All About Julia Roberts' Brother Eric Roberts

Julia Roberts’ big brother, Oscar-nominated actor Eric Roberts, has nearly 800 movie and TV credits to his name

Like his sister, Julia Roberts, Eric Roberts is one of the most prolific actors in Hollywood.

Best known for his Oscar-nominated role in 1985’s Runaway Train, Eric has appeared in nearly 800 movies and TV shows during his decades-long career.

The Mississippi-born actor first rose to fame in the late 1970s and early 1980s, clinching three Golden Globe nominations in quick succession. Shortly after he began acting, his sister Julia also started working in the industry.

Born in 1956, Eric is the oldest of three kids: parents Betty Lou Bredemus and Walter Grady Roberts welcomed his younger sister Lisa in 1965, followed by Julia in 1967. Their younger half-sister, Nancy Motes, died in 2014.

Related: All About Emma Roberts' Parents, Eric Roberts and Kelly Cunningham

As Eric and Julia's careers grew, the Hollywood siblings even shared the screen and now maintain relationships with each other's kids. In July 2024, Eric opened up about his relationship with Julia on the Still Here Hollywood podcast, noting that they don't often talk about each other.

“I love my sister, but I can’t talk about her,” Eric said, adding that his daughter Emma Roberts had also “told me not to talk about her, but I stumbled and do.” He concluded, “I’m not supposed to talk about either of them. But I do.”

From his early rise to stardom to his relationship with his famous sister, here’s everything to know about Julia Roberts' brother, Eric Roberts.

He grew up in Georgia

Eric was born to Betty and Walter on April 18, 1956, in Biloxi, Miss. He was the first child for the couple, who later moved to Smyrna, Ga., where they welcomed daughters Lisa and Julia in 1965 and 1967, respectively.

His parents ran a children’s theater company together but eventually split in 1971 when he was 15 years old. Eric described his parent’s relationship to Vanity Fair in 2018: “They were married for 16 years; it was very emotional, very loud. It was very much an ‘I love you, f--- you’ marriage.”

Betty went on to remarry, welcoming another daughter, Nancy, with her second husband Michael Motes. She raised her three daughters together in Smyrna, while Eric moved with his father to nearby Atlanta after the divorce.

At age 17, he studied briefly at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), before later relocating to New York City to pursue a career in acting.

Eric rose to fame in the ‘70s and ‘80s

Eric’s debut role was in the 1974 soap opera How to Survive a Marriage, but his true breakout role came a few years later with his starring turn in 1978’s King of the Gypsies. His performance earned him his first Golden Globe nomination.

Eric earned several more nominations over the next few years: a Golden Globe nomination for his leading role in Bob Fosse’s 1983 film Star 80, followed by a third Golden Globe nod and his first Oscar nomination for his turn in 1985’s Runaway Train.

His career spans decades and genres, with notable TV appearances including recurring roles on CSI, Suits, Heroes and more. Eric has guest-starred in everything from Grey’s Anatomy to Entourage. On the big screen, some of his most memorable films are The Dark Knight, Inherent Vice and The Expendables.

He and Julia have only worked on one movie together: a 1989 Western called Blood Red.

He’s a prolific actor

Eric has a jam-packed résumé, with almost 800 credits to his name.

"We get anywhere from eight to 30 offers every single day from all over the world," Eric told The Hollywood Reporter in 2022. "It's just so much fun to have all these offers and get to play such an extreme range of characters."

Speaking to Vanity Fair about the volume of work he takes on each year, Eric explained, “I start making a bunch of B movies — bam bam bam bam bam bam — one after the other, and then suddenly two, three years have passed, and I made like 30 films in two, three years."

For his part, Eric is just happy to be in front of the camera. “I started having fun at the craft. I’m a f------ groupie for it! I can do it every day, all day,” he said.

Eric has starred in several music videos

Eric has also starred in a handful of music videos opposite everyone from Rihanna to The Killers.

In 2004, the actor was approached to star in his first music video and instinctively went to turn it down. “My wife [Eliza] says, ‘Of course you’re doing it. They’re called the Killers — they’re huge. And you’re doing the video, no questions asked.’ And it’s a huge hit,” he told Vanity Fair. The video turned out to be the mega-famous “Mr. Brightside.”

“I do Akon next. Another huge hit. I do Mariah Carey. It goes to No. 1. So I was like a lucky charm for a while. I got a whole new audience,” he told the outlet. The videos included “Smack That” and “We Belong Together.” Later on, he played a police officer in Rihanna’s music video for “Bitch Better Have My Money.”

He’s been married for over 30 years

Eric met his wife, actress and casting director Eliza Roberts, on a Los Angeles-bound airplane in 1986. The two were seated beside each other, and discovered they had “all these strange connections,” Eliza recounted to Vanity Fair.

Related: Who Is Eric Roberts' Wife? All About Eliza Roberts

Eric recalled their first meeting to Howard Stern eight years later, explaining that he’d been in another relationship when they first met. He was dating Kelly Cunningham, with whom he welcomed daughter Emma Roberts in 1991 before splitting that same year.

“I’m reading a script, she’s reading a script, I tell her who my favorite writer is, the names' David Rayfiel ... he just happens to be her father,” he told Stern. The pair maintained a friendship for years until Eric’s relationship with Cunningham ended.

“We didn’t start kissing until 1991 and we got married in ‘92,” he said.

Eric's daughter is Emma Roberts

Prior to his relationship with his wife Eliza, Eric dated Cunningham from 1988 until 1991. The pair welcomed their first and only child together, daughter Emma, on Feb. 10, 1991.

Emma has followed in her father’s (and aunt’s) footsteps, pursuing a career in acting from a young age. When asked about their shared profession, Eric gushed about his daughter to The Hollywood Reporter in 2022, saying it’s “so much fun” to watch her act and succeed.

"And she's never had any training, so she's been on-the-job training her whole career, and it's been lovely for me to watch her become an actor, and she has. I love her work," said the proud dad.

He cited We’re the Millers and American Horror Story as two of his favorite things she’s worked on. “I love [AHS], I love that series, of course I do,” he said during an episode of the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast in 2022.

Despite their success, the two rarely talk shop. “We have never discussed it since she was 9 years old,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “We have a whole other relationship. I don’t want to be too sappy but I’m head over heels in love with the whole thing.”

Eric is now “a two-time grandfather,” since Emma welcomed son Rhodes in 2020 and his step-daughter Morgan also had a child.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.