Actress Julia Roberts credits her good fortune to looking on the bright side of life.

According to a report on Bang Showbiz, the actress believes that her optimism is the secret to her success in her personal and professional life.

She said: "I think I'm more in control of my life, my confidence and drive to do the work that I love and to believe that I can do it. I don't think it's magic dust that made [husband] Danny [Moder] appear or [director] Mike Nichols. I think that I'm a deeply optimistic person. I'm a hopeful person. I mean that's sort of the cornerstone of fairytales.

Roberts has three children with husband Moder – twins Hazel and Phinnaeus "Finn" and Henry.

Besides her optimism, the Academy Award-winning actress also said that she owed her career success to director Garry Marshall, who cast her in her best-known role in Pretty Woman, and filmmaker Alan Pakula.

"In essence I owe my career to Garry Marshall. There was no known reason for him to hire me for Pretty Woman. And even he was puzzled by his decision,” she said.

"But I owe the forward motion of my career to Alan Pakula. It wasn't until I met him and he had written the screenplay for Pelican Brief. We had a really interesting conversation about it and it re-ignited my enthusiasm for acting."