Julia Roberts (Vivian Ward)

Julia Roberts flashes her $20 million smile as Vivian, the working woman with a heart of gold who goes from street to chic.

The actress was born in Smyrna, Ga., to a pair of performers who ran the only integrated theater school in the Atlanta area. As a result, her parents became friends with Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. In fact, the star revealed in 2022 that the Kings helped pay the hospital bill for her birth. She eventually caught the acting bug and had her first big break in the romantic dramedy Mystic Pizza (1988). The classic tearjerker Steel Magnolias (1989) soon followed, along with her first Academy Award nomination. 

Roberts told EW in 1991 that she almost lost out on Pretty Woman when Disney took over the film. “They were going to have Garry Marshall direct it. And at that point I no longer had anything to do with it,” she said. “Garry said to me that half the people at Disney were concerned that you couldn’t dress me up — that I could have on jeans and look sort of dirty or whatever but you couldn’t dress me up — and the other half were saying the opposite.”

After proving them wrong, Pretty Woman made Roberts a global superstar and earned her a second Oscar nomination. Following box office successes with Hook (1991), Sleeping With the Enemy (1991), and The Pelican Brief (1993), she starred in a string of rom-com hits like My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), Notting Hill (1999), and — her reunion with Gere and Marshall — Runaway Bride (1999). The actress was soon dubbed America’s Sweetheart and has since earned the title of PEOPLE’s World’s Most Beautiful Woman a record five times. She worked again with Marshall on Valentine’s Day (2010) and Mother’s Day (2016).

Roberts added Oscar winner to her list of achievements with the drama Erin Brockovich (2000) and was nominated again for August: Osage County (2013). In addition to her four Academy Award nods, Roberts has received three Golden Globes and been nominated for two Emmys. She returned to rom-coms alongside George Clooney in Ticket to Paradise (2022), starred in the apocalyptic Netflix thriller Leave the World Behind (2023), and will star in Luca Guadagnino‘s upcoming film After the Hunt.

Roberts has been in several high-profile relationships with actors like Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Patric, and Benjamin Bratt. She was married to country singer Lyle Lovett from 1993 to 1995 and later wed cinematographer Daniel Moder in 2002. The couple has three children together.

Richard Gere (Edward Lewis)

Richard Gere plays Edward, the cold, dashing businessman who reluctantly falls for charismatic Vivian.

“I’d never done anything so openly charming,” Gere told EW in 2012 about starring in Pretty Woman. “Julia had already been cast. She came to see me in New York and I still hadn’t decided [to do the film]. You couldn’t meet this girl and not fall in love with her. We got Garry on the phone. She was sitting across from my desk and she starts writing on a piece of paper. She shoves it toward me and it says, ‘Please do this movie.’ It was like, ‘How can you say no?'”

Before Pretty Woman, Gere was best known for the crime drama Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), his own turn as a sex worker in American Gigolo (1980), and the hit romance An Officer and a Gentleman (1982).

Following Pretty Woman‘s box office success, the actor had a career resurgence throughout the ‘90s, culminating with the title of PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1999. In addition to his reunion with Roberts in Runaway Bride (1999), he starred in the thrillers Final Analysis (1992), Primal Fear (1996), and Unfaithful (2002). Gere leaped to musicals with Chicago (2002) and danced away with a Golden Globe and SAG Award for his pitch-perfect performance as slick defense attorney Billy Flynn. In 2023, the actor had a “full circle” moment when he costarred as the father of Julia’s niece Emma Roberts in the rom-com Maybe I Do. He took on a rare TV role in 2024 on the Paramount+ With Showtime series The Agency.

Gere, a practicing Buddhist, has publicly supported several philanthropic causes throughout his career including HIV/AIDS awareness and human rights organizations like the International Campaign for Tibet. He was married to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995, and Law & Order star Carey Lowell from 2002 to 2016. He and his third wife, activist Alejandra Silva, have been married since 2018. The star has one son with Lowell and two with Silva.

Jason Alexander (Philip Stuckey)

Jason Alexander tries to drive a wedge between Edward and Vivian as sleazy lawyer Philip Stuckey.

The actor told PEOPLE in 2020 that “it seemed like Julia had a little crush on Richard, which makes sense. I had a little crush on Richard. Richard’s very hard to not have a little crush on.”

Alexander had a prolific theater career before being cast in Pretty Woman. He made his Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim‘s Merrily We Roll Along in 1981, starred in the musical The Rink in 1984, and won a Tony award in 1989 for Jerome Robbins’ Broadway. He reached another career milestone that year when he landed the role of George Costanza on the iconic sitcom Seinfeld.

Between 1992 and 1998, Alexander earned eight consecutive Emmy nominations, seven for Seinfeld and one for a guest appearance on the HBO series Dream On. Despite these achievements, he has never taken home the prize. The actor returned to romantic comedies as another antagonist straight out of the jerk store, this time in the Jack Black/Gwyneth Paltrow movie Shallow Hal (2001). 

Alexander also brought his musical talents to the Disney animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and the TV movie Cinderella (1997). He made his directorial debut on Broadway in 2023 with the screwball comedy The Cottage, which earned an A from EW’s critic.

Alexander and his wife, Daena Title, have been married since 1982 and have two children, Gabriel and Noah.

Laura San Giacomo (Kit De Luca)

Laura San Giacomo plays Vivian’s streetwise roommate and fellow sex worker, Kit De Luca.

Looking back on the iconic movie, San Giacomo told PEOPLE in 2020, “I remember filming on Hollywood Boulevard in our fuzzy slippers most of the night, because the high-heel shoes, you can’t wear those for too many hours.”

The New Jerseyan first worked with Garry Marshall in a Los Angeles production of the play Wrong Turn at Lungfish before landing her breakout role in Steven Soderbergh‘s Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989). The sleeper hit won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, earned her a Golden Globe nomination, and won her an Independent Spirit award for Best Supporting Female.

After Pretty Woman, she starred in the movies Quigley Down Under (1990), Under Suspicion (1991), and the miniseries The Stand based on the postapocalyptic Stephen King novel. San Giacomo returned to TV as photographer Maya Gallo for seven seasons on the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me, which earned her another Golden Globe nomination. She then joined Holly Hunter for the TNT fantasy crime drama Saving Grace and made several recurring guest appearances on shows like NCIS, Animal Kingdom, Barry, and The Santa Clauses.

San Giacomo had one son with her first husband, actor Cameron Dye, whom she was married to from 1990 to 1998. She later wed actor Matt Adler in 2000.

Héctor Elizondo (Barnard “Barney” Thompson)

Héctor Elizondo plays Barney, the compassionate manager of the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel who also serves as Vivian’s fairy godfather. Despite only having around 10 minutes of screen time, the role nabbed him a Golden Globe nomination.

Elizondo began his career in the early-’60s and soon starred in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). The actor later appeared in American Gigolo (1980) with Richard Gere and in the Garry Marshall comedy Young Doctors in Love (1982). In fact, following this first collaboration, Marshall cast Elizondo in every one of his films.

Speaking with PEOPLE for Pretty Woman‘s 30th anniversary, the actor reflected on the scandalous premise. “I said, ‘Garry, this is a Disney movie? This is very dark.’ And he says, ‘Don’t worry, Hector; we’ll make it nice. We’ll make it fun.’ And I said, ‘Good luck with that, pal.'”

After Pretty Woman, Elizondo reunited with Gere and Roberts in Runaway Bride (1999), and again with Roberts in Valentine’s Day (2010) and Mother’s Day (2016). He also played Joe, Queen Clarisse’s (Julie Andrews) head of security, in The Princess Diaries movies. Aside from his many film roles, he won an Emmy for playing Dr. Phillip Watters on David E. Kelley‘s medical drama Chicago Hope, portrayed therapist Dr. Neven Bell on the USA detective series Monk, and played Ed on Last Man Standing. He reprised his Monk role in 2023 for Peacock’s Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie.

Elizondo was married to Marie Rivera from 1956 to 1957, then to Marie Mandry from 1963 to 1964. He’s been with his third wife, actress Carolee Campbell, since 1969. His son Rodd, from his first marriage, died in 2017.

Ralph Bellamy (James Morse)

Ralph Bellamy played James Morse, the owner of a troubled shipbuilding company that Edward wants to acquire.

Bellamy had a long and illustrious Hollywood career that began in the early-1930s with the gangster drama The Secret Six (1931) alongside Clark Gable and Jean Harlow. During the next decade, he filmed more than 50 movies and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for the screwball comedy The Awful Truth (1937) with Cary Grant. Throughout his nearly 60-year career, he starred in iconic films such as His Girl Friday (1940), The Wolf Man (1941), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and Trading Places (1983). 

A fierce advocate for actors’ rights, he was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild and four-time president of Actors’ Equity. He received a Tony award in 1958 for the play Sunrise at Campobello and was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 1987 for his contributions to the industry, including helping to establish the first pension fund for actors. He made his final onscreen appearance in Pretty Woman.

Bellamy was married four times and had two children. He and his fourth wife, Alice Murphy married in 1949. He died in 1991 at age 87 due to a lung ailment.

Amy Yasbeck (Elizabeth Stuckey)

Amy Yasbeck plays Philip’s sour wife, Elizabeth, whose backside Vivian claims, “you could freeze ice on…”

Before Pretty Woman, Yasbeck had predominantly worked in television. She portrayed Olivia Reed on the soap Days of Our Lives from 1986 to 1987, and guest starred on shows like Dallas and Magnum, P.I. She played the lead role in the TV movie Splash, Too (1988), a sequel to the 1984 hit mermaid comedy starring Daryl Hannah and Tom Hanks.

“I was so stunned to be in this movie and working with the beloved Garry Marshall, and to be hanging out with all of those people,” Yasbeck told Australia’s The Morning Show in 2020 about her time on Pretty Woman. “He let us improvise, and I was just on cloud nine…I originally went in there and auditioned for one of the shop ladies that’s mean to Vivian. Then [Garry] says, ‘Can you read this other part instead?’ And I did, and it was thrilling.”

She has since costarred in Problem Child (1990) — where she met her husband John Ritter — the Mel Brooks parodies Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) and Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), The Mask (1994), and Jodie Foster‘s Thanksgiving comedy Home for the Holidays (1995). She also joined the NBC sitcom Wings for its final three seasons. 

In 2003, Ritter died suddenly from an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. Following his death, Yasbeck founded the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health and has devoted most of her time to the cause and their son, Noah, writing a book in 2010 called With Love and Laughter, John Ritter. Meanwhile, Yasbeck has made a few guest appearances over the years on shows like That’s So Raven and Pretty Little Liars.

Alex Hyde-White (David Morse)

David Morse, the grandson of businessman John Morse, is played by Alex Hyde-White.

Hyde-White made his screen debut on the original Battlestar Galactica series in 1978. He later starred in the miniseries The First Olympics: Athens 1896 (1984) and had supporting film roles throughout the ’80s, including playing young Henry Jones Sr. in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).

Following Pretty Woman, Hyde-White was cast as the elastic hero Mr. Fantastic, a.k.a. Dr. Reed Richards, in the infamously unreleased Fantastic Four movie (1994). Despite it never seeing the light of day, he did eventually join the MCU as a guest star in season 3 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in 2015. Hyde-White also appeared in the Jordan Peele horror hit Nope (2022) and the Netflix true crime limited series Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The actor has worked behind the camera as well, directing the award-winning documentary Three Days (of Hamlet) (2012).

Hyde-White was married to Mary Poppins actress Karen Dotrice from 1986 to 1992. He and his second wife, Shelly Bovert, have been married since 1997. He has two sons, Garrick and Jackson.

Dey Young (Snobby Saleswoman)

Dey Young plays the small but memorable role of the snobby saleswoman who makes the “Big! Huge!” mistake of refusing service to Vivian during her shopping spree.

She first graced the big screen as Ramones superfan Kate Rambeau in the musical comedy Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979), then went on to appear in the dystopian Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick The Running Man (1987) and the Wes Craven horror movie The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) before losing out on that hefty commission.

“I was only on the set for one day, but Garry became a friend,” Young told PEOPLE in 2020. “I know he was really taken with Julia and saw how magnetic she was. It seemed like a very happy set, and I think she and Garry were responsible for that.”

After her run-in on Rodeo Drive, she reunited with Marshall for the drama Frankie and Johnny (1991) starring Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. In addition to her recurring role on Melrose Place as antagonistic neurosurgeon Dr. Irene Shulman, Young has guest starred on Bones, This Is Us, and made a brief appearance in the Marvel superhero threequel Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). Beyond acting, Young is also a sculptor and has exhibited her work at galleries across the country, including the Los Angeles County Museum.

Young was married to producer David Ladd from 1982 to 2012. They have one daughter, Shane. She married Hugo van Seenus in 2021.