What is the best Julia Roberts performance of all time?

From the scrappy single mom who took on a power company to the runaway bride who stole America's heart — Julia Roberts has been the biggest movie star on the planet for three decades. Which role is her finest?

1

Erin Brockovich

The 2000 legal drama that won Roberts the Academy Award for Best Actress, playing a tenacious single mother who builds a case against a California power company poisoning a community.

2

Pretty Woman

The 1990 romantic comedy that made Roberts a global superstar, starring as a charming Hollywood Boulevard sex worker who falls for a wealthy businessman played by Richard Gere.

3

Steel Magnolias

The 1989 ensemble drama that earned Roberts her first Oscar nomination, playing the spirited Shelby opposite Sally Field in a story of friendship and loss in small-town Louisiana.

4

My Best Friend's Wedding

The 1997 rom-com in which Roberts plays a food critic who realizes she is in love with her best friend just as he is about to marry someone else, delivering sharp comedic timing and vulnerability.

5

Notting Hill

The 1999 Richard Curtis rom-com in which Roberts plays a famous actress who falls for a humble London bookshop owner, bringing self-aware star power to one of the genre's most beloved films.

6

August: Osage County

The 2013 family drama in which Roberts earned an Oscar nomination going toe-to-toe with Meryl Streep as a combative daughter locked in a fierce battle of wills with her toxic mother.

7

Ocean's Eleven

The 2001 Steven Soderbergh heist film in which Roberts brings effortless glamour and wit as Tess Ocean, the ex-wife whose presence raises the stakes for George Clooney's elaborate casino robbery.

8

The Pelican Brief

The 1993 John Grisham thriller in which Roberts plays a law student who uncovers a conspiracy linking the assassination of two Supreme Court justices, opposite Denzel Washington.

9

Charlie Wilson's War

The 2007 Mike Nichols political comedy-drama in which Roberts plays a glamorous Texas socialite who helps a congressman secretly fund the Afghan mujahideen during the Cold War.

10

Closer

The 2004 Mike Nichols drama about tangled romantic betrayals, in which Roberts delivers one of her most restrained and emotionally complex performances as a photographer caught between two men.

11

Ben Is Back

The 2018 drama in which Roberts gives a raw, riveting performance as a mother whose addicted son unexpectedly returns home on Christmas Eve, showcasing fierce maternal love and fear.

12

Wonder

The 2017 family drama in which Roberts brings quiet strength as the devoted mother of a boy with facial differences, anchoring the film with warmth and emotional depth.

13

Ticket to Paradise

The 2022 rom-com reunion with George Clooney in which Roberts proves her comedic chemistry is timeless, playing a divorced couple scheming to stop their daughter's impulsive Bali wedding.

14

Mystic Pizza

The 1988 coming-of-age film that introduced Roberts to audiences as one of three young women navigating love and ambition in a small Connecticut town.

15

Eat Pray Love

The 2010 adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert's memoir in which Roberts carries the film as a woman who embarks on a year-long journey of self-discovery through Italy, India, and Bali.