Angelina Jolie
Real Name: Angelina Jolie Voigt
Date of Birth: 04 June 1975
Place of birth: Los Angeles, CA, USA
Profession: Actress
Born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975 in Los Angeles, California, this award-winning actress had legally changed her name to Angelina Jolie in 2002 due to her estranged relationship with her father, actor Jon Voight. When her parents separated in 1976, Jolie and brother James Haven were raised by their mother, Marcheline Bertrand in New York.
Jolie had said her regular movie dates with her mother had inspired her to pursue acting. At age 11, she enrolled at the Lee Stratsberg Theater Institute. She claimed during one of her interviews that her time as a student at Beverly Hills High School was not a pleasant one. The other students often teased her because of her distinctive features. She had practiced cutting herself at that time, as it was “therapeutic” to her. At 14, she dropped out of acting class and embarked on a rebellious period in her life. She went back to theater studies and graduated from high school.
She began as a fashion model at 14. She had worked in L.A., New York, and London. She also appeared in several music videos.
Her first Hollywood film was in 1995’s “Hackers.” She co-starred with her would-be first husband Johnny Lee Miller. She garnered praises for her acting role and although the film itself did not perform well at the box office, it picked up a cult following when it was released on video.
Jolie appeared in several other movies after that but it was in 1997 that her performance was awarded with a Golden Globe and nominated for an Emmy. She played Cornelia Wallace in the biopic “George Wallace.” The film was highly acclaimed by critics.
In 1998, she gained recognition for playing the late supermodel Gia Carangi in the HBO film “Gia.” She won her second Golden Globe and another Emmy nomination that year. Also, she garnered her first Screen Actors Guild Award for playing the lesbian train wreck in the height and decline of her career.
Another notable film among many Jolie has done is the 1999 film “Girl, Interrupted.” She won her third Golden Globe, her second SAG and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
It was probably her role as Lara Croft in the video game-inspired movie “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” in 2001 that made her an international superstar. The movie got poor reviews but her performance was praised. It was a commercial success earning $275 million worldwide. She reprised her role in the film’s sequel in 2003’s “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.”
Although a wild child then, Jolie became involved with humanitarian work while filming Tomb Raider. She expressed her interest in helping the poverty-stricken and in 2001 she went on her first field visit to Sierra Leone and Tanzania. She returned to Cambodia for two weeks and donated $1 million to Afghan refugees. UNHCR was impressed with her efforts and made her a Goodwill Ambassador in 2001. To date, Jolie is known for her humanitarian efforts and charitable exertions.
Jolie’s first husband was British actor Johnny Lee Miller, who she married on March 28, 1996. They separated and divorced in 1999. She met her second husband, Billy Bob Thornton, on the set of Pushing Tin. They married on May 5, 2000 and divorced on May 27, 2003. Their relationship had often shocked the public, especially when they wore each other’s blood in vials around their necks.
Jolie met Brad Pitt on the set of their 2005 film “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” She was quickly regarded as the “other woman” when Pitt and then-wife Jennifer Aniston separated shortly after. Jolie and Pitt had denied this. They are currently still living together without plans of marriage.
Jolie and Pitt have three adoptive children and one biological. Jolie has Maddox, who was born on August 5, 2001 in Cambodia, even before she met Pitt. The couple then adopted Zahara from Ethiopia, who was born on January 8, 2005. She gave birth to Shiloh Nouvel in Namibia on May 27, 2006. Then they adopted a three-year-old boy from Vietnam named Pax Thien, who was born on November 23, 2003. The children’s surnames have all been legally changed to Jolie-Pitt.
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