The Miami Vice Character You Likely Forgot Julia Roberts Played

The Samuel Goldwyn Company

"Miami Vice," the cop drama series created by Anthony Yerkovich and executive-produced by Michael Mann, encapsulated the 1980s in more ways than one. In addition to capturing the sound of the decade thanks to copious use of hip pop/rock songs as needle drops, the show also helped dictate the look of the era, bringing the pastels and neons worn by Rico Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) and Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) into fashion. It popularized a more filmic look in network TV dramas, placing greater emphasis on cinematography and editing than had been seen during the more workmanlike approach of the 1970s. It also counts as a major influence on the then-burgeoning "buddy cop" subgenre, essentially serving as a stepping stone between "48 Hrs." and "Lethal Weapon."

One other major influence "Miami Vice" had on 1980s pop culture was that it served as a showcase for both established actors of the time and early appearances by soon-to-be stars. The likes of Bruce Willis, Liam Neeson, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, and Steve Buscemi all guest starred on episodes of the show before their breakout moments. Another luminary on this list is Julia Roberts, who appeared in the 22nd episode of Season 4, entitled "Mirror Image." The episode aired May 6th of 1988, a few months after Roberts had her first supporting role in a feature, "Satisfaction," which was a poorly reviewed flop. Just a few months after her "Miami Vice" episode, however, the actress would have her breakout moment as a co-lead in the hit rom-com, "Mystic Pizza." So, given her relative anonymity at the time of her "Vice" appearance, you may have forgotten she was in it. Yet her episode is a fairly notorious one in the show's history.

NBC

"Mirror Image" is the Season 4 finale of "Miami Vice," and it ends on a cliffhanger that leads into the fifth (and, as it turned out, final) season. That's fairly standard practice for most series these days, yet back then it wasn't as much. In fact, "Mirror Image" is the only season finale that ends on a cliffhanger in the show's history. This choice is a small but important indicator of the many changes "Miami Vice" underwent during its last two seasons, moving away from the gritty, street-level stories of the first two and venturing into wilder, soapier storylines in an attempt to keep ratings up. The episode introduced the idea of Sonny suffering from amnesia after getting a concussion while undercover. This leads Sonny to believe that "Sonny Burnett," his cover identity as a Miami underworld player that he's had since the show began, is his real self.

It's a noir-esque psychodrama that effectively literalizes one of the main themes of "Miami Vice": the notion of blurring the line between cop and perp (which Michael Mann's 2006 film version indulged in as well). In the midst of all this, Julia Roberts plays Polly Wheeler, the assistant to the drug lord that Sonny was investigating who takes a liking to the cop who doesn't remember he's a cop. Roberts was all of 20 years old when she shot the episode, and her youth (and, apparently, teeth) nearly made producer Dick Wolf not want to cast her, according to an interview Wolf gave to the Archive of American Television. Fortunately, her older brother Eric Roberts' success helped convince Wolf, as did Julia Roberts' obvious talent.

NBC

When it comes to Julia Roberts' "Miami Vice" appearance, it seems some revisionist history has taken place over the ensuing decades. You know the old saying, "success has many fathers?" Well, in this oral history of the show from 2024, star Don Johnson appears to take credit for casting Roberts in "Mirror Image," describing himself as the director of the episode: 

"I cast Julia Roberts as a gun moll. She had these big, full lips. I played the whole scene on her face. While a drug dealer and I were having a dialogue, I let the camera stay right on her lips."

The thing is, Johnson is not the credited director of "Mirror Image." Richard Compton is. However, Johnson directed the first episode of the fifth season, "Hostile Takeover," which picks up from the cliffhanger "Mirror Image" left. Yet neither Roberts nor her character returned for that episode. So, this is likely an instance of hazy recollection.

Adding an extra layer of irony to all this is that neither Johnson, Compton, Dick Wolf, or "Miami Vice" can take credit for being Roberts' first small-screen appearance, but another Michael Mann-produced series can. Roberts' very first screen credit is as a guest star in a 1987 episode of "Crime Story," "The Survivor," in which she plays a sexual assault victim. So, while Roberts' role in "Miami Vice" a year later could've been a coincidence, it's likely her résumé was already in the rotation at Michael Mann Productions. In any case, as with so much of 1980s pop culture, many roads lead back to "Miami Vice" one way or another.