Julia Elizabeth Wells, more commonly known as Dame Julie Andrews, was born on October 1, 1935 in Surrey, United Kingdom. She is an award-winning English actress, singer, author and icon, who rose to prominence for her performance in Broadway musicals. At 20, she performed in the London Palladium production of “Cinderella”, which launched her career as a stage actress.
In 1954, Julie Andrews debuted in Broadway with her role as Polly Browne in the London musical The Boy Friend. She stood out, and in 1956, she appeared as Eliza Doolittle in another musical, My Fair Lady. In 1963, she was asked by Walt Disney to star in his then-upcoming musical production. Julie Andrews made her film debut in Disney’s Mary Poppins in 1964. The film became a huge hit, and she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Julie’s star quality continued, as she continued her successful career with The Sound of Music in 1965, one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. In that year she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress, due to her performance as Maria Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. This was followed by a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. However, she was also unfortunately cast in low-ranking films like Star! and Darling Lili, which critics pointed out as the contributors in the decline of movie musicals.
For one season, Julie Andrews starred in her own variety series on ABC, which won seven Emmy Awards. In 1997, she was forced to quit the stage musical Victor/Victoria, because she developed vocal problems. The operation she underwent rendered her unable to sing
Julie Andrews was made Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2000, and received Kennedy Center Honors in the year that followed. She appeared as Queen Clarisse Renaldi in Disney’s 2001 film The Princess Diaries, which became a box office success. Its sequel The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, presented the opportunity for Julie Andrews to sing on film again since her throat surgery. With her career revival, she performed the voice of another queen, Queen Lillian, in Shrek 2 in 2004, and in its sequel Shrek the Third in 2007. That same year, she was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards. She has also published the first part of her autobiography, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years in 2008.