Julie Andrews

Julie Andrews has been a beloved and much-honored star of stage, screen and television for more than half a century. She was already a Broadway legend when she made her feature film debut in 1964’s Mary Poppins. Her iconic performance in the title role of the magical nanny won her an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award. The following year, she earned a second Oscar nomination and won another Golden Globe Award for her unforgettable portrayal of Maria Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. She received her third Academy Award nomination and won another Golden Globe Award for her “dual” role in Victor/Victoria. Over the course of her career she has won five Golden Globes; two for being the world’s favorite actress. Her crystalline singing voice, wholesome appeal, natural elegance and sly humor made her a top box office draw around the world.

Today’s film audiences know Andrews as a queen trying to train her teenaged granddaughter to be a princess in The Princess Diaries and The Princess Diaries 2. Andrews can also be heard as the voice of Queen Lillian in the blockbuster hit, Shrek 2.

Andrews first came to fame as a young musical performer on stage and on radio in England. She was still in her teens when she made her way across the Atlantic and to Broadway, where she made her debut in the 1953 musical The Boy Friend. She went on to create the role of “Eliza Doolittle” in the Broadway musical My Fair Lady, which became an instant classic and the longest-running musical of its day, winning her a New York Drama Critics award and a nomination for a Tony Award.

Andrews has also been honored for her work on television, beginning in 1957 with her Emmy-nominated performance in Cinderella. She later won an Emmy Award for her own musical variety series, The Julie Andrews Hour.

Already an accomplished best-selling author (The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, Mandy, Little Bo, and Dumpy the Dump Truck), she has joined talents with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, to pursue the publishing of books committed to stimulating a sense of wonder in children and young reader.

Andrews received her honors as a Dame by her native England and Queen Elizabeth II for Lifetime Achievements in the Arts and Humanities and was recently named “One of the 100 Greatest Britons” by the BBC. Additionally, she was awarded the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor in 2002. She is involved with several charities including the United Nations International Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Operation USA—an international relief agency, and the Foundation for Hereditary Disease.