London Academy of Media Film TV

EARLY LIFE

Angelina Jolie

Born Angelina Jolie Voight on the 4th of June, 1975, in Los Angeles, California; Angelina is the youngest of two children to actors Marcheline Bertrand and Jon Voight. Her parents separated a year after she was born and she was primarily raised in New York by her mother. With the soon-to-be actress having a somewhat tempestuous relationship with her father, Angelina has credited her interest in acting to her childhood experiences with her mother, though she made her debut film appearance in her father’s poorly received comedy Lookin’ to Get Out released in 1982. Angelina pursued her interest in the profession in her early teenage years when she began studying at the Lee Strasbourg Theatre Institute in 1986, making several stage appearances during her studies. She also briefly considered a career as a funeral director during her more troubled years; with the young actress collecting knives and experimenting with self-harm when she was 16 years old, before achieving some success as a professional model.

MODELING CAREER

Angelina found success as a model across the globe; working in London, Los Angeles, and New York, earning the attentions of the music industry with the teenage model appearing in numerous music videos for the likes of Lenny Kravitz, Meatloaf, and the Rolling Stones. With her passion for acting reignited, Angelina enrolled at the MET theater company in Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actress. After appearing in a couple of shorts by Secretary director Steven Shainberg in 1993, Angelina quickly made her film debut as an adult in the low-budget sci-fi thriller, Cyborg 2 (1993).

COMMERCIAL BREAKTHROUGH

After making numerous appearances in low-profile genre films, including Hackers (1995) with Johnny Lee Miller, and Playing God (1997) with David Duchovny, Angelina earned her first taste of critical acclaim with television biopic Gia (1998) portraying doomed model Gia Carangi. She was nominated for an Emmy for her performance and won a Golden Globe award, planting her firmly on the Hollywood map. More high profile roles soon followed with Angelina starring opposite Billy Bob Thornton in romantic drama Pushing Tin (1999), and Denzel Washington in crime thriller The Bone Collector (1999), before making her breakthrough performance in Girl, Interrupted (1999). She won an Oscar for her performance and quickly established herself as one of Hollywood’s highest earning stars with a string of blockbuster hits.

BOX OFFICE QUEEN

With Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) opposite Nicolas Cage, highly anticipated video-game adaptation Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), action comedy Mr and Mrs Smith (2005), and roles in animated hits Shark Tale (2004), and Kung Fu Panda (2008) grossing over $100 million each in America alone, Angelina became a certified box office star. Though she has starred in her fair share of box office flops, including Original Sin (2001) with Antonio Banderas and Thomas Jane, and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) with Jude Law, Angelina has remained one of cinema’s biggest draws, and has endeavoured to balance more challenging dramatic work with box office blockbusters. She earned a second Oscar nomination for her performances in Clint Eastwood’s Changeling (2008), and has recently lit up the box office with blockbusters Wanted (2008), Salt (2010), and The Tourist (2011) with Johnny Depp. She will next be seen in the animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011).

HUMANITARIAN WORK

However, Angelina’s most fulfilling work has been away from the big screen with the actress using her celebrity status to raise awareness for humanitarian causes across the world. She has visited many third world countries and conflict zones including Sierra Leone, Namibia, Darfur, and Haiti, and has made numerous donations from her own fortune. She has made public speeches at fundraising events including World Refugee Day, and in 2001 was named a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN. She has been awarded the Citizen of the World award, and a Global Humanitarian award for her prolific charity work.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

PERSONAL LIFE

Aside from her highly-publicized estrangement from her father, Angelina has been the subject of controversy with her love life too, earning a reputation as a wild child. At her first wedding, to actor Johnny Lee Miller (1996-1999), Angelina had written the groom’s name on her shirt in her own blood, and the star has professed that she wore a vial of her spouse’s blood during her marriage to second husband Billy Bob Thornton (2000-2003). Her current relationship to actor Brad Pitt has also been the subject of obsessive media speculation with Angelina rumored to have been the cause for the dissolution of Brad’s marriage to actress Jennifer Aniston. Angelina has 3 adopted children; Maddox (adopted 2002) from Cambodia, Zahara Marley (adopted 2005) from Ethiopia, and Pax Thien (adopted 2007) from Vietnam. She also has three biological children with Brad; Shiloh Nouvel (born 2006), and twins Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon (born 2008). Angelina is currently represented by United Talent Agency.

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