Full name:Angelina Jolie Voight
Born: June 4, 1975, in Los Angeles, California
Family: Parents, Jon and Marcheline; older brother, James Haven.
Angelina Jolie’s Personal Life
Jolie was born into show business, as her father is an actor, and her mother wanted to be an actress, as well.
Jolie began her life in front of the cameras as a teenage model, and her first Hollywood film role, in the movie “Hackers,” came along as she entered her 20s. Something else that came along at that time was her meeting actor Jonny Lee Miller, her “Hackers” co-star, and the couple married. The union lasted two years.
Jolie wasn’t single for long. She was married to actor Billy Bob Thornton from 2000 to 2003, and it was during this time it emerged that the two kept vials of each other’s blood around their necks.
Just prior to the complete fizzling of her marriage to Thornton, Jolie adopted her first child, a son named Maddox.
Love came calling a couple of years later, in the form of her “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” co-star Brad Pitt. Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston when he met Jolie, and he has denied Jolie was the cause of his split from Aniston. He and Jolie have since become parents to Maddox and five other children: Zahara, Pax, and their biological children, Shiloh, and twins Knox and Vivienne. Vivienne's middle name is Marcheline, after Jolie's mother, who died of cancer in January 2008.
Jolie also keeps busy as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Angelina Jolie's Career
Jolie's early acting career includes parts in her brother's student films and her first leading role in the movie "Cyborg 2." A smaller part in the movie "Without Evidence" followed, and then she hit Hollywood, with the movie "Hackers." The films "Love Is All There Is," "Mojave Moon," "Foxfire" and "Playing God" are next in Jolie's filmography. She then appeared in a TV movie titled "True Women."
In 1997, awards came calling. After appearing in the biopic "George Wallace," Jolie won a Golden Globe Award and earned an Emmy Award nomination. The following year, her lead role as late supermodel Gia Carangi in another biopic, Gia, resulted in another Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award nomination. She also netted her first Screen Actors Guild Award.
Jolie then took a break from acting and studied filmmaking at New York University. When she headed back to the big screen, it was in the movies "Hell's Kitchen" and "Playing by Heart." The National Board of Review awarded Jolie with the Breakthrough Performance Award for her work in "Playing by Heart."
The films "Pushing Tin," "The Bone Collector" and "Girl, Interrupted" followed, as did Jolie's first Academy Award for Actress in a Supporting Role for “Girl, Interrupted." Her work in that film also garnered a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award.
Next up was "Gone in 60 Seconds," "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" — and its sequel, "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" — "Original Sin," "Life or Something Like It," "Beyond Borders" and "Taking Lives." Jolie ventured into animation, with voicing an angelfish in "Shark Tale," and briefly appeared in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." The box-office bomb "Alexander" followed, and then "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "The Good Shepherd," "A Mighty Heart," "Beowulf," "Wanted," "Kung Fu Panda," and her Oscar-nominated role in "The Changeling."
Jolie, who has obviously been constantly at work, has recently said she would take some time off to spend more time with her children.
Angelina Jolie Trivia
- When she was younger, Jolie wanted to be a funeral director.
- Actress Jacqueline Bissett is her godmother.
- She was considered for the role of Kelly Kapowski on “Saved by the Bell.”
- The king of Cambodia made Jolie an official citizen of the country in August 2005 for her work in helping the nation’s environment.
- She has 13 tattoos.
Angelina Jolie’s Oscar Nominations
- Actress in a Leading Role for “The Changeling” (2009)
- Actress in a Supporting Role for “Girl, Interrupted” (1999 — she won)
Angelina Jolie Quotes
To the “Today” show’s Ann Curry:
- ”I wouldn’t be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife.”
- “People will say what they want to say, and it’s OK. And my life will go on, and I need to focus on my life. So, do I need to defend that I’m a decent woman? I sure hope I don't. I know I am.”
To broadcaster Barbara Walters, on life before Pitt:
- “I didn’t have a sense of purpose.”
- “I love being a mom. There’s just such a clarity I never knew.”
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