Born on October 28, 1967, in Smyrna, Georgia. The youngest of three children, she grew up surrounded by creative individuals. Her parents were both actors who ran a workshop for aspiring writers and performers until their divorce in 1971. Initially Roberts wanted to become a veterinarian, but she abandoned this dream when she realized that she had "an inability to deal with science on a brainiac kind of level."After graduating high school in 1985, Roberts moved to New York City to live with her sister Lisa. Both Lisa and brother Eric were pursuing careers as actors.
Roberts moves in with Kiefer Sutherland, her costar in Flatliners. 'We're together all the time,'' she tells USA Today the following year. ''We work together; we're in love with each other. That's a life. You can't ask for more.'' The pair announce their wedding date through columnist Liz Smith a year later.
After making her film debut in Blood_Red -- which wouldn't be released until 1989, despite having been completed in 1986 -- and appearing in several late '80s television features, Roberts got her first real break in the 1988 made-for-cable drama Satisfaction. That role, consequently, led to her first significant supporting role -- a feisty pizza parlor waitress in 1989's Mystic_Pizza with Annabeth_Gish, Lili_Taylor, and a then 19-year-old Matt_Damon. While Mystic_Pizza was not a star-making film for Roberts, it certainly helped earn her the credentials she needed to land the part of Shelby, an ill-fated would-be mother in Steel_Magnolias. The 1989 tearjerker found her acting alongside Sally_Field and Shirley MacLaine, and culminated in an Oscar nomination for Roberts.
Roberts moves in with Kiefer Sutherland, her costar in Flatliners. 'We're together all the time,'' she tells USA Today the following year. ''We work together; we're in love with each other. That's a life. You can't ask for more.'' The pair announce their wedding date through columnist Liz Smith a year later.
After making her film debut in Blood_Red -- which wouldn't be released until 1989, despite having been completed in 1986 -- and appearing in several late '80s television features, Roberts got her first real break in the 1988 made-for-cable drama Satisfaction. That role, consequently, led to her first significant supporting role -- a feisty pizza parlor waitress in 1989's Mystic_Pizza with Annabeth_Gish, Lili_Taylor, and a then 19-year-old Matt_Damon. While Mystic_Pizza was not a star-making film for Roberts, it certainly helped earn her the credentials she needed to land the part of Shelby, an ill-fated would-be mother in Steel_Magnolias. The 1989 tearjerker found her acting alongside Sally_Field and Shirley MacLaine, and culminated in an Oscar nomination for Roberts.