(born Julia Elizabeth Wells; 1 October 1935) is a British actress, singer, and author. With a career spanning nearly eight decades, she has been the recipient of several accolades, including one British Academy Film Award, one Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, and three Grammy Awards. Andrews was made a Disney Legend in 1991, and has been honoured with a Honorary Golden Lion as well as the AFI Life Achievement Award. In 2000, Andrews was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the performing arts.
Andrews, a child actress and singer, appeared in the West End in 1948 and made her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend (1954). Billed as "Britain's youngest prima donna", she rose to prominence starring in Broadway musicals such as My Fair Lady (1956) playing Eliza Doolittle and Camelot (1960) playing Queen Guinevere. In 1957 Andrews starred in the premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein's written-for-television musical Cinderella, a live, CBS network broadcast seen by over 100 million viewers. Andrews made her feature film debut in Mary Poppins (1964) and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the title role. She starred in The Sound of Music (1965), playing Maria von Trapp and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.
Between 1964 and 1986, Andrews starred in 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). After 1986 her workload decreased, appearing in two films in 1991 and not again until 2000. Since the turn of the new millennium, however, her career has had a revival. From 2001 to 2004 Andrews starred in The Princess Diaries (2001) and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). From 2004 to 2018 she lent her voice to the Shrek and Despicable Me animated films and Aquaman (2018). In 2017 she co-created and hosted a children's educational show titled Julie's Greenroom, for which she received two Daytime Emmy Award nominations. Beginning in 2020, Andrews voiced the narrator Lady Whistledown in the Netflix series Bridgerton. She has also worked hosting performance shows such as Great Performances and narrating documentaries such as the 2004 Emmy-winning series Broadway: The American Musical.
In 2002, Andrews was ranked No. 59 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. In 2003 she revisited her first Broadway success, this time as a stage director, with a revival of The Boy Friend. Apart from her musical career, she is also an author of children's books and has published two autobiographies, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (2008) and Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years (2019).
