With her long legs, ample bee-stung lips and striking deep-set blue eyes, Angelina Jolie may have been destined for screen stardom even without the benefit of her acting lineage or her considerable talent. The daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, she began studying acting at age 11 at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in NYC. Even before commencing her formal training, Jolie made her screen debut as a tyke in a bit part in the Hal Ashby-directed comedy "Lookin' to Get Out" (filmed in 1980; released 1982). Co-scripted and co-produced by her father, the movie was savaged by reviewers but its littlest thespian emerged unscathed.
Abandoning her youthful plans to become a funeral director, Jolie segued to show business as a professional model and actress in music videos. She went on to appear in five student films directed by her older brother, James Haven Voight, and as part of the Met Theater in Los Angeles honed her craft alongside such veteran players as Holly Hunter, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan. Jolie returned to the screen in "Cyborg II: Glass Shadows" (1993), a better than average direct-to-video sci-fi actioner in which she played a heroic human-machine hybrid but garnered more attention and better notices in the cyber-thriller "Hackers" (1995). Playing Kate (a.k.a. 'Acid Burn'), she was paired with rising young British actor Jonny Lee Miller as teen computer whizzes battling an evil genius. The film fizzled at the box office but the romantic leads sizzled and were briefly married from 1996 to 1999.
More film work readily followed, initially in small-scale character-driven indies including an indifferently received adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' novel "Foxfire" (1996), where she played a mysterious outsider named Legs Sadovsky--described in Variety as "sort of a female James Dean"--who helps some other teenaged girls stand up for their rights. Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna's romantic comedy-drama "Love Is All There Is" (also 1996) displayed Jolie in a humorous and innocent light as half of a pair of star-crossed lovers divided by their families' feud. That same year, she appeared in the high-minded suspense drama "Without Evidence", playing a drug-addicted teen, and "Mojave Moon", opposite car dealer Danny Aiello as what Variety called "a male fantasy figure who rapidly alternates between nymphomaniac and ice maiden". "Playing God" (1997) was next, and Jolie capably essayed a woman torn between her gangster boyfriend (Timothy Hutton) and a discredited doctor (David Duchovny) in his employ. While the films remained unseen by most moviegoers, Jolie received strong notices for each of these projects.
As with many performers, Jolie had no compunction about working on the small screen and, in fact, has appeared in a handful of exceptional productions, including a co-starring role alongside Annabeth Gish and Dana Delany as Texas pioneers in the 1997 CBS historical miniseries "True Women". Jolie then brought a fiery passion to her portrayal of Cornelia Wallace, the politician's first wife, in the biographical miniseries "George Wallace" (TNT, 1997). But it was her dazzling turn as another real-life figure that catapulted her into public consciousness. Her brave, sensitive performance as the drug-addicted, AIDS-stricken model Gia Carangi in HBO's "Gia" (1998) brought her widespread critical acclaim. Jolie was twice Emmy-nominated in 1998 in the supporting category for "George Wallace" (losing to co-star Mare Winningham) and as in the leading one for "Gia" (losing to Ellen Barkin). She did, however, win back-to-back Golden Globe Awards for the performances.
After this spate of acclaimed appearances in highly-rated television productions, Jolie found her way to roles in films that similarly showcased her acting strength. She received special notice for her work in the comedy-drama "Playing By Heart" (1998), as Joan, an outgoing club kid smitten with the sullen Keenan (Ryan Phillippe). Vivid and engaging, Jolie easily held her own among an ensemble cast featuring such luminaries as Gena Rowlands and Sean Connery. The actress joined John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton in Mike Newell's NYC-set comedy about air traffic controllers, "Pushing Tin" (1999), playing Thornton's raucous wife, and played a tough detective assisting a quadriplegic colleague (Denzel Washington) in the search for a serial killer in the crime thriller "The Bone Collector". Jolie rounded out the year landing the sought after co-starring role of a sociopathic inmate in a psychiatric hospital in "Girl, Interrupted", based on Susanna Kaysen's best-selling memoir of her own two-year stay in a similar institution. Her showy co-starring turn netted her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar and her equally showy personal life--which included a eyebrow-raising close relationship with her lookalike brother James Haven, exotic tattoos, knife collections, provocative revalations and intimations of a profoundly edgy sex life--captivated the public.
Media saturation ensued when she became the fifth wife the equally eccentirc and significantly older actor Billy Bob Thornton, a match made in tabloid heaven, in May of 2000--the couple's constant declarations of love and erotic devotion to each other was capped by the revelation that they wore vials of one another's blood around their necks. On-screen, the actress continued portraying tough young women, this time a car thief, in the flashy but unfulfilling car heist thriller "Gone in 60 Seconds" (2000) opposite Nicolas Cage and as the flesh-and-blood embodiment of the titular, wildly popular, shorts-wearing video game action heroine "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" (2001), an Indiana Jones-style adventure which failed to impress critics but racked up a healthy box office take--the action flick also marked her first adult collaboration with her father, who played her character's father in the film. Jolie was unable to capitalize on her goth sex goddess image when she played opposite Antonio Banderas in the dismal wannabe noir "Original Sin" (2001) despite some steamy--and heavily hyped--erotic sequences, and her follow-up dramatic vehicle "Life or Something Like It" (2002), in which she played a superficial, platinum blonde newscaster forced to examine her existence more closely, also fizzled quickly.
Jolie subsequently took a significant hiatus from film but continued to make headlines in her personal life, including taking a significant interest in the plight of violence-torn nations, and publicly feuding with her father after he suggested on television that she was having emotional problems and ultimately divorcing Thornton in 2003 amid rumors of his infidelity (which he denied). The actress returned to familiar territory for her comeback screen vehicle, the sequel "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" (2003), a lackluster follow-up to a lackluster first outing; followed by a turn in the too-righteous political/romantic drama "Beyond Borders" (2003); then a dangerous foray into Ashley Judd territory by starring the routine thriller "Taking Lives" (2004) as an FBI profiler caught up in dangerous and erotic intrigue. Slowly squandered in subpar films, Jolie remained an actress who excites interest but whose projects to not capitalize on her potential. The actress adopted another arch accent as she winkingly played the eyepatch-sporting Captain Frankie Cook, the leader of an all-female amphibious attack squadron, in the retro action-adventure "Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow" (2004) opposite Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow, battling giant robots in an Art Deco, 1930s-era envionment. Then she lent her voice to the finny femme fatale Lola in DreamWorks' CGI-animated underwater underworld opus "Shark Tale" (2004) and has a bizarrely seductive turn as Alexander the Great's mother Olympias, who raises her son to believe in his impressive destiny, in Oliver Stone's epic historical drama "Alexander the Great"--despite being only one year older than the actor playing her son, Colin Farrell.
Jolie's profile as both a movie star and public figure was raised to more epic proporions when she co-starred with the equally gorgeous actor Brad Pitt in the Doug Liman-helmed action-fest "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (2005), in which the actors played a bored married couple surprised to learn that they are each secretly assassins, ultimately hired to kill each other. Rumors quickly abounded that a on-set romance between Jolie and Pitt was a contributing factor to Pitt's subsequent spit from his high-profile marriage to Jennifer Aniston. Though both actors initially refuted the rumors--and, after frequently being photographed together in their private lives, took a coyer stance later on--the intense media and public interest in their possible relationship propelled the film to huge box office receipts, thanks in large part to their palpable on-screen chemistry. Their "are they or aren't they?" coupling captivated star watchers and was the most written-about celebrity story of 2005 (prompting the coining of the term "Brangelina") as their relationship gradually emerged in the public eye as Pitt accompanied Jolie on her missions of mercy to third world nations, petitioned to adopt her two adopted children, and ultimately revealed that he and Jolie were expecting their own biological child together as well.
Away from the screen, Jolie's expressed a dedication and commitment to increasing awareness and aid to counties devastated by internal and external conflicts, disease and third world conditions. In 2001, after the actress made several trips to the war-torn nations of Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Pakistan, Jolie was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In 2002 she adopted a baby boy from a Cambodian orphange whom she named Maddox, and in 2005 she adopted an infant daughter from an Ethiopian orphanage whom she named Zahara.
* Also Credited As:
Angelina Jolie Voight, Angie
* Born:
Angelina Jolie Voight on 06/04/1975 in Los Angeles, California
* Job Titles:
Actor, Model
Family
* Brother: James Haven. born c. 1973; studied filmmaking at USC; directed sister in five student films
* Daughter: Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. born May 27, 2006 in Namibia; father is Brad Pitt. First pictures of baby Shiloh were sold to People Magazine for a reported sum of $4.1 million.
* Daughter: Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt. born January 8, 2005; adopted July 2005, from an Ethiopian orphanage at six months; mother died of AIDS and father is unknown; legally adopted by Brad Pitt in 2006
* Father: Jon Voight. separated from Jolie's mother when Angelina was one-year-old; estranged from father
* Mother: Marcheline Bertrand. born c. 1950; part-Iroquois; separated from Jolie's father when Angelina was one-year-old; died of cancer in 2007
* Son: Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt. adopted at seven months from a Cambodian orphanage in 2002; legally adopted by Brad Pitt in 2006
* Son: Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt. adopted at three years old from a Vietnamese orphanage in 2007; Jolie adopted the boy as a single parent because Vietnam's adoption regulations don't allow unmarried couples to co-adopt; name was legally changed to Jolie-Pitt three months after his adoption
Significant Others
* Companion: Brad Pitt. met while filming "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"; rumored to be romantically involved throughout filming, but this was denied by both parties; began being photographed together as a couple in spring 2005
* Companion: Colin Farrell. rumored to have dated for a brief period during the filming of "Alexander"
* Husband: Billy Bob Thornton. acted together in "Pushing Tin" (1999); eloped to Las Vegas on May 5, 2000; Jolie has a tatoo on her arm that reads "Billy Bob;" reportedly split in June 2002; Jolie filed for divorce on July 17, 2002
* Husband: Jonny Lee Miller. British; met during filming of "Hackers"; married in March 1996; separated in 1997; divorced in February 1999; rumored to have dated again in 2002 and in 2004
* Companion: Timothy Hutton. dated in 1998 and 1999; co-starred together in "Playing God"; Jolie was reportedly tattooed with an "H"; no longer together
Education
* New York University, New York, New York, film
* The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, New York, New York
Milestones
* 1976 Moved to Palisades, New York with mother and brother (date approximate)
* 1980 Feature film debut, bit role in Hal Ashby's "Lookin' to Get Out", co-produced and co-written by her father, credited as Angelina Jolie Voight; film not released until 1982
* 1986 At age 11, began studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in NYC (date approximate)
* 1993 Co-starred in "Cyborg II: Glass Shadows", a direct-to-video sci-fi actioner
* 1995 First lead in a theatrical release, "Hackers"; co-starred with future husband, British actor Jonny Lee Miller
* 1996 Starred in the feature "Foxfire"
* 1997 Portrayed the politician's first wife Cornelia Wallace in the TNT miniseries "George Wallace"; received 1998 Emmy nomination as Best Supporting Actress
* 1998 Earned raves for her starring performance as Gia Carangi, a drug addicted, bisexual model who died of complications from AIDS, in the HBO biopic "Gia"; received 1998 Emmy nomination as Best Actress
* 1998 Had supporting role as a club kid in the ensemble comedy-drama "Playing By Heart"
* 1999 Cast as a tough detective assisting a quadriplegic colleague (Denzel Washington) in tracking a serial killer in "The Bone Collector"
* 1999 Co-starred in "Girl, Interrupted", a drama based on the memoirs of a woman's two-year stay in a psychiatric hospital
* 1999 Portrayed the wife of an air traffic controller (Billy Bob Thornton) in "Pushing Tin", directed by Mike Newell
* 2000 Acted opposite Nicolas Cage in "Gone in 60 Seconds"
* 2001 Had title role in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider"
* 2001 Starred opposite Antonio Banderas in "Original Sin"
* 2002 Appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
* 2002 Portrayed a TV reporter forced to question her choices in "Life or Something Like It"
* 2003 Returned to her starring role for the sequel "Lara Croft and the Cradle of Life: Tomb Raider 2 "
* 2003 Starred opposite Clive Owen in "Beyond Borders"
* 2004 Co-starred with Colin Farrell in Oliver Stone's "Alexander" playing Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great
* 2004 Portrayed Captain Franky Cook in the Sci-fi thriller "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" starring Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow
* 2004 Starred as Special Agent Illeana Scott in the thriller "Taking Lives" also starred Ethan Hawke and Kiefer Sutherland
* 2004 Voiced Lola in the animated feature "Shark Tale "
* 2005 Appeared in the MTV special "The Diary of Angelina Jolie & Dr. Jeffrey Sachs in Africa," which will follow their trip to Sauri, a remote group of villages in western Kenya
* 2005 Starred opposite Brad Pitt, as a bored married couple that is surprised to learn that they are assassins hired to kill each other in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"
* 2006 Played a CIA agent's (Matt Damon) long-suffering wife in Robert De Niro's "The Good Shepherd"
* 2007 Cast in "A Mighty Heart," as Marianne Pearl, the wife of Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and killed in 2002 while reporting in Pakistan; produced by her partner Brad Pitt
* 2007 Made directorial debut with the documentary "A Place in Time"
* Acted in five student films directed by her brother, James Haven Voight
* Appeared in music videos by Meat Loaf, The Lemonheads, Rolling Stones and others
* As part of the Met Theater group in Los Angeles, worked with such veteran actors as Holly Hunter, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan
* Made stage debut playing a German dominatrix in "Room Service"
* Reportedly planned to become a funeral director
* Will voice Grendel's Mother in Robert Zemeckis' big-budget film version of the epic poem "Beowulf" (lensed 2005)
* Worked briefly as a professional model
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