angelina jolie

Next to Liv Tyler, Angelina Jolie is the only actress of her generation who can thank her famous father for the lips that have become her trademark. The actress was born Angelina Jolie Voight to the pillow-lipped Jon Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand on June 4, 1975, in Los Angeles.

Raised mostly by her mother after her parents divorced while she was still a baby, angelina jolie moved around a lot with her mother and brother. She also did a fair amount of traveling as a professional model, living in such places as London, New York, and Los Angeles before settling for a time in New York as a student at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and New York University, where she first started acting in theater productions. The fledgling actress soon moved on to film with a small role in 1993's Cyborg 2, followed in 1995 by her turn as a computer hacker in the more widely seen Hackers. The film gave her her first taste of recognition, as well as an introduction to Trainspotting's Jonny Lee Miller, to whom she was married for a short time.

After appearing in a number of mediocre films, angelina jolie finally hit it big in 1997 with her Golden Globe-winning performance as George Wallace's wife in the highly acclaimed TV movie George Wallace. The role, coupled with her Emmy-nominated performance in the title role of HBO's Gia, provided angelina jolie with a new level of professional respect and recognition. She was soon appearing on talk shows and in magazines, answering questions about everything from her multiple tattoos to her famous father to her brief marriage.

She was also netting roles in high-profile projects: In 1998 angelina jolie headlined an ensemble cast that included Sean Connery, Gena Rowlands, Anthony Edwards, Gillian Anderson, Ryan Phillippe, and Madeline Stowe in Playing By Heart. The following year, she was part of another high-voltage cast in Mike Newell's Pushing Tin, co-starring alongside John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. Although the film was neither a critical nor a financial success, it did little to diminish the rapid ascent of the career of the actress, who was in hot demand for projects that would further elevate her already rising star. In 2000, angelina jolie's star received one of its greatest boosts to date when the actress won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a volatile mental patient in Girl, Interrupted. Later that year, her personal life also got a boost in the form of her April marriage to Billy Bob Thornton.

Onscreen, angelina jolie was hard to miss in 2000. She starred in a number of films, including the crime thriller Gone in Sixty Seconds, in which she co-starred as a car thief alongside Nicolas Cage, and Original Sin, a thriller that featured her as the bad-seed bride of a Cuban tycoon (Antonio Banderas). If she was hard to miss in 2000, angelina jolie was impossible to escape in 2001 with her turn as shapely video-game adventuress Lara Croft in the long anticipated film adaptation of the popular Tomb Raider video-game franchise. Carrying on the tradition of video-game movies that are light on plot but heavy on the action, Tomb Raider (2001) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life (2003) scored with summer audiences and quickly shot to number one at the box office despite disparaging reviews citing an incoherent story line, unlike Life or Something Like It, the 2002 romantic comedy-drama that critics and audiences alike would rather not have seen.

On July 18th, 2002, angelina jolie filed for divorce from Billy Bob Thornton, claiming that their priorities no longer meshed after having adopted a child. Though the famously quirky couple were no longer, Angelina's film schedule remained hectic. In 2003 she would play a rich-girl-turned-humanitarian in Beyond Borders, while 2004 promised a host of parts for angelina jolie, including a role in Oliver Stone's Alexander; an epic biography of Alexander the Great starring Colin Farrell, as well as a role alongside fellow Oscar-winner Gwyneth Paltrow in The World of Tomorrow, and a turn as a tough FBI agent in Taking Lives.

Born June 4th, 1975, Angelina Jolie Voight, daughter of Oscar winning actor Jon Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand, used her middle name as her last name (the French translation of beautiful), probably in order to succeed, independent of her father's success as an actor. At age 11, angelina jolie began studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, six years after making her film debut in Lookin' to Get Out , starring her father.

Although her dream as a child was actually to become a funeral director, 16-year-old angelina jolie worked as a professional model in London, New York and Los Angeles. Musical groups and singers such as the Rolling Stones, Lemonheads, Meatloaf, and Lenny Kravitz would cast her in their music videos, and even brother James Haven Voight directed angelina jolie in his student films for the USC School of Cinema.

Wanting to get even closer to pursuing an acting career, angelina jolie studied at the Met Theatre group in L.A., whose alumni include Ed Harris and Holly Hunter .

angelina jolie gets her break
angelina jolie's first foray into film was of a sci-fi nature, with a supporting role in 1993's Cyborg 2 , which didn't even make it to the big screen, and a lead role in Hackers (1995), where she met future husband and British actor Jonny Lee Miller of Trainspotting fame. It should be noted that angelina jolie's performance was the only redeeming factor of the movie. angelina jolie and Miller's morbid wedding reception in 1995, where angelina jolie wore black and had Jonny's name written across the back of her shirt in blood, could have foreshadowed that their marriage would not last too long -- they were separated within the year and filed for divorce in 1999.

Her career as an actress, however, was flying high. She received critical acclaim in Without Evidence (1995), where she portrayed a drug-addicted teen; Foxfire , a 1996 Joyce Carol Oates adaptation, for her portrayal of a rebellious teen known as "Legs"; as well as in 1996's Love Is All There Is , for her role as an Italian girl in love with the son of her family's rival.

In 1997, she joined the ranks of other known cast members with a supporting role in the box-office bomb Playing God , starring David Duchovny and Timothy Hutton.

angelina jolie wins golden globe for gia
angelina jolie's television roles were what gained her the ultimate respect among critics. She was honored with a 1997 Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination for her role as Cornelia Wallace in the TV movie George Wallace , co-starring Gary Sinise. But the best was only yet to come for angelina jolie.

She won her second Golden Globe for her role as model Gia Carangi in HBO's biopic Gia . Her intense role as the drug-addicted model who was diagnosed with AIDS was highly deserving of the Best Actress Golden Globe, Emmy nomination and critical acclaim it received.

angelina and denzel become bone collectors
On the big screen, angelina jolie was well-received by audiences for her role in 1998's Playing By Heart , with Sean Connery , Gillian Anderson and Ryan Phillippe. She also played Billy Bob Thornton's seductive wife in 1999's Pushing Tin (the man whom she'd later lure away from long-time girlfriend Laura Dern), and starred opposite big leaguer Denzel Washington in the thriller The Bone Collector later that same year.

But it was her supporting role in 1999's Girl, Interrupted that showed audiences her dramatic skills, garnering her a Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Crazily enough, angelina jolie showed up at the Oscars with her brother James and was kissing him as though he were her boyfriend. The two later denied rumors that they were engaging in an incestuous relationship.

angelina jolie makes headlines
In 2000, angelina jolie eloped with her Pushing Tin co-star Billy Bob Thornton, but after they adopted a Cambodian baby boy named Maddox Chivan Thornton Jolie, in 2002, the couple later filed for divorce. Their sexually-charged marriage was the subject of much tabloid fodder, considering the eccentric couple carried vials of each other's blood around their necks and would suck face anytime a camera was near them.

In 2001, Angelina was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

angelina is lara croft
Angelina has starred in a slew of films including Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) with Nicolas Cage , Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), for which Angelina is proud to say she did her own stunts, Original Sin (2001) with Antonio Banderas , Life Or Something Like It (2002), Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003), and Beyond Borders (2003).

In 2004, Angelina will be keeping busy starring in movies like Taking Lives, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Alexander, Shark Tale, Mr. and Mrs. Smith , and Love and Honor .

Niece of Chip Taylor .

One of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People." [2000]

She is extremely close to and protective of her brother James Haven . He often accompanies her to awards shows, and she used his name, or at least his memory, as inspiration in the "Where's Jamie?!" scene in Girl, Interrupted (1999).

Has the letter "H" tattooed on the inside of her left wrist, which is a reference to two people she is close to who have this letter in their names: her brother, James Haven , and Timothy Hutton . She got the tattoo when she was dating Timothy but since their break up she now says it's only for James.

Has a tattoo of the Tennessee Williams quote, "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages." on her left forearm.

Jolie is actually her middle name.

Was married to Jonny Lee Miller in a black leather pants and a white shirt. On the white shirt she painted her husband's name in her own blood (across the back).

Tattoos include the Japanese sign for death, two pointy black American Indian symbols, a dragon, and a large black cross.

Mother is Marcheline Bertrand .

Father is Jon Voight .

Majored in film at New York University.

Collects knives and has an interest in mortuary science.

Angelina and her brother, to whom she is very close, publicly spoke out to deny false rumors that the two were having an incestuous love affair. [2000]

Sister of James Haven .

Had childhood dream of becoming a funeral director.

Named the world's sexiest woman in Swedish magazine Café.

"Jolie" means "pretty" in French.

Goddaughter of actress Jacqueline Bisset .

Graduated from Beverly Hills High School at age 16.

Has the Latin phrase "Quod me nutrit me destruit" ("What nourishes me also destroys me") tattooed across her stomach.

Appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland after her visits to Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Pakistan. [27 August 2001]

Born at 9:09 AM PST

"Introducing Angelina Jolie" in opening credits of Love Is All There Is (1996) suggests delayed release as angelina jolie already had at least two major screen roles by 1996.

Is of Czechoslovakian, French and Native American heritage.

angelina jolie and Thornton have adopted a Cambodian baby boy, named Maddox. angelina jolie took custody of the baby in Africa, where she is shooting Beyond Borders (2003). [10 March 2002]

Performed her own stunts in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and received cuts from the chandelier scene as a result.

Ranked #87 in Premiere's 2002 annual "Power 100" list.

In role as goodwill ambassador, visited Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand, May 2002, to check on conditions of 9,000 refugees from bordering Myanmar.

July 2002 - confirms break up with actor Billy Bob Thornton

Measurements: 36C-28-36.

Announced in late 2002 that she is "in talks" to portray the late porn star Linda Lovelace .

Goddaughter of actor Maximilian Schell .

Voted the 3rd Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine September 2002.

Her adopted son, Maddox Chivan Thornton Jolie, was born on August 5th, 2001.

Her favorite Disney character is Dumbo the flying elephant, she has said that she cried when he was able to fly.

She is the woman most American males would like to date on New Year's Eve, according to a survey by movie rental chain Blockbuster Inc. Results of the survey showed her in the top spot with 35 percent of respondents saying she would be their number one pick for a hypothetical New Year's Eve candle-lit dinner. Rival star Catherine Zeta-Jones gained second spot in the online survey conducted by Blockbuster November 11-24, 2003. The survey had 31,969 responses.

Started modelling at the age of 14.

Was named "The sexiest woman alive" by the Swedish evening newspaper "Aftonbladet." [2003]

She was voted the ninth sexiest woman in FHM UK's top 100 sexiest in 2004.

Is planning to give up her acting career to settle in England with her son Maddox and become a full time mum. She says she wants to "Quit movies, be a great mum to Maddox and join the Parents and Teachers Association".

Favorite music: Madonna , Elvis Presley , Frank Sinatra , The Clash , Matchbox 20

Favorite TV shows: "King of the Hill" (1997), the Game Show Network and Animal Planet.

Voted as #6 on the "Top 100 Sexiest Women" 2004 in FHM [DK].

She was voted #2 on VH1's "100 Hottest Hotties."

Attended same high school as Lenny Kravitz .

She and Egyptian actor Adel Imam are goodwill ambassadors for the UNHCR.

Went to High School with Michael Klesic .

Has a tattoo of a blue window on her lowerback. She claims it's because no matter where she was at any point in her life she always found herself looking out a window wishing to be elsewhere.

Ranked #6 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World." [2002]

Speaks French.

Voted #1 star most men would like to kiss under the mistletoe in a poll for Sky Movies.

Used to own a pet rat snake. Therefore had no problem shooting the snake scene in Alexander (2004).

Went to elementary school at William O. Schaefer School in Tappan, New York.

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