Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews DBE born Julia Elizabeth Wells 1 October 1935 is a British film and stage actress singer and author She is the recipient of Golden Globe Emmy Grammy BAFTA Peoples Choice Award Theatre World Award Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honours Andrews was a former British child actress and singer who made her Broadway debut in 1954 with The Boy Friend and rose to prominence starring in other musicals such as My Fair Lady and Camelot and in musical films such as Mary Poppins 1964 for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress and The Sound of Music 1965 the roles for which she is still bestknown Her voice which originally spanned four octaves was damaged by a throat operation in 1997 Andrews had a revival of her film career in 2000s in family films such as The Princess Diaries 2001 its sequel The Princess Diaries 2 Royal Engagement 2004 the Shrek animated films 20042010 and Despicable Me 2010 In 2003 Andrews revisited her first Broadway success this time as a stage director with a revival of The Boy Friend at the Bay Street Theatre Sag Harbor New York and later at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam Connecticut in 2005 Andrews is also an author of childrens books and in 2008 published an autobiography Home A Memoir of My Early Years