Cinematographer Danny Moder rang in his wife Julia Roberts’ 59th birthday on Wednesday, October 28, with a throwback photo of the pair and a caption only a few words long: “Celebrating everyday… but october 28 the most. more candles bring more joy. love you so much.”
The post went up on Moder’s Instagram account, where the couple tend to let the public in only a handful of times a year. Roberts answered underneath with a celebration emoji and a string of red hearts.
Fans pile into the comments
Followers quickly filled the replies with birthday wishes for the Oscar winner. One commenter called Moder the “luckiest man on the planet to see that smile everyday!” Another wrote simply, “What a photo! So much love!”
The picture itself appears to date from an earlier birthday celebration, though Moder did not say when it was taken.
A marriage that started on a film set
The pair’s story began behind the camera. Moder was working as a cameraman on The Mexican, the 2001 road comedy that paired Roberts with Brad Pitt, when the two met in 2000. They married on July 4, 2002, at Roberts’ ranch in Taos, New Mexico, in a small private ceremony.
Moder later shot several of his wife’s projects, among them the HBO film The Normal Heart and the 2015 thriller Secret in Their Eyes. Roberts has said of working with him on that thriller: “He’s my favorite person on the planet, so I love spending time with him, and I love his work ethic.”
Her production company carries his name in disguise: Red Om Films is “Moder” spelled backwards.
The couple’s milestones at a glance
- 2000: Roberts and Moder meet on the set of The Mexican.
- July 4, 2002: They marry at her Taos ranch.
- 2004: Twins Hazel and Phinnaeus are born.
- 2007: Son Henry arrives.
- July 4, 2025: Moder marks 23 years of marriage with a photo of their reflections in an engraved silver spoon.
- October 28, 2026: Roberts turns 59 and gets the “more candles” post.
Read together, those dates show a pattern: Moder saves his rare public notes for the two days the family clearly treats as fixed holidays, the July 4 anniversary and Roberts’ late-October birthday.
Why the post landed
Roberts, born in Atlanta on October 28, 1967, spent much of the 1990s and early 2000s as the highest-paid actress in Hollywood and won the best actress Academy Award for Erin Brockovich. Yet she has long kept her home life apart from her career, and the couple share family glimpses sparingly.
That restraint is what made a 16-word caption travel. Moder’s anniversary post last year was similarly playful, joking that “23 years is SILVER” next to the engraved spoon picture.
Next up for the pair on the calendar is July 4, 2027, their 25th wedding anniversary, the silver milestone that Moder’s spoon joke borrowed two years early.
Further reading
Image: Raph_PH, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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