Eric Roberts Biography

Summary

"Eric Anthony Roberts" (born on April 18 1956, in Biloxi, Mississippi) is an Academy Award-nominated American film and stage actor. He was raised in Atlanta, Georgia, attended Grady High School, and is the older brother of actresses Lisa Roberts Gillan and Julia Roberts as well as the father of actress Emma Roberts and stepfather of singer/songwriter Keaton Simons. Eric also has a half sister named Nancy Motes who was born in 1976 from his mother's second marriage.

Awards

He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1985 for his role as the escaped convict Buck in the film "Runaway Train". In 1987, he won the Theatre World Award for his Broadway debut performance in "Burn This".

Roles

His other starring roles include "Star 80" (1983), "The Raggedy Man", "The Pope of Greenwich Village" (1984), "The Coca-Cola Kid" (1985), "Rude Awakening" (1988), "Best of the Best" (1989), "By the Sword" (1991), "The Specialist" (1994), "The Immortals" (1995), "La Cucaracha" (1998), and "Con Games" (2001). In 1996, he appeared in the "Doctor Who" TV movie in the role of the Master. He also appears in the 2000 film "Race Against Time" as a father who sells his organs to pay for hospital treatment for his son and in the 2003 film "Spun" as 'The Man' alongside Mickey Rourke and Jason Schwartzmann. He also performed the voice of Dark Danny in Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom.

Roberts recently starred in "Royal Kill", a psychological thriller that also stars Pat Morita, Lalaine, and Gail Kim and is directed by Babar Ahmed.

Roberts appeared as a panelist on the television game show "Hollywood Squares". Most recently, Roberts has co-starred on the ABC sitcom "Less Than Perfect".

In 2006, Roberts appeared in the film "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints". In the same year, he was also guest starred on "The L Word" as Shane McCutcheon's father, Gabriel.

He appeared in "DOA: Dead or Alive", which has been in North American theaters as of June 27, 2007.

Roberts also appeared in The Killers' music video for their song 'Mr. Brightside' as well as in the music videos for Mariah Carey's 'We Belong Together' and 'It's Like That'. In 2006, he appeared in the video for Akon's 'Smack That', featuring Eminem. And in 2007, he appeared in the video for Godhead's 'Hey You'.

He appeared in an episode of "CSI: Miami" as Ken Kramer, a murderer on death row convicted of killing a young couple.

In early January 2007, Roberts starred in the two-part mini-series "Pandemic" as the mayor of Los Angeles.

He has recently joined the cast of "Heroes" as Thompson, an associate of Mr. 'Horn-Rimmed Glasses' Bennet.

Roberts has joined the "Batman Begins" sequel, "The Dark Knight", as Sal Maroni, an organized crime boss.

Satire/spoofs

An episode of the satiric cartoon series "South Park" featured Roberts as a star in a re-enactment of "America's Most Wanted". He plays the genetically engineered half-man, half-monkey sidekick of the character Mephisto, where he overacts his part. During the re-enactment's taping, a snowstorm forces a group of characters to resort to cannibalism. Roberts is the first casualty because, as the mayor of South Park puts it, 'No one gives a shit about Eric Roberts.'

He was also name-checked in an episode of "Seinfeld"; after giving away the ending of the film, Kramer tells George that Roberts' performance as the husband in the film "The Other Side of Darkness" was 'unforgettable.'

He was portrayed as a clay figure on MTV's "Celebrity Deathmatch" where he fought alongside his sister, Julia, against Donny and Marie Osmond.

Eric was parodied in the web cartoon series College University, participating in a martial arts competition for washed-up action stars. He never got to compete, though, as the Transformer Optimus Prime knocked him out and stole his name tag. It should be noted that although in writing he was dubbed Eric Roberts, throughout the entire episode everybody referred to him as 'Julia Roberts' Brother.' The cartoon can be viewed at College University Character Bios.

Also, SFX when listing previous Masters in "Doctor Who", put in Roberts' category: 'Out-acted by a CGI snake in the same production.'

Personal life

Roberts married Eliza Garrett in 1992. His daughter Emma has joined her father and aunts in the acting business. She has a starring role on the Nickelodeon series "Unfabulous" and has appeared in the films "Blow" (2001), "Aquamarine" (2006) and starred in "Nancy Drew" (2007) as the title character.

On January 12, 2001, Eric visited "The Howard Stern Radio Show" with his wife during a segment called 'The Gossip Game' with Mike Walker of the "National Enquirer" on the telephone and shared a bit of personal information. He clarified that it does not bother him to be Julia Roberts' brother, but it does bother him to be introduced "as" her brother instead of as an actor in his own right. Eric shared that he and Julia had not seen each other in six years and that they really do not know each other in the way most siblings do, since they only lived in the same house until Julia was three years old and then never lived together afterwards. When Eric confirmed that he was not invited to Julia's wedding, Howard demanded that Julia contact Eric immediately and make things right. This prompted Eric to admit that up until ten years earlier, he was a 'severe, drug-taking idiot' and his family had stopped talking to him. He also shared that his daughter, Emma (who was nine years old at the time), and Julia are 'close' despite the fact Eric and Julia do not see each other. When Eric was asked by a caller about his involvement in martial arts, he replied that he has trained in tae kwon do and jujitsu. At the end of the interview, Eric insisted that Howard call his stepson, Keaton, who sang 'Happy Birthday' to Howard.