Editing Eric Roberts (section)

==Early life==
Eric Anthony Roberts was born in [[Biloxi, Mississippi]], on April 18, 1956,<ref>{{cite book|last=Monaco|first=James|title=The Encyclopedia of Film|year=1991|publisher=Perigree Books|isbn= 978-0-399-51604-7|page=458}}</ref> to Betty Lou Bredemus and Walter Grady Roberts, one-time actors and playwrights, who met while touring with a production of ''[[George Washington Slept Here]]'' for the armed forces.<ref name=wYmRoberts >{{cite web| title = Julia Roberts Biography&nbsp;— Yahoo! Movies | url = https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019215/bio | access-date = March 25, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051203073012/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019215/bio| archive-date = December 3, 2005}}</ref> In 1963, they co-founded the Atlanta Actors and Writers Workshop in [[Atlanta]] off Juniper Street in Midtown. They ran a children's acting school in [[Decatur, Georgia]]. Roberts' mother became a church secretary and real estate agent, and his father was a vacuum cleaner salesman.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://landing.ancestry.com/famoustree/index.aspx?name=roberts&offerId=0%3A679%3A0 |title=Famous Family Tree: Julia Roberts |access-date=May 16, 2017 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507061457/http://landing.ancestry.com/famoustree/index.aspx?name=roberts&offerId=0%3A679%3A0 |archive-date=May 7, 2006 }}</ref> Roberts' younger siblings, [[Julia Roberts]] (from whom he was estranged until 2004) and Lisa Roberts Gillan, are also actors.

In 1971, Roberts' parents filed for divorce, which was finalized in early 1972.<ref name=spada>{{Cite book|title=Julia: Her Life|last=Spada|first=James|publisher=St Martin's Press|year=2007|isbn=978-1429980975}}</ref> He stayed with his father, who died of cancer in March 1977,<ref name=wYmRoberts /><ref name=India>{{Cite web |url=http://www.info2india.com/hollywood/celebrity/julia-roberts.html |title=Julia Roberts Profile - Info 2 India |access-date=February 10, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090704060240/http://www.info2india.com/hollywood/celebrity/julia-roberts.html |archive-date=July 4, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> in Atlanta.<ref name=wYmRoberts /> After the divorce, his sisters moved with their mother to [[Smyrna, Georgia|Smyrna]], a suburb of Atlanta.<ref name=wYmRoberts /> In 1972, their mother married Michael Motes. In 1976, they had a daughter,<ref name=wYmRoberts /> Nancy Motes, who died February 9, 2014, at age 37, of an apparent drug overdose.<ref name="nyDnNancyOD" >{{cite news | url = http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/julia-roberts-half-sister-found-dead-apparent-drug-overdose-article-1.1608653 | title= Julia Roberts' half-sister Nancy Motes found dead from reported suicide: Family says cause was 'apparent drug overdose' | first= Nancy | last= Dillon |author2=Cristina Everett | work = [[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]] | location = New York City| access-date= February 10, 2014}}</ref> Michael Motes was abusive and often unemployed. In 1983, she divorced Motes, citing "cruelty"; she later said that marrying him was the biggest mistake of her life.<ref name="mirror.co.uk">{{cite news|last=Bucktin |first=Christopher |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/picture-exclusive-julia-roberts-smiles-2800516 |title=Picture exclusive: Julia Roberts smiles through the terror of abusive stepfather she 'feared and despised' |work=[[Daily Mirror]] |date=November 17, 2013 |access-date=January 2, 2014}}</ref>