Julie Andrews's Real Name: Julia Elizabeth Wells

Quick answer: Julie Andrews was born Julia Elizabeth Wells on October 1, 1935, in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England. She later legally adopted her stepfather's surname, Andrews. She won an Academy Award for Mary Poppins (1964), starred in The Sound of Music (1965), and writes children's books, some as Julie Edwards (Library of Congress; Britannica).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files her as "Andrews, Julie" and lists "Wells, Julia Elizabeth" as a variant. It cites "Julie Andrews, b. Julia Elizabeth Wells, Oct. 1, 1935; actress; has written two children's novels as Julie Edwards." Another LOC note styles her "Dame Julie Elizabeth Andrews, DBE." Britannica also lists Julia Elizabeth Wells among her names.

Britannica says that at 10 she began singing in the music-hall act of her mother, a pianist, and her stepfather, a singer, whose last name she legally adopted. She had a powerful voice and perfect pitch. She made her solo professional debut in 1947, singing an operatic aria in the revue Starlight Roof at the London Hippodrome.

Career highlights

Her Broadway debut came in The Boy Friend (1954). In 1956 she created the role of Eliza Doolittle in Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady, one of Broadway's biggest hits. Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote the TV musical Cinderella (1957) for her, and she played Guinevere in Camelot (1960).

She lost the film role of Eliza, but Walt Disney saw her in Camelot and cast her as Mary Poppins (1964). The role won her an Academy Award and a Grammy. The Sound of Music (1965), one of the top-grossing films of all time, brought another Oscar nomination. Non-musical films such as The Americanization of Emily and Hitchcock's Torn Curtain followed. After the costly flops Star! (1968) and Darling Lili (1970), she married director Blake Edwards in 1970. As Julie Edwards she wrote the children's books Mandy (1971) and The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles (1974).

Blake Edwards's 10 (1979) began her comeback. Victor/Victoria (1982) brought another Oscar nomination. She later starred in Duet for One, The Princess Diaries (2001) and its 2004 sequel, voiced the queen in the Shrek films, and narrated Enchanted. In 1995 she declined a Tony nomination for the Broadway Victor/Victoria because she felt the rest of the company had been overlooked. She became a Dame in 2000, won a 2011 Grammy for a children's spoken-word album, and wrote the memoirs Home (2008) and Home Work (2019).

Name notes for searchers

Julia Elizabeth Wells is her birth name. "Julie" is the familiar form of Julia, and Andrews is her stepfather's surname, which she took legally. "Julie Edwards" is her author name, taken from her husband Blake Edwards. Since 2000 she has been Dame Julie Andrews.