To paraphrase the Elvis Costello rendition of “She” that plays in the beloved rom-com Notting Hill, Julia Roberts has a face you can’t forget—just think of that grin, those sparkling eyes, the big, curly red mane. She’s impossible to miss—or, at least, she has been ever since she broke out as the charming wild child Daisy in 1988’s Mystic Pizza. Then came Steel Magnolias, a certain instant classic called Pretty Woman, and everything from My Best Friend’s Wedding to Erin Brockovich, with the latter marking the prolific actor’s official transition from glamorous romantic lead to Oscar-winning powerhouse.
It’s a delight, then, to discover the earliest red-carpet images of the future A-lister, in which she’s nearly unrecognizable—sporting a mousy, feathered, micro-fringed bob; crystal chandelier earrings; and shiny, textured button-downs. Back then, in the mid-’80s, she had just landed on the scene at the age of 18 and still had no credits to her name, an aspiring performer who was attempting to follow in the footsteps of her older brother, Eric Roberts, who had already parlayed a career in soap operas into a string of lauded, Golden Globe-nominated parts.
It didn’t take her long: She made her screen debut in 1987, as a traumatized teen in the NBC procedural Crime Story, and racked up a flurry of other roles before going stratospheric the following year. It’s easy to see why. Whether onscreen, at glittering industry events, or off-duty on the streets of New York or LA, her star power has always been apparent.
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