America's Sweetheart

Julia Roberts just turned 49. But for most of us, she doesn't really age as her movies have become timeless hits - she actually defined Girl Power in Hollywood in the 90s. At one point, she was actually the highest paid actress in the world, and the only woman on the A-List filled with male superstars.

Let's look back at five of the most unforgettable roles she played on the big screen that turned Julia into an icon - America's Sweetheart of all time. Those characters that left indelible marks in our hearts, at one or more points in our lives, she actually embodied who we are or how we feel not just as women but as people.

As Vivian in "Pretty Woman".
This was Julia's breakthrough film in Hollywood,

Who can forget Vivian, that struggling hooker hired by Richard Gere's Edward to be his escort in social and business functions for a week in "Pretty Woman"? It was like a fairy tale: someone like her actually found a man, a prince charming that is, who falls in love with her, no matter who and what she is. Vivian gave us hope.

As Julianne in "My Best Friend's Wedding"

Maybe at a certain point, we were Julianne in "My Best Friend's Wedding". That successful, reputable woman who did the craziest stuff just to stop the best friend she loved all her life from marrying his fiancee. Julianne was the bida-kontrabida of her own story, just like all of us, aminin! But in the end true love prevailed as she let her best friend go and be happy with the one he truly loved.

As Maggie in "The Runaway Bride"

Sometimes, we are also escapists, afraid of conquering our fears and making crucial choices of our own. Very much like Maggie in the "Runaway Bride" who had this reputation of leaving her groom at the altar on their wedding day. It took a pessimistic and overly critical columnist Ike (she is reunited with Richard Gere in this film) for her to have that courage take the next step and finally believe in commitments and happily ever after.

As Anna Scott in "Notting Hill"

Some of us are lucky to have almost everything in life. Julia herself is a perfect example. She's got fame, fortune power... But at the end of the day, we are like Notting Hill's Anna Scott, a superstar who "is just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her."

As "Erin Brockovich".
Julia won an Oscar for Best Actress in 2001.

Love isn't always romantic. In fact, most of us work and strive each day for our families. Just like Erin Brockovich, who is "smart, hardworking and I won't leave here without a job" in spite not finishing school, who brought a company down to its knees and a community to its feet after leading a town's legal battle against a multi-billion company. Against all odds, and her flaws and other's judgment, she won the case and proved her worth as a mother, employee and woman.