Julie Andrews

Julie Andrews, born Julia Elizabeth Wells on 1 October 1935 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, is an English actress, singer, and author whose career has spanned stage, film, and television. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, three Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards, and seven Golden Globe Awards, along with nominations for three Tony Awards. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2000 New Year Honours.

Andrews was born to Barbara Ward Wells and Edward Charles Wells, a metalwork and woodwork teacher. Her mother later remarried Ted Andrews in 1943, and Andrews took her stepfather's surname professionally. Andrews's stepfather sponsored her early training, first at the Cone-Ripman School and subsequently with concert soprano and voice instructor Madame Lilian Stiles-Allen, who described the range, accuracy, and tone of Andrews's voice as remarkable. Andrews continued her academic education at Woodbrook School in Beckenham and also trained in ballet, ballroom, and tap dance.

Her performing career began in 1945, when she appeared on stage with her parents. At twelve, she made her professional solo debut at the London Hippodrome on 22 October 1947, singing the aria "Je suis Titania" from Mignon as part of the revue Starlight Roof. On 1 November 1948, at thirteen, she became the youngest solo performer to appear in a Royal Variety Performance, before King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at the London Palladium. She appeared in the West End in 1948 and from 1950 to 1952 was heard on the radio programme Educating Archie.

Andrews made her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend in 1954, earning a Theatre World Award in 1955. She went on to star as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, which opened in 1956, and as Queen Guinevere in Camelot, which opened in 1960. She returned to Broadway in Victor/Victoria, with her Broadway career spanning from 1954 to 1995. Her performance in Victor/Victoria earned her the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical in 1996.

In 1957, Andrews starred in the Rodgers and Hammerstein television musical Cinderella. She made her film debut in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins in 1964, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress. The following year she starred as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music, for which she received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. Her subsequent film work included The Americanization of Emily (1964), Hawaii (1966), Torn Curtain (1966), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Star! (1968), The Tamarind Seed (1974), 10 (1979), S.O.B. (1981), Victor/Victoria (1982), That's Life! (1986), and Duet for One (1986), with directors including Blake Edwards, who became her husband, George Roy Hill, and Alfred Hitchcock.

Andrews later returned to film with The Princess Diaries (2001) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004), as well as Eloise at the Plaza and Eloise at Christmastime, both in 2003. She provided voice work in the Shrek franchise from 2001 to 2010 and has contributed to the Despicable Me franchise from 2010 onward. On television, she collaborated with Carol Burnett on specials in 1962, 1971, and 1989, and hosted her own variety program, The Julie Andrews Hour, in 1973, for which she received a Primetime Emmy Award. She co-created and hosted Julie's Greenroom in 2008 and 2017, and voiced Lady Whistledown in the Netflix series Bridgerton beginning in 2020.

Andrews has been recognized with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2001, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2007, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2022. She has co-authored numerous children's books with her daughter and has written two autobiographies: Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, published in 2008, and Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, published in 2019.