Vice. In 1988, she landed roles in the films Satisfaction and Mystic Pizza. Her role in the latter did not go unnoticed, and audiences and critics alike would soon remember the name Julia Roberts (who actually changed her name from Julie to Julia when she applied for a SAG card in order to distinguish herself from another actress registered under the same name). In 1990, Oscar acknowledged Julia's work in Steel Magnolias, costarring Sally Field and Dolly Parton, by honoring her with a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

julia roberts in pretty woman

Oscar nomination considered, none of Julia's roles to that date approached the success of 1990's Pretty Woman. Julia's portrayal of prostitute-turned-princess Vivian Ward was so flawless that it seemed as though the role was written for her (it wasn't). This performance garnered her a second Oscar nomination, this time for Best Actress, and cemented Julia as a Hollywood fixture.

After Pretty Woman, Julia's success at the box office continued with the thrillers Flatliners (1990) and Sleeping with the Enemy (1991), but then her film career took a turn for the worse. The tearjerker Dying Young (1991) and Steven Spielberg's Peter Pan adaptation Hook (1991) were box-office and critical disasters.

While Julia's film career was experiencing highs and subsequent lows, her romantic life was taking a similar bumpy ride. Her wedding to Kiefer Sutherland was canceled just days before the set date, and only a few days later she was romantically linked to actor Jason Patric.

julia roberts in the pelican brief

At this time, Julia was in the midst of a two-year film hiatus, interrupted only by a cameo in Robert Altman's The Player. Her 1993 role in The Pelican Brief, costarring Denzel Washington, marked Julia's Hollywood comeback. The following years were marked with such hits as 1995's Something to Talk About and 1996's Everyone Says I Love You, along with misses, like 1994's Ready To Wear and I Love Trouble, and 1996's Mary Reilly.

On a personal note, Julia Roberts' love life once again made headlines, but this time because of her marriage to country star Lyle Lovett. They were married from June 1993 to March 1995, and their union raised many eyebrows.

By 1997, the Julia Roberts everyone loved was back in full form. Her role in the summer hit My Best Friend's Wedding, along with Dermot Mulroney and Cameron Diaz, earned her a Best Actress Golden Globe nomination and marked the start of a whole new kind of success for Julia. That same year, she costarred with Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory.

Stepmom also fared well, but it was Julia's only project of 1998. The following year she came back with a vengeance with two summer blockbusters: Notting Hill, in the role of a world-famous movie actress (not much of a character stretch) with Brit-hunk Hugh Grant, and Runaway Bride, which re-teamed her with Richard Gere.

julia roberts in erin brockovich

It was her role as a single mother who takes on a massive corporation in 2000's Erin Brockovich that launched Julia to the next tier in her career. This job bumped Julia into the $20-million club, along with heavy hitters Tom Cruise and Jim Carrey, and earned her the Best Actress Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG Award.

While 2001 brought disappointments in the form of The Mexican, with James Gandolfini, and America's Sweethearts, with Billy Crystal and Christopher Walken, Julia's career remained, for the most part, steady with successes (including 2001's Ocean's Eleven). This stability came thanks in part to director/producer Steven Soderbergh, who cast Julia in Erin Brockovich and Ocean's Eleven, among other projects.

As for her personal life, following a three-year romance with actor Benjamin Bratt, Julia began dating cinematographer Daniel Moder. They were married in a surprise midnight ceremony on July 4, 2002.

julia roberts in closer

2004 was a big year for Julia, with two December movie releases -- the drama Closer, with costars Natalie Portman, Jude Law and Clive Owen, and the sequel Ocean's Twelve (the only sequel she has ever appeared in), with Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, George Clooney, and Andy Garcia. Julia was unable to attend the premieres or celebrity junkets for these two flicks as she gave birth to twins on November 28, 2004. Although the twins were due January 2005, Julia had remained on bed rest when she gave birth to son Phinnaeus Walter and daughter Hazel Patricia.

julia roberts in charlotte's web

In 2006, Julia added the Warner Bros. animated film Ant Bully to her resume -- lending her voice to the ant character Hova. Her voice costars, Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep, also joined the colony.

After Ant Bully, Julia took on another children's film as the leading arachnid: supplying the voice of Charlotte the spider in Charlotte's Web (2006). While the classic children's tale has been redone countless times, Julia brought new life to the eight-legged creature. John Cleese, Oprah Winfrey and Kathy Bates also felt the farm life was for them and lent their voices to the family film.

julia roberts in duplicity

From children's films to dramas, Julia seems to be able to do it all. In the 2007 film Charlie Wilson's War, Julia took on political intrigue with costars Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman. In 2009, Julia continued her return to the limelight in the con-job romantic comedy Duplicity, costarring Clive Owen.

Katy Perry

One wouldn't guess it by listening to the sexually suggestive lyrics in her music, but Katy Perry is actually the daughter of two pastors and grew up singing in church until she was 17. Perry was also a fan of gospel music, and in her freshman year of high school, the California native dropped out to pursue a career in music. Perry's church singing turned the heads of some music veterans, who brought her to Nashville to hone her songwriting skills. Her first album (which she released under her original name Kate Hudson) was rooted in gospel and proved to be an unmitigated failure.

After changing her name and moving to California, Perry recorded a rock album for Island Records with super-producer Glen Ballard, though it was never released. After a continued series of falling outs and shelved projects with a variety of record labels, Perry's undeniable talent and star quality captured the attention of a Capitol Music executive who signed her in 2007.

katy perry kisses a girl and likes it

While the first song released off Katy Perry's debut album called "Ur So Gay" created online buzz and controversy for obvious reasons, it was the official lead single "I Kissed A Girl," that established Perry as a bona fide pop sensation. The racy tale of woman-on-woman love soared to the top of the Billboard charts where it remained for seven weeks, while drawing the ire of gay and lesbian groups across the country. Perry's mother, an Evangelical Christian, was one of the song's most vocal critics, calling it "shameful and disgusting." Still, its injection into the cultural zeitgeist was undeniable, as was its success, earning Perry a nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 51st Grammys. Her debut album One of the Boys featured a string of equally successful singles including "Hot N' Cold" and "Waking Up in Vegas," making it a platinum-selling disc with a 71 week-long stay on the charts.

katy perry saddles up with russell brand

With her professional career progressing full steam ahead, all Katy Perry lacked was stability in her personal life. Ironic, then, that she began a courtship with notorious British bad-boy Russell Brand. After a rocky on-and-off again relationship with Gym Class Heroes singer Travis McCoy, Perry began seeing Brand after the two met at the MTV Video Awards, and their relationship has progressed into a highly publicized engagement under constant scrutiny from the tabloids. Set to marry this October, the couple is very vocal about their love for one another, and often share intimate details with the press. Though Brand -- a former drug addict -- will forgo the bachelor party festivities, Perry's bachelorette is being thrown by her good friend Rihanna. And yes, we're still waiting for our invitation in the mail.

katy perry looks to dominate the summer

When Katy Perry released "California Gurls" -- the infectious first single from her coming sophomore effort Teenage Dream, it instantly became the front-runner for the coveted "Song of The Summer" crown. The Snoop Dogg-featuring electro banger soared to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, which certainly bodes well for Perry's latest disc, released in the U.S. on August 24th. Perry claims that the song is a direct response to Jay-Z's Big Apple big-up "Empire State of Mind," igniting the fiercest coast wars since Tupac and Biggie went at it in the '90s.

katy perry takes on lady gaga

Speaking of feuds, Katy Perry must have been looking to shake up the pop landscape when she tweeted "using blasphemy as entertainment is as cheap as a comedian telling a fart joke," which was perceived as a direct shot at Lady Gaga and her controversial video for "Alejandro." Perry immediately clarified that her statement was directed at blasphemous pop stars in general, not just at Gaga, insisting that she's in fact a fan of the megastar. Millions of men around the world hoping for the world's sexiest cat fight just let out a simultaneous groan.