What is the best Julia Roberts performance of all time?

From the rom-com queen who defined a generation to a gritty dramatic powerhouse, her range goes far deeper than the megawatt smile. Which role stands above the rest?

1. 1
   Erin Brockovich

   A 2000 Steven Soderbergh drama in which Roberts won the Academy Award for Best Actress as the tenacious legal clerk who builds a landmark environmental case.
2. 2
   Pretty Woman

   A 1990 romantic comedy in which Roberts became a global superstar playing a warm-hearted Hollywood sex worker who falls for a wealthy businessman.
3. 3
   Steel Magnolias

   A 1989 drama in which Roberts earned her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress as a spirited young Southern woman determined to live fully despite diabetes.
4. 4
   My Best Friend's Wedding

   A 1997 romantic comedy in which Roberts plays a food critic who realizes she loves her best friend only when he announces his engagement.
5. 5
   Notting Hill

   A 1999 Richard Curtis romantic comedy in which Roberts plays a famous American actress who falls for an ordinary London bookseller.
6. 6
   August: Osage County

   A 2013 drama in which Roberts earned her fourth Oscar nomination playing the fierce eldest daughter of a dysfunctional Oklahoma family, sparring with Meryl Streep.
7. 7
   Ocean's Eleven

   A 2001 Steven Soderbergh heist film in which Roberts holds her own opposite George Clooney and a star-studded ensemble as the elegant ex-wife at the center of a Las Vegas heist.
8. 8
   Closer

   A 2004 Mike Nichols drama in which Roberts gives one of her most restrained performances as a photographer entangled in brutal romantic deception.
9. 9
   Runaway Bride

   A 1999 romantic comedy reuniting Roberts with Richard Gere as a woman with a habit of leaving men at the altar.
10. 10
    Mona Lisa Smile

    A 2003 period drama in which Roberts plays an unconventional 1950s art history professor at Wellesley College who challenges her students to think beyond domestic futures.
11. 11
    Charlie Wilson's War

    A 2007 political drama in which Roberts is glamorously sharp as the wealthy Texas socialite who enlists Congressman Charlie Wilson to fund the Afghan Mujahideen.
12. 12
    Ben Is Back

    A 2018 drama in which Roberts delivers a raw, physically committed performance as a mother struggling to protect her addicted son during one fraught Christmas Eve.
13. 13
    Wonder

    A 2017 family drama in which Roberts brings quiet warmth and depth as the devoted mother of a boy with facial differences navigating his first year of mainstream school.
14. 14
    Duplicity

    A 2009 Tony Gilroy spy thriller in which Roberts plays a CIA operative turned corporate spy running an elaborate long con alongside Clive Owen.
15. 15
    Flatliners

    A 1990 psychological thriller in which Roberts plays a medical student haunted by childhood guilt alongside Kiefer Sutherland and Kevin Bacon.
16. 16
    Leave the World Behind

    A 2023 Netflix thriller in which Roberts plays a woman whose luxurious vacation is disrupted by a mysterious cyberattack and the arrival of the home's owners.