Angelina Jolie
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Though she made her screen debut as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in the 1982 film Lookin' to Get Out, Jolie's acting career began in earnest a decade later with the low-budget production Cyborg 2 (1993). Her first leading role in a major film was in Hackers (1995). She starred in the critically acclaimed biographical films George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999). Jolie achieved international fame as a result of her portrayal of video game heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), and since then has established herself as one of the best-known and highest-paid actresses in Hollywood.[2] She has had her biggest commercial successes with the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) and the animated film Kung Fu Panda (2008).
Early life and family
Born in
After her parents' separation in 1976, Jolie and her brother were raised by their mother, who abandoned her acting ambitions and moved with them to Palisades, New York.[10] As a child, Jolie regularly saw movies with her mother and later explained that this had inspired her interest in acting; she had not been influenced by her father.[11] When she was eleven years old, the family moved back to
At the age of 14, she dropped out of her acting classes and dreamed of becoming a funeral director.[13] During this period, she wore black, dyed her hair purple and went out moshing with her live-in boyfriend.[11] Two years later, after the relationship had ended, she rented an apartment above a garage a few blocks from her mother's home.[10] She returned to theatre studies and graduated from high school, though in recent times she has referred to this period with the observation, "I am still at heart—and always will be—just a punk kid with tattoos".[14]
Jolie has been long estranged from her father. The two tried to reconcile and he appeared with her in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001).[10] In July 2002, Jolie filed a request to legally change her name to "Angelina Jolie", dropping Voight as her surname; the name change was made official on September 12, 2002.[15] In August of the same year, Voight claimed that his daughter had "serious mental problems" on Access Hollywood. Jolie later indicated that she no longer wished to pursue a relationship with her father, and said, "My father and I don't speak. I don't hold any anger toward him. I don't believe that somebody's family becomes their blood. Because my son's adopted, and families are earned." She stated that she did not want to publicize her reasons for her estrangement from her father, but because she had adopted her son, she did not think it was healthy for her to associate with Voight.
Early work, 1993–1997
Jolie began working as a fashion model when she was 14 years old, modeling mainly in
Jolie appeared in five of her brother's student films, made while he attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts, but her professional movie career began in 1993, when she played her first leading role in the low-budget film Cyborg 2, as Casella "Cash" Reese, a near-human robot, designed to seduce her way into a rival manufacturer's headquarters and then self-detonate. Following a supporting role in the independent film Without Evidence, Jolie starred as Kate "Acid Burn" Libby in her first
She appeared as Gina Malacici in the 1996 comedy Love Is All There Is, a modern-day loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set among two rival Italian family restaurant owners in the Bronx,
Breakthrough, 1997–2000
Jolie's career prospects began to improve after her performance as Cornelia Wallace in the 1997 biographical film George Wallace for which she won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Emmy Award. Gary Sinise starred as Alabama Governor George Wallace The film, directed by John Frankenheimer, was praised by critics and, among other awards, received the Golden Globe for Best Miniseries/Motion Picture made for TV. She played the second wife of the former segregationist governor who was shot and paralyzed while running in 1972 for U.S. President.
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In 1998, Jolie starred in HBO's Gia, portraying supermodel Gia Carangi. The film depicted a world of sex, drugs and emotional drama, and chronicled the destruction of Carangi's life and career as a result of her drug addiction, and her decline and death from AIDS. Vanessa Vance from Reel.com noted, "Angelina Jolie gained wide recognition for her role as the titular Gia, and it's easy to see why. Jolie is fierce in her portrayal—filling the part with nerve, charm, and desperation—and her role in this film is quite possibly the most beautiful train wreck ever filmed."[21] For the second consecutive year, Jolie won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Emmy Award. She also won her first Screen Actors Guild Award. In accordance with Lee Strasberg's method acting, Jolie reportedly preferred to stay in character in between scenes during many of her early films, and as a result had gained a reputation for being difficult to deal with. While shooting Gia, she told her then-husband Jonny Lee Miller that she would not be able to phone him: "I'd tell him: 'I'm alone; I'm dying; I'm gay; I'm not going to see you for weeks.'"
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Following Gia, Jolie moved to New York and stopped acting for a short period of time, because she felt that she had "nothing else to give". She enrolled at New York University to study filmmaking and attended writing classes. She described it as "just good for me to collect myself" on Inside the Actors Studio.[23]
Jolie returned to film as Gloria McNeary in the 1998 gangster movie Hell's Kitchen, and later that year appeared in Playing by Heart, part of an ensemble cast that included Sean Connery, Gillian Anderson, Ryan Phillippe and Jon Stewart. The film received predominantly positive reviews and Jolie was praised in particular. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Jolie, working through an overwritten part, is a sensation as the desperate club crawler learning truths about what she's willing to gamble."[24] Jolie won the Breakthrough Performance Award by the National Board of Review.jpg)
In 1999, she starred in Mike Newell's comedy-drama Pushing Tin, co-starring John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. Jolie played
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Jolie next took the supporting role of the sociopathic Lisa Rowe in Girl, Interrupted (1999), a film that tells the story of mental patient Susanna Kaysen, and which was adapted from Kaysen's original memoir Girl, Interrupted. While Winona Ryder played the main character in what was hoped to be a comeback for her, the film instead marked Jolie's final breakthrough in
In 2000, Jolie appeared in her first summer blockbuster, Gone In 60 Seconds, in which she played Sarah "Sway" Wayland, ex-girlfriend of car-thief Nicolas Cage. The role was small, and the Washington Post criticized that "all she does in this movie is stand around, cooling down, modeling those fleshy, pulsating muscle-tubes that nest so provocatively around her teeth."[30] She later explained that the film was a welcome relief after the heavy role of Lisa Rowe, and it became her highest grossing movie up until then, earning $237 million internationally.[3]
International success, 2001–present
Although highly regarded for her acting abilities, Jolie's films to date had often not appealed to a wide audience, but Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) made her an international superstar. An adaptation of the popular Tomb Raider videogame, Jolie was required to learn a British accent and undergo extensive martial arts training to play the title role of Lara Croft. She was generally praised for her physical performance, but the movie generated mostly negative reviews. Slant Magazine commented, "Angelina Jolie was born to play Lara Croft but [director] Simon West makes her journey into a game of Frogger."[31] The movie was a international success nonetheless, earning $275 million worldwide,[3] and launched her global reputation as a female action star.
Jolie then starred opposite Antonio Banderas as the mail-order bride Julia Russell in Original Sin (2001), a thriller based on the novel Waltz into Darkness by Cornell Woolrich. The film was a major critical failure, with The New York Times noting, "The story plunges more precipitously than Ms. Jolie's neckline."[32] In 2002, she played Lanie Kerrigan in Life or Something Like It, a film about an ambitious TV reporter who is told that she will die in a week. The film was poorly received by critics, though Jolie's performance received positive reviews. CNN's Paul Clinton wrote, "Jolie is excellent in her role. Despite some of the ludicrous plot points in the middle of the film, this Academy Award-winning actress is exceedingly believable in her journey towards self-discovery and the true meaning of fulfilling life."[33]
Jolie reprised her role as Lara Croft in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life in 2003. The sequel, while not as lucrative as the original, earned $156 million at the international box-office.[3] Later that year Jolie starred in Beyond Borders, a film about aid workers in
In 2004, Jolie starred alongside Ethan Hawke in the thriller Taking Lives. She portrayed Illeana Scott, an FBI profiler summoned to help Montreal law enforcement hunt down a serial killer. The movie received mixed reviews and The Hollywood Reporter concluded, "Angelina Jolie plays a role that definitely feels like something she has already done, but she does add an unmistakable dash of excitement and glamour."[35] She also provided the voice of Lola, an angelfish in the animated DreamWorks movie Shark Tale (2004) and she had a brief appearance in Kerry Conran's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), a science fiction adventure film shot with actors entirely in front of a bluescreen. Also in 2004, Jolie played Olympias in Alexander, Oliver Stone's biographical film about the life of Alexander the Great. The film failed domestically, with Stone attributing its poor reception to disapproval of the depiction of Alexander's bisexuality,[36] but it succeeded internationally, with revenue of $139 million outside the
Jolie's only movie in 2005 was the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The film, directed by Doug Liman, tells the story of a bored married couple who find out that they are both secret assassins. Jolie starred as Jane Smith opposite Brad Pitt. The film received mixed reviews, but was generally lauded for the chemistry between the two leads. The Star Tribune noted, "While the story feels haphazard, the movie gets by on gregarious charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear screen chemistry."[37] The movie earned $478 million worldwide, one of the biggest hits of 2005.[3]
She next appeared in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd (2006), a film about the early history of the CIA, as seen through the eyes of Edward Wilson, played by Matt Damon. Jolie played the supporting role of Margaret Russell,
In 2007, Jolie made her directorial debut with the documentary A Place in Time, which captures the life in 27 locations around the globe during a single week. The film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and is intended to be distributed through the National Education Association, mainly in high schools.[39] Jolie starred as Mariane Pearl in Michael Winterbottom's documentary-style drama A Mighty Heart (2007), about the kidnap and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan. The picture is based on Mariane Pearl's memoirs A Mighty Heart and had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter described Jolie's performance as "well-measured and moving", played "with respect and a firm grasp on a difficult accent."[40] The film earned her a fourth Golden Globe Award and a third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Jolie also played Grendel's mother in Robert Zemeckis' animated epic Beowulf (2007) which was created through the motion capture technique.
Jolie co-starred alongside James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman in the 2008 action movie Wanted, an adaptation of a graphic novel by Mark Millar. The film received predominately favorable reviews and proved to be an international success, earning $342 million worldwide.[3] She also provided the voice of Master Tigress in the DreamWorks animated movie Kung Fu Panda (2008). With revenue of $632 million internationally, it became her highest grossing film to date.[3] The same year, Jolie played Christine Collins, the lead in Clint Eastwood's drama Changeling (2008), which had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.[41] It is based on the true story of a woman in 1928
Humanitarian work
Jolie first became personally aware of worldwide humanitarian crises while filming Tomb Raider in Cambodia. She eventually turned to UNHCR for more information on international trouble spots.[44] In the following months she visited refugee camps around the world to learn more about the situation and the conditions in these areas. In February 2001, Jolie went on her first field visit, an 18-day mission to Sierra Leone and Tanzania; she later expressed her shock at what she had witnessed.[44] In the coming months she returned to
Jolie has been on field missions around the world and met with refugees and internally displaced persons in more than 20 countries.[47] Asked what she hoped to accomplish, she stated, "Awareness of the plight of these people. I think they should be commended for what they have survived, not looked down upon."[48] In 2002, Jolie visited the Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand and Colombian refugees in Ecuador.[49] Jolie later went to various UNHCR facilities in Kosovo and paid a visit to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya with refugees mainly from Sudan. She also met with Angolan refugees while filming Beyond Borders in Namibia.
In 2003, Jolie embarked on a six-day mission to Tanzania where she traveled to western border camps, hosting Congolese refugees and she paid a week-long visit to Sri Lanka. She later concluded a four-day mission to
On her first U.N. trip within the
In 2005, Jolie visited Pakistani camps containing Afghani refugees, and she also met with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz; she returned to Pakistan with Brad Pitt during the Thanksgiving weekend in November to see the impact of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. In 2006, Jolie and Pitt flew to Haiti and visited a school supported by Yéle Haïti, a charity founded by Haitian-born hip hop musician Wyclef Jean. While filming A Mighty Heart in
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Over time, Jolie became more involved in promoting humanitarian causes on a political level. She has regularly attended World Refugee Day in
In 2005, Jolie took part at a National Press Club luncheon, where she announced the founding of the National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children, an organization that provides free legal-aid to asylum-seeking children with no legal representation which Jolie personally funded with a donation of $500,000 for its first two years.[53] Jolie also pushed for several bills to aid refugees and vulnerable children in the
Jolie has received wide recognition for her humanitarian work. In 2003, she was the first recipient of the newly created Citizen of the World Award by the United Nations Correspondents Association, and in 2005, she was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award by the UNA-USA.[56] Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni awarded Jolie Cambodian citizenship for her conservation work in the country on August 12, 2005; she has pledged $5 million to set up a wildlife sanctuary in the north-western province of Battambang and owns property there.[57] In 2007, Jolie became a member of the Council on Foreign Relations,[58] and she received the Freedom Award by the International Rescue Committee.[59]
Relationships
On March 28, 1996, Jolie married British actor Jonny Lee Miller, her co-star in the film Hackers (1995). She attended her wedding in black rubber pants and a white shirt, upon which she had written the groom's name in her blood.[60] Jolie and Miller separated the following year and subsequently divorced on February 3, 1999. They remained on good terms and Jolie later explained, "It comes down to timing. I think he's the greatest husband a girl could ask for. I'll always love him, we were simply too young."[22]
She then married American actor Billy Bob Thornton, whom she had met on the set of Pushing Tin (1999), on May 5, 2000. As a result of their frequent public declarations of passion and gestures of love—most famously wearing one another's blood in vials around their necks—their relationship became a favorite topic of the entertainment media.[61] Jolie and Thornton divorced on May 27, 2003. Asked about the sudden dissolution of their marriage, Jolie stated, "It took me by surprise, too, because overnight, we totally changed. I think one day we had just nothing in common. And it's scary but... I think it can happen when you get involved and you don't know yourself yet."[62]
Jolie has said in interviews that she is bisexual and has long acknowledged that she had a sexual relationship with her Foxfire (1996) co-star Jenny Shimizu, "I would probably have married Jenny if I hadn't married my husband. I fell in love with her the first second I saw her."[63] In 2003, asked if she was bisexual, Jolie responded, "Of course. If I fell in love with a woman tomorrow, would I feel that it's okay to want to kiss and touch her? If I fell in love with her? Absolutely! Yes!"[64]
In early 2005, Jolie was involved in a well-publicized
While Jolie and Pitt never publicly commented on the nature of their relationship, speculations continued throughout 2005. The first intimate paparazzi photos emerged in April, one month after Aniston had filed for divorce; they showed Pitt, Jolie and her son Maddox at a beach in
Children
Angelina Jolie's children[show]
On March 10, 2002, Jolie adopted her first child, seven-month-old Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt (originally Maddox Chivan Thornton Jolie).[15] He was born on August 5, 2001 as Rath Vibol in Cambodia, and he initially lived in a local orphanage in Battambang. Jolie decided to apply for adoption after she had visited
Brad Pitt was reportedly present when Jolie signed the adoption papers and collected her daughter;[61] later Jolie indicated that she and Pitt made the decision to adopt Zahara together.[69] On January 19, 2006, a judge in
Jolie gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, in Swakopmund, Namibia, by a scheduled caesarean section, on May 27, 2006. Pitt confirmed that their newly-born daughter would have a Namibian passport,[71] and Jolie decided to sell the first pictures of
On March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted a three-year-old boy from Vietnam, Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt (originally Pax Thien Jolie),[74] who was born on November 29, 2003 and abandoned at birth at a local hospital, where he was initially named Pham Quang Sang.[75] Jolie adopted the boy from the Tam Binh orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City.[76] She revealed that his first name, Pax, was suggested by her mother before her death.[77]
Following months of tabloid speculation, Jolie confirmed she was expecting twins at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. She gave birth to a boy, Knox Léon Jolie-Pitt, and a girl, Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt, by caesarean section at the Lenval hospital in Nice,
In the media
Jolie at a photo op in Washington, D.C. in 2005
Jolie appeared in the media from an early age due to her famous father Jon Voight. At seven she had a small part in Lookin' to Get Out, a movie co-written by and starring her father, and in 1986 and 1988 she attended the Academy Awards as a teenager with him. However, when she started her acting career, Jolie decided not to use "Voight" as a stage name, because she wished to establish her own identity as an actress.[61] Jolie was never shy about controversy and integrated her teenage "wild girl" image into her public persona in the first years of her career. During her acceptance speech at the 2000 Academy Awards, Jolie declared, "I'm so in love with my brother right now", which, combined with her affectionate behavior towards him that night, sparked speculation in the tabloid media of an incestuous relationship with her brother James Haven. She has denied those rumors vehemently, and Jolie and Haven later explained in interviews that after their parents' divorce they relied on one another and because of that they hold on to each other as a means of emotional support.[61]
Jolie does not employ a publicist or an agent.[80] She quickly became a tabloid's favorite, since she presented herself as very outspoken in interviews, discussing her love life and her interest in BDSM openly,[8] and once claiming to be "most likely to sleep with a female fan".[64] As one of her most distinctive physical features, Jolie's lips have attracted notable media attention and she has been described as "the current gold standard of beauty in the West" among women seeking cosmetic surgery.[81] She also created headlines with her much publicized marriage to Billy Bob Thornton and her subsequent change into an advocate for global humanitarian problems. As she took on the role of UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador she started to use her celebrity to highlight humanitarian causes worldwide. Jolie has been taking flying lessons since 2004 and she has a private pilot license (with an instrument rating) and owns a Cirrus SR22 airplane.[82] The media speculated that Jolie is a Buddhist, but she said that she teaches Buddhism to her son Maddox because she considers it part of his culture. Jolie has not stated definitively whether or not she believes in God. When asked in 2000 if there was a God, she said, "For the people who believe in it, I hope so. There doesn't need to be a God for me."[83]
Starting in 2005, her relationship with Brad Pitt became one of the most reported celebrity stories worldwide. After Jolie confirmed her pregnancy in early 2006, the unprecedented media hype surrounding them "reached the point of insanity" as Reuters described it in their story "The Brangelina fever".[4] Trying to avoid the media attention, the couple went to Namibia for the birth of
Today, Jolie is one of the best known celebrities around the world. According to the Q Score, in 2000, subsequent to her Oscar win, 31 % of respondents in the
Tattoos
Jolie in New York with several of her tattoos visible, June 2007
Jolie's numerous tattoos have been the subject of much media attention and have often been addressed by interviewers. Jolie stated that, while she is not opposed to film nudity, the large number of tattoos on her body has forced filmmakers to become more creative when planning nude or love scenes.[94] Make-up has been used to cover up the tattoos in many of her productions. Jolie currently has thirteen known tattoos, among them the Tennessee Williams quote "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages", which she got together with her mother, the Arabic language phrase "العزيمة" (strength of will), the Latin proverb "quod me nutrit me destruit" (what nourishes me destroys me),[95] and a Yantra prayer written in the ancient Khmer script for her son Maddox.[96] She also has six sets of geographical coordinates on her upper left arm indicating the birthplaces of her children.[97] Over time she covered or lasered several of her tattoos, including "Billy Bob", the name of her former husband Billy Bob Thornton, a Chinese character for death (æ»), and a window on her lower back; she explained that she removed the window, because, while she used to spend all of her time looking out through windows wishing to be outside, she now lives there all of the time.[23]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes and awards |
| 1982 | Lookin' to Get Out | Tosh | |
| 1993 | Cyborg 2 | Casella "Cash" Reese | |
| 1995 | Without Evidence | Jodie Swearingen | |
| Hackers | Kate "Acid Burn" Libby | | |
| 1996 | Mojave Moon | Eleanor "Elie" Rigby | |
| Love Is All There Is | Gina Malacici | | |
| Foxfire | Margret "Legs" Sadovsky | | |
| 1997 | True Women (TV) | Georgia Virginia Lawshe Woods | |
| George Wallace (TV) | Cornelia Wallace | Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series/Miniseries/TV Movie
| |
| Playing God | Claire | | |
| 1998 | Gia (TV) | Gia Marie Carangi | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
|
| Hell's Kitchen | Gloria McNeary | | |
| Playing by Heart | Joan | National Board of Review Award – Breakthrough Performance | |
| Pushing Tin | Mary Bell | | |
| 1999 | The Bone Collector | Amelia Donaghy | |
| Girl, Interrupted | Lisa Rowe | Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
| |
| 2000 | Gone in Sixty Seconds | Sara "Sway" Wayland | |
| 2001 | Lara Croft: Tomb Raider | Lara Croft | |
| Original Sin | Julia Russell | | |
| 2002 | Life or Something Like It | Lanie Kerrigan | |
| 2003 | Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life | Lara Croft | |
| Beyond Borders | Sarah Jordan | | |
| 2004 | Taking Lives | Illeana Scott | |
| Shark Tale | Lola | Voice | |
| Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow | Francesca "Franky" Cook | People's Choice Award – Favorite Female Action Star | |
| The Fever (TV) | Revolutionary | Cameo | |
| Alexander | Olympias | | |
| 2005 | Mr. & Mrs. Smith | Jane Smith | MTV Movie Award for Best Fight
|
| 2006 | The Good Shepherd | Margaret Russell | |
| 2007 | A Mighty Heart | Mariane Pearl | Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
|
| Beowulf | Grendel's mother | Nominated – MTV Movie Award for Best Villain | |
| 2008 | Kung Fu Panda | Master Tigress | Voice |
| Wanted | Fox | People's Choice Award – Favorite Female Action Star
| |
| Changeling | Christine Collins | Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress
| |
| 2010 | Salt | Evelyn Salt | (in production) |
Awards
| Award | Category | Film | Result |
| Emmy Aw ard | Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie | George Wallace | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Award | Best Supporting Actress – Series/Miniseries/TV Movie | Won | |
| National Board of Review Award | Breakthrough Performance – Female | Playing by Heart | Won |
| Emmy Awa rd | Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie | Gia | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Award | Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV | Won | |
| Screen Actors Guil d Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries | Won | |
| Golden Globe Awar d | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Girl, Interrupted | Won |
| Screen Actors Guil d Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role | Won | |
| Academy Awa rd | Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role | Won | |
| People's Choice Award | Favourite Female Action Star | Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow | Won |
| Gol den Globe Award | Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Dram a | A Mighty Heart | Nominated |
| Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role | Nominated | |
| Golden Globe A ward | Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama | Changeling | Nominated |
| Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role | Nominated | |
| BAFTA Award | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Nominated | |
| Academy Award | Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role | Nominated |
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