Angelina Jolie Bio

Angelina Jolie is an American actress, director and humanitarian whose high profile career and relationship with actor Brad Pitt has made her one of the most glamorous stars in the world.

Angelina Jolie Bio

Angelina Jolie (Angelina Jolie Voight) was born on June 4, 1975 in Los Angeles, California. She is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. Jolie and her older brother, James Haven, lived with their mother after their parents divorced in 1976. After she moved to New York at age six, Jolie aspired to be an actress and enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, where she trained for two years and appeared in several stage productions.

At 14, Jolie dropped out of her acting classes and began working as a fashion model, modeling mainly in Los Angeles, New York, and London. During her teens and early twenties, Jolie admits she was in a "dark" period, during which she wore black clothing, experimented with knife play and started to self-harm by cutting herself to feel the pain. Jolie admits she felt like an outcast because of her appearance among Beverly Hills' more affluent children.

Jolie's first acting opportunity came in in the 1982 film 'Lookin' to Get Out,' which was co-written by and starring her father, Jon Voight. But after her parents separation, Jolie's relationship with her biological father was strained for years and she began using just her middle name 'Jolie' instead of Voight. In the early 1990s, Jolie appeared in music videos for Lenny Kravitz and Meatloaf, but in 1993, made her professional film debut in the straight-to-video science-fiction sequel 'Cyborg 2'. Jolie was so disappointed with the film that she didn't audition for another year. Following a supporting role in the independent film 'Without Evidence' in 1995, Jolie starred in her first Hollywood picture, 'Hackers' the same year. Although 'Hackers' was a box office failure, she married her 'Hackers' co-star Jonny Lee Miller in 1996. Jolie continued to bag film roles in 1996 ('Love Is All There Is,' 'Mojave Moon' and 'Foxfire') and 1997 ('True Women,' 'George Wallace'). Her performance in the TV film 'George Wallace' won Jolie her first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1997.

Greater success followed the next year thanks to her performance in HBO's biopic film 'Gia,' considered to be Jolie's breakthrough role. The film, in which she portrayed the life of supermodel Gia Carangi, won Jolie much critical acclaim and several awards, including her second Golden Globe and her first Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Female Actor. In 1999, Jolie appeared in the drama 'Pushing Tin' opposite Billy Bob Thornton, whom she would marry in 2000. That same year, Jolie would win her first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 'Girl, Interrupted.' She enjoyed box office success in her subsequent films 'The Bone Collector' and 'Gone in 60 Seconds'. In 2001, Jolie was cast in her first lead role for the big screen adaptation of 'Tomb Raider'. The film would become a global hit and make Jolie a superstar. While filming in Cambodia, Jolie became personally aware of worldwide humanitarian crises and was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador the same year. 2002 saw Jolie adopted her first child, seven-month-old Maddox Chivan, from an orphanage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and even though she was married to Thornton at the time, she in fact adopted Maddox as a single parent.

By 2003, Jolie had become one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood, despite some of her films seeing mediocre box office returns. Jolie's career, and personal life, rose to extreme heights after she appeared alongside Brad Pitt in the action hit 'Mr & Mrs. Smith' in 2005. After her divorce from Thornton, Jolie began dating Pitt and their relationship gained widespread attention due to their star status. Jolie would adopt her second child, a daughter named Zahara, from an orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In early 2006, Jolie legally changed her children's surnames from Jolie to Jolie-Pitt. The couple had their first biological child, daughter Shiloh Nouvel, on May 27, 2006. The next year Jolie adopted a son, three-year-old Pax Thien, from an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where he was left abandoned soon after birth. In 2008, Jolie announced she was expecting twins. She gave birth to a son, Knox Léon, and a daughter, Vivienne Marcheline, on July 12, 2008. The rights for the first images were jointly sold to People and Hello! magazine for a reported $14 million - the most ever for exclusive celebrity pictures. All the proceeds the couple earned from selling photo rights have gone to charity.

After a break from acting, Jolie returned to the big screen in 2010, first with the action hit 'Salt' and later opposite Johnny Depp in 'The Tourist'. Jolie's other notable films include the 'Kung Fu Panda' movies, the action film 'Wanted' and the Clint Eastwood-directed 'Changeling,' for which she received multiple award nominations for her performance. Jolie directed her first feature film 'In the Land of Blood and Honey' in 2011. Jolie is one of the most powerful celebrities in the world and remains one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood.

Angelina Jolie Stats

Angelina Jolie is 5 feet 8 inches tall, has grey eyes and is a natural blonde.

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