Angelina Jolie is an Oscar-winning actress who has become popular by taking on the title role in the "Lara Croft" series of blockbuster movies. Off-screen, Jolie has become prominently involved in international charity projects, especially those involving refugees. She often appears on many "most beautiful women" lists, and she has a personal life that is avidly covered by the tabloid press.

In her earliest years, Angelina began absorbing the acting craft from her parents - her father is the Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight and her mother is Marcheline Bertrand, who had studied with Lee Strasberg. At age 11, Angelina began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She undertook some film studies at New York University and later joined the renowned Met Theatre Group in Los Angeles. At age 16, she took up a career in modeling and appeared in some music videos. Her exotic good looks may derive from her mixed ancestry which is Czech, French-Canadian, Iroquois and English.

In the mid-1990s, Jolie appeared in various small films where she got good notices, including Hackers and Foxfire. Her critical acclaim increased when she played strong roles in the made-for-TV movies True Women, and in George Wallace which won her a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination. Jolie's acclaim increased even further when she played the lead role in the HBO production Gia. This was the true life story of supermodel Gia Carangi, a sensitive wild child who was both brazen and needy and who had a difficult time handling professional success and the deaths of people who were close to her. Carangi became involved with drugs and because of her needle-using habits she became, at the tender age of 26, one of the first celebrities to die of AIDS. Jolie's performance in Gia again garnered a Golden Globe award and another Emmy nomination, and she additionally earned a SAG Award.

Angelina got a major break in 1999 when she won a leading role in the successful feature The Bone Collector, starring alongside Denzel Washington. In that same year, Jolie gave a tour de force performance in Girl, Interrupted playing opposite Winona Ryder. The movie was a true story of women who spent time in a psychiatric hospital. Jolie's role was reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the role which won Nicholson his first Oscar. Unlike "Cuckoo", "Girl" was a small film that received mixed reviews and barely made money at the box office. But when it came time to give out awards, Jolie won the triple crown -- "Girl" propelled her to win the Golden Globe, the SAG Award and the Academy Award for best leading actress in a supporting role.

With her new-found prominence, Jolie began to get in-depth attention from the press. Numerous aspects of her controversial personal life became news. At her wedding to her Hackers co-star Jonny Lee Miller, she had displayed her husband's name on the back of her shirt painted in her own blood. Jolie and Miller divorced and in 2000 she married her Pushing Tin co-star Billy Bob Thornton. Jolie had become the fifth wife of a man twenty years her senior. During her marriage to Thornton, the spouses each wore a vial of the other's blood around their necks. That marriage came apart in 2002 and ended in divorce. In addition, Jolie was estranged from her famous father, Jon Voight.

In 2000, Jolie was asked to star in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. At first, she expressed disinterest, but then decided that the required training for the athletic role was intriguing. The Croft character was drawn from a popular video game. Lara Croft was a female cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond. When the film was released, critics were unimpressed with the final product, but critical acclaim wasn't the point of the movie. The public paid $275 million for theater tickets to see a buffed up Jolie portray the adventuresome Lara Croft. Jolie's father Jon Voight appeared in "Croft", and during filming there was a brief rapprochement between father and daughter.

One of the Croft movie's filming locations was Cambodia. While there, Jolie witnessed the natural beauty, culture and poverty of that country. She considered this an eye opening experience, and so began the humanitarian chapter of her life. Jolie began visiting refugee camps around the world and came to be formally appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Some of her experiences were written and published in her popular book "Notes from My Travels" whose profits go to UNHCR.

Jolie has stated that she now plans to spend most of her time in humanitarian efforts, to be financed by her actress salary. She devotes one third of her income to savings, one third to living expenses and one third to charity. In 2002, Angelina adopted a Cambodian refugee boy named Maddox and in 2005 adopted an Ethiopian refugee girl named Zahara. Jolie's dramatic feature film Beyond Borders parallels some of her real life humanitarian experiences although, despite the inclusion of a romance between two westerners, many of the movie's images were too depressingly realistic -- the film was not popular among critics or at the box office.

In 2004, Jolie began filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith with co-star Brad Pitt. The film became a major box office success. There were rumors that Pitt and Jolie had an affair while filming "Smith". Jolie insisted that because her mother had been hurt by adultery, she herself could never participate in an affair with a married man, therefore there had been no affair with Pitt at that time. Nonetheless, Pitt separated from his wife Jennifer Aniston in January 2005 and, in the months that followed, he was frequently seen in public with Jolie, apparently as a couple. Pitt's divorce was finalized later in 2005.

Jolie and Pitt announced in early 2006 that they would have a child together, and Jolie gave birth to daughter Shiloh that May. They also adopted a three-year-old Vietnamese boy named Pax. The couple continues to pursue movie and humanitarian projects.



Salt (2010): $20,000,000
Wanted (2008): $15,000,000
Beowulf (2007): $8,000,000
A Mighty Heart (2007): $10,000,000
The Good Shepherd (2006): $10,000,000
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005): $10,000,000
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003): $12,000,000
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001): $7,000,000

Niece of Chip Taylor. She is extremely close to and protective of her older 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 a tattoo of the Tennessee Williams quote, "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages." on her left forearm. Tattoos include the Japanese sign for death, two pointy black American Indian symbols, a dragon, and a large black cross. Majored in film at New York University. 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] Named the world's sexiest woman in Swedish magazine Café. Goddaughter of actress Jacqueline Bisset. 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] "Introducing Angelina Jolie" in opening credits of Love Is All There Is (1996) suggests delayed release as Jolie already had at least two major screen roles by 1996. She and Billy Bob Thornton adopted a Cambodian baby boy, named Maddox. Jolie took custody of the baby in Africa, where she was shooting Beyond Borders (2003). [10 March 2002] 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. Measurements (before pregnancy): 36C-27-36. Voted the 3rd Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine September 2002. Her favorite Disney character is Dumbo the flying elephant, she has said that she cried when he was able to fly. Started modelling at the age of 14. She was voted the ninth sexiest woman in FHM UK's top 100 sexiest in 2004. Favorite music: Madonna, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, The Clash, Matchbox Twenty. She was voted #2 on VH1's "100 Hottest Hotties." Ranked #6 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World." [2002] Voted #1 star most men would like to kiss under the mistletoe in a poll for Sky Movies. Went to elementary school at William O. Schaefer School in Tappan, New York. She graduated from El Rodeo elementary school in 1989. Voted Hollywood's Sexiest Single Mother, in a poll for website Date.com. In 2003 was first recipient of the Citizen of the World Award from the UN's Correspondents' Association for her work as a goodwill ambassador with the UNHCR. She ranked #2 in 2000 on Mr. Blackwell (aka Richard Selzer)'s Worst Dressed List. Named Most Beautiful Woman in People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People 2005 issue. More than 500,000 readers were polled. Was nominated for Worst Actress at the Razzie Awards for four straight years from 2002 to 2005, but each time was beaten by another of her fellow nominees. She has still yet to "win" an award. Named #7 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list. Gave her Oscar Statuette, Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and Critic Choice Award to her mother. She felt she didn't need to hang on to awards. Gave her mother the nickname "Great Lady". Ranked and Voted #3 by AskMen.com's Top 99 Most Desirable Women of 2006 Named #1 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005) Has tattoos of the coordinates representing the birth countries of each of her kids (she even has the coordinates of France tattooed on her arm twice, one each for Knox and Viv), which cover up the Billy Bob Thornton tattoo (June 2006). Has a fondness for Liverpool Football Club because her son Maddox "only wants to play for Liverpool". Was the cover girl for the much anticipated issue of Forbes Magazine, in which appeared the infamous Celebrity 100 list. [June 2006] Became the third actress to join the coveted $20 Million Club (after Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz), when she signed to do Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) for that amount. Named #2 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006). Her mother Marcheline Bertrand died from ovarian cancer in Los Angeles after a 7 1/2 year battle (27 January 2007). Chosen the greatest sex symbol of all time in the British television show "The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols" (February 2007). Ranked #12 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list. 2007 - Ranked #33 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood. In 2007, moved to New Orleans with Brad Pitt and their four children. Ranked #3 in the 2008 Forbes The Celebrity 100 list. Gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl on July 12, 2008 in Nice, France around 8 PM via c-section. Knox Léon Jolie-Pitt weighed 5lbs 3 oz. and Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt weighed 5 lbs. Since becoming a Goodwill Ambassador in 2001, she has visited over 20 countries. Went to Beverly Hills High School with writer/actor Quincy Rose, son of Mickey Rose, and Antonia Bennett, daughter of Tony Bennett. In July 2009, she was voted in first place in a poll to find the 100 Greatest Sex Symbols for Britain's Channel 4. Elvis Presley was runner-up. When Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton first married, the couple moved into the Beverly Hills home formerly owned by Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash. [2000] Was considered to replace Emily Blunt in Iron Man 2, but the role went to Scarlett Johansson.