Third time's a charm for Julia Roberts, who Sunday walked away with the coveted Oscar for best actress for her role as a real-life crusading and cleavage-bearing law clerk in "Erin Brockovich."
Roberts played a tough-talking single mother who discovers that a powerful utility is poisoning the drinking water of a local community. She leads the fight against them and eventually wins a 333 million dollar settlement.
Roberts, 33, was nominated for best supporting actress for "Steel Magnolias" in 1989 and best actress for "Pretty Woman" in 1990. She has since become Hollywood's highest paid actress and one of its most powerful players.
"I would like to start with telling you all how amazing the experience of feeling the sisterhood of being included in a group with Joan Allen, Juliette Binoche, Laura Linney, and Ellen Burstyn for the last weeks," she said in her acceptance speech. "It just felt like such a triumph for me to be in that list."
Allen ("The Contender") Binoche ("Chocolat"), Burstyn ("Requiem for a Dream"), and Linney ("You Can Count of Me") were all in contention for best actress.
Roberts also thanked Steve Soderbergh, who directed her in the movie and collcted his own Oscar for best director for another film, "Traffic."
"You truly just made me want to be the best actor that I suppose I never knew I could be, or aspire to," she said." -- AFP
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