Eric Roberts, the veteran character actor who has appeared in hundreds of movies and TV shows, recently told an interviewer that he has “lost count” of the number of films he has appeared in. Roberts, whose sister is Hollywood A-lister Julia Roberts and whose daughter is American Horror Story star Emma Roberts, currently works about 200 days a year — often on projects where he has a fairly short shoot, allowing him to cram sometimes dozens of film and TV projects into a single year. According to IMDb, he has 66 projects in various stages of development, which is twice the number of films he actually had released in 2021.
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The star says he doesn’t have to work, but continues to do it because it brings him joy. His wife, who serves as his manager, helps him handle scripts and travel arrangements, making it a full-on family affair.
“I lost count at 74, but somebody told me it’s in the hundreds,” Roberts told The Hollywood Reporter. “I don’t check.”
And, yes, in that same interview, he said that he would love to play his daughter’s father or his sister’s brother in a project. With how many projects he has done over the years, it’s kind of shocking nobody has done that yet.
What’s pretty crazy is that Roberts continues to work internationally, too, so most Hollywood movie fans would have to work pretty hard to realize how big he is worldwide.
“I actually used to be one of the biggest stars in Russia, bigger than Arnie [Schwarzenegger], bigger than Sly [Stallone],” Roberts said. “But then Putin invaded Ukraine and in an interview I said I stood with Ukraine, so I was canceled right away and couldn’t work there. But we’re so disappointed in Putin, I wouldn’t want to go there anyway. But that was half my income, from working in Russia. So I go to other places now. “
His next big project is Babylon, the upcoming movie about the golden age of Hollywood from director Damien Chazelle.
” I don’t watch myself anymore, because I’ve seen everything I do,” Roberts said. “But Damien Chazelle’s movie, I have watched that. I will also tell you that Margot Robbie is going to win an Academy Award for that. She gives the most incredible performance in Babylon that I have ever seen. The two incredible actresses in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? gave perfect performances, and it’s on that level. She blew me away. I couldn’t believe how brilliant every minute of every day she was.”