Julia Roberts and the Tiles: Why a Movie Star Plays Every Tuesday
A 2019 talk-show clip of Julia Roberts describing mahjong as “creating order out of chaos” sat quiet for years. In 2024 it resurfaced and pulled a new wave of players to the table. Here is what she actually said, and why it matters if you are just starting out.
Published 2026-09-20 · Independent guide, not affiliated with the National Mah Jongg League.
The clip that found a second life
In 2019, Julia Roberts sat down on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to talk about her film Ben Is Back. Colbert asked what she does to relax. Her answer caught people: she plays mahjong with friends once a week. The audience erupted. So did the clip, years later. In 2024, around her 57th birthday, the show reposted it and it traveled fast, past two million views.
A movie star talking about a tile game like it was the most normal thing in the world turned out to be exactly the hook a lot of newcomers needed. The clip is easy to find on the show’s official YouTube and TikTok channels.
What her game actually looks like
Forget the red carpet. The picture she paints is a standing weekly game with friends, no cameras, no pressure. That is the part worth holding onto. Mahjong in America is, for most people who play it, a reason to be in the same room on a fixed night and laugh for a couple of hours.
Roberts is not describing a competition. She is describing a habit. The celebrity angle fades the moment you realize your own Tuesday group looks the same.
One honest note on the rules
The game she describes is the classic version, the one most of the world knows: fourteen tiles, four sets and a pair, built from what you draw. It is not the American (NMJL) version this site teaches, which runs on a yearly card, eight jokers and a Charleston. Different game, same pull.
If her clip is what brought you in, good. The American version is the one to learn if you want to sit at a table in the United States, and it starts with the card, not the celebrities.
Quick tell: American mahjong uses 152 tiles including 8 jokers, follows a yearly card of approved hands, and opens every game with a three-pass tile exchange called the Charleston. The classic version has no card and no jokers. If you remember one thing, remember that the two games look alike and play nothing alike.
Why the quote sticks
Roberts said it plainly: “The concept of it is to create order out of chaos based on the random drawing of tiles.” That line is not poetry. It is the job.
Every hand you play is exactly that: a pile of random draws you keep trying to organize into something that scores. Some nights the tiles cooperate. Most nights they do not, and the fun is in the arranging. Beginners freeze because they expect a plan. There is no plan. There is only the next tile and the choice it forces. Roberts said in one sentence what most manuals take a chapter to say.
From her table to yours
You do not need a famous name or a custom set to start. You need four people, a card, and a plain explanation of what each hand wants. That is the whole point of this site.
If you already have tiles in front of you and want to know which direction your hand is pointing, the Hand finder reads your 14 tiles against the 2026 card’s nine sections in about thirty seconds. It tells you which families your hand fits and which joker rules apply, so you stop guessing and start building.
Pick 14 tiles and the Hand finder shows the 2026 sections your hand fits. Free to use, no download, no account needed for the free tools.
Open the Hand Finder →Sources
The clip and quote above are drawn from publicly reported coverage. We link the primary source we found and note where details are widely repeated. This page explains the American (NMJL) game and is not affiliated with the National Mah Jongg League.
- The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2019), the original interview; the show reposted the clip to its TikTok and YouTube in 2024.
- BuzzFeed, “Julia Roberts mahjong TikTok” (transcript of the clip and the 2024 resurgence).
- WeMahj, “Who’s Sitting at Your Celebrity Mahjong Table?” (the weekly-game detail).
- China Daily / 163 syndication (the quote in translation).
Start with “What is American mahjong?” → Read the FAQ → More News & Stories →