From
Hollywood wild-child to Academy Award winner to respected U.N. Goodwill
Ambassador, actress Angelina Jolie underwent a series of metamorphic
transformations over the course of her career. An exceedingly beautiful,
strikingly talented performer, Jolie broke onto the scene in the
mid-1990s, quickly gaining a reputation for both her onscreen work as
well as her outrageous off-camera antics. Interestingly enough, however,
within a decade, Jolie shed her reckless image and successfully managed
to reinvent herself - not only as an artist, but also as a celebrity
humanitarian of the highest order. Only half-chidingly dubbed by
Esquire
magazine as "the best woman in the world, in terms of her generosity,
her dedication and her courage," Jolie seemed intent on remaking her
image on her own terms, even as the tabloids struggled to scandalize it.
In the mid-2000s, Jolie's public profile exploded into another
stratosphere when she became romantically linked with the "sexiest man
alive," Brad Pitt. After his then scandalous divorce from wife Jennifer
Aniston, Pitt and Jolie slowly came out as a couple to the delight of
the world's paparazzi. Now one half of the "most gorgeous couple on
earth," Jolie used her celebrity to bring attention to a number of
worthwhile causes - winning the grudging respect of even the most
cynical of her critics.The daughter of actors Jon Voight and
Marcheline Bertrand, Angelina Jolie (Voight) was born on Jun. 4, 1975 in
Los Angeles, CA. Like her older brother by two years, director James
Haven (Voight,) Jolie seemed destined for a career in the arts. At the
age of 11, she began studying at the famed 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). While reviewers savaged the movie
(which was co-scripted and co-produced by her father, Jon), its littlest
thespian fortunately emerged unscathed. The experience briefly turned
young Angelina off of show business - she even briefly considered going
into funeral directing for a time - but because it was in her blood, she
eventually bounced back.
With two extremely photogenic parents,
it came as no surprise that Jolie inherited gorgeous good looks - most
striking of all were lush lips which made her a standout from all other
young girls. Her comeliness allowed her to segue back into show
business, first as a professional model, and later, as an actress in
music videos. In addition to appearing in five student films directed by
her older brother, Jolie became a member of the Los Angeles
Metropolitan Theatre Company, where she honed her craft alongside such
veteran players as Holly Hunter, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan. Jolie made
her return to the screen playing a heroic human/machine hybrid in the
above-average direct-to-video sci-fi actioner, "
Cyborg II: Glass Shadows"
(1993), but the entry went virtually unnoticed by critics. Luckily, her
flashy role as Kate (a.k.a. 'Acid Burn') in the cyber-thriller
"Hackers" (1995) garnered her more attention and better notices. Paired
with rising young British actor Jonny Lee Miller, Jolie played a teen
computer whiz battling an evil genius. "Hackers" fizzled at the box
office, but the romantic leads sizzled - both onscreen and off. Jolie
and Miller's chemistry eventually culminated in their wedding in 1996.
Though the two would divorce just three years later, Jolie and Miller
would remain close friends even after their break-up.
More film
work readily followed for Jolie, initially in small-scale
character-driven indies. In an indifferently received adaptation of
Joyce Carol Oates' novel "Foxfire" (1996), Jolie 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. In Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna's
romantic comedy-drama "
Love Is All There Is"
(1996), Jolie displayed a humorous and innocent light as half of a pair
of star-crossed lovers divided by their families' feud. That same year,
the actress appeared in the high-minded suspense drama "
Without Evidence," playing a drug-addicted teen, and "
Mojave Moon," opposite Danny Aiello. Next came "
Playing God"
(1997), in which 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 largely unseen by most
moviegoers, Jolie received strong notices for each of these projects.
Unlike
many feature stars, Jolie showed no compunction about working on the
small screen. Case in point: during the late 1990s, the actress appeared
in a handful of exceptional made-for-TV productions that effectively
allowed her to strut her stuff on her own terms. In 1997, Jolie received
top notices for her co-starring turn alongside Annabeth Gish and Dana
Delaney 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 - the late supermodel Gia Carangi - that catapulted
Jolie into the public consciousness. Jolie's brave, sensitive
performance as the drug-addicted, AIDS-stricken title character in HBO's
excellent biopic "Gia" (1998) brought the beauty widespread critical
acclaim. For her efforts, Jolie was twice Emmy-nominated in the
supporting category for "George Wallace" (which she lost to co-star Mare
Winningham) and in the leading category for "Gia" (which she ended up
losing to Ellen Barkin). Fortunately, Jolie received more-than-adequate
consolation for her Emmy losses by picking up two back-to-back Golden
Globe Awards for both performances.
After this spate of acclaimed
television appearances, Jolie found her way back into in films, landing
roles that similarly showcased her acting strengths. In 1998, Jolie
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 following year, the actress joined John Cusack and Billy
Bob Thornton in Mike Newell's Big Apple-set comedy about air traffic
controllers, "
Pushing Tin"
(1999). Jolie later got her feet wet in the increasingly crowded
crime-drama pond playing a tough rookie cop assisting a quadriplegic
detective (Denzel Washington) in "
The Bone Collector"
(1999), a flawed, but well-acted serial killer thriller directed by
Philip Noyce. Jolie finally rounded out the year by landing the much
sought after co-starring role of the disturbed Lisa Rowe in "
Girl, Interrupted."
Based on author Susanna Kaysen's best-selling memoir of her own
two-year stay in a psychiatric hospital, Jolie's showy turn as the
sociopathic inmate netted Jolie a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
But
public respect would come neither immediately nor easily for Jolie,
even after winning Hollywood's highest honor. Far more interested in her
girl-gone-wild ways, the tabloids tended to dismiss her talents in
favor of her more unorthodox personal life. Among the gossip fodder were
her exotic tattoos, extensive collection of knives and her past
"cutting" experiences, her provocative revelations and her intimations
of a profoundly edgy sex life. The tabloids also made much hay out of
Jolie's close relationship with her look-alike brother, James Haven - a
bond which raised many eyebrows after Jolie planted a passionate kiss on
his lips in plain view of drooling paparazzi. It did not help matters
when she declared she was "in love with her brother" upon accepting the
Oscar. Media saturation would reach a boiling point, however, in mid
2000, when Jolie became the fifth wife of her "
Pushing Tin"
co-star - the equally eccentric and significantly older actor Billy Bob
Thornton. A match made in tabloid heaven, the couple's constant
declarations of love and erotic devotion to each other was capped by the
wacky revelation that the two wore vials of one another's blood around
each other's necks and had sex in the car on the way to the "
Pushing Tin" premiere.
Her
offscreen quirks notwithstanding, the actress continued portraying
tough young women on the big screen. In the flashy but unfulfilling car
heist thriller "
Gone in 60 Seconds"
(2000), Jolie crackled in scenes even opposite notorious scene-stealing
star, Nicolas Cage. Jolie's next project was as the flesh-and-blood
embodiment of the titular adventuress in "
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" (2001). Based on the wildly popular "
Tomb Raider"
video game franchise, Lara Croft launched an Indiana Jones-style
adventure series which failed to impress critics, but racked up a
healthy box office take. The film also marked Jolie's first adult
collaboration with her father, Jon Voight, who played her character's
father in the film. Shortly after their onscreen pairing, however,
Voight made a series of disparaging comments regarding his daughter's
mental emotional stability (or lack thereof) to the American
entertainment newsmagazine "Access Hollywood" (syndicated, 1996- ).
Outraged by the insult, Jolie immediately responded by painting Voight
as a philandering, self-righteous hypocrite who cheated on her mother.
The resulting rift between father and daughter would last for several
years and several on-camera pleas by Voight to give him another chance.
Meanwhile,
back on the career front, Jolie - possibly distracted by her tumultuous
personal crises - seemed a bit unfocused in her next two features.
Starring opposite Antonio Banderas in the dismal noir-wannabe "
Original Sin" (2001), Jolie came off less than committed, despite some steamy erotic sequences. Her follow-up, the 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 died quickly. Jolie
subsequently took a significant hiatus from film, but continued to make
headlines in her personal life, divorcing Thornton in 2003 amid rumors
of his infidelity (which he denied). It was also rumored that Jolie's
recent adoption of a baby boy from a Cambodian orphanage whom she named
Maddox, did not help matters. The couple was allegedly at different
points in their life and thus, split.
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. Reflecting
their offscreen internecine tensions, Voight, did not reprise his role
in this second follow-up. "Cradle of Life" was followed by a turn in the
too-righteous political/romantic drama "
Beyond Borders" (2003). After this came a dangerous foray into Ashley Judd territory with a starring role in the routine thriller "
Taking Lives"
(2004), in which Jolie played an FBI profiler caught up in dangerous
and erotic intrigue. Signing up for another purely commercial vehicle,
the actress adopted another rich 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). Cast opposite Jude Law and fellow Oscar winner, Gwyneth
Paltrow, Jolie joined the CGI-laden action-adventure battling giant
robots in an Art Deco environment. Jolie then lent her voice to the
finny femme fatale, Lola, in DreamWorks' CGI-animated underwater
underworld opus "A Shark's Tale" (2004). Finally, Jolie closed out the
year with a bizarrely seductive turn as Alexander's mother, Olympias,
who raises her son to believe in his impressive destiny, in Oliver
Stone's epic historical bomb, "
Alexander the Great."
Jolie's
profile as both a movie star and public figure rose to even more epic
proportions when she co-starred with the equally lovely actor Brad Pitt
in the Doug Liman-helmed actionfest "
Mr. & Mrs. Smith"
(2005). In it, the actors played a bored married couple who are
actually rival assassins, each hired to kill the other. Almost from the
get-go, spurious rumors abounded of an on-set romance between Jolie and
Pitt - innuendo that contributed to Pitt's subsequent split from his
high-profile marriage to actress Jennifer Aniston. Though both Pitt and
Jolie initially refuted the rumors - the two later took a coyer stance
after being photographed together numerous times post-Aniston
separation. The intense media and public interest in their possible
romance propelled "
Mr. & Mrs. Smith"
to huge box office receipts, thanks in large part to their palpable
onscreen chemistry. Needless to say, the "are they or aren't they?"
nature of the Jolie-Pitt coupling captivated star watchers and quickly
became the most written about celebrity story of 2005 - even prompting
the coining of the term "Brangelina."
Taking a page from the
playbook of the late Audrey Hepburn, Jolie began using her celebrity
status to bring attention to such humanitarian causes as the plight of
violence-torn nations. As their relationship gradually emerged in the
public eye, Pitt began to accompany Jolie on her missions of mercy to
third world nations and grow ever more attached to her son, Maddox. Away
from the screen, Jolie 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 had been appointed Goodwill Ambassador for
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It was during one of
these trips that in 2005, she adopted an infant daughter from an
Ethiopian orphanage whom she named Zahara. Later that year, surprising
the world at large, Pitt petitioned to adopt the two children as his
own. A year later, on May 27, 2006, Jolie and Pitt welcomed their
biological firstborn child into the world - a daughter named Shiloh
Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. Clearly serious about starting a family, in March
2007 - Jolie and Pitt made headlines once again by adopting a fourth
child - a three-year-old boy from Vietnam whom they named Pax. And no
one was surprised when the couple gave birth to twins Vivienne and Knox
in 2008.
Returning to the big screen later that summer, Jolie next
starred as Marianne Pearl, the wife of murdered journalist Daniel
Pearl, in the gripping drama "
A Mighty Heart"
(2007). Though Jolie's casting initially sparked a furor of controversy
among minority groups, as Marianne Pearl was of Afro-Cuban/Dutch
ancestry, much of the complaints dissipated upon the film's release.
Hailed by many as quite possibly the boldest performance of her career,
Jolie's portrayal of Marianne Pearl was rooted in dignity and reflected a
tragic truthfulness free of exploitative sentimentality. Unfortunately,
the serious film was released during the summer box office season,
rendering it lost amidst all the big-budget special effect movies. Also
that year, Jolie became a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,
then received the International Rescue Committee's annual Freedom Award
for her contributions to the cause of refugees and human freedom.
Back on the big screen, Jolie starred in the high-action comic book thriller, "
Wanted"
(2008), playing a supersensory assassin who mentors an office-bound
wimp (James McAvoy), turning him into a highly skilled member of a
centuries-old order of hit men. Following a leading voice role as
Tigress in the blockbuster animated family comedy, "
Kung Fu Panda" (2008), Jolie returned to Oscar-caliber form with "
Changeling"
(2008), a period thriller inspired by true events directed by Clint
Eastwood. Jolie played a distressed mother taking on the Los Angeles
Police Department in 1928 when her son mysteriously reappears after
having gone missing. Sure that the boy is not her son and in search of
answers, she fights a corrupt bureaucracy that tries to publicly declare
her unfit and delusional. Jolie's strong performance earned her
nominations at both the Golden Globes and Academy Awards for Best
Actress.
Despite her continued acclaim for her accomplishments
onscreen, Jolie was forced to continually contend with tabloid stories
about herself, her family and her relationship with Brad Pitt. In early
2010, Jolie and Pitt sued the British tabloid
News of the World for
reporting that they were about to break up after the paper refused to
either apologize or retract its story. Several months later, the lawsuit
was settled with the tabloid issuing a public apology and paying an
undisclosed sum for damages, which was donated to the Jolie-Pitt
Foundation. Meanwhile, Jolie returned to blockbuster prominence as the
star of "Salt" (2010), a fast-paced spy thriller in which she played a
dedicated CIA agent forced to go on the run after she is accused of
being a Russian mole. A surprising box office hit during a busy summer,
"Salt" was notable for being originally written for a male lead, which
obviously was changed when Jolie became interested in the project. She
next starred in another espionage thriller, "
The Tourist"
(2010), playing a mysterious British woman who pulls an unwitting
American (Johnny Depp) vacationing in Italy into a whirlwind of intrigue
and danger. Though attractive to look at, "
The Tourist"
was blasted by most critics for its slow plot and lack of chemistry
between the leads. Regardless, the film earned surprising Golden Globe
nominations for both Jolie and Depp.
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