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Angelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975) is an Oscar-winning American actress. She is known for her exotic looks, her tumultuous off-screen life, and her humanitarian work with refugees. She has received three Golden Globes as well as an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film Girl, Interrupted.
Biography
Angelina Jolie was born in Los Angeles, California, to actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. She is the niece of Chip Taylor and the goddaughter of Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell. She is also the sister of James Haven. In a 2004 article in Vogue she stated that her mother is from Chicago. At the Premiere Magazine "Women in Hollywood" Awards she said her mom was born in a bowling alley and has stated that because of her name people often assume that her mother is French. Jolie's grandparents were French Canadian. Her paternal grandfather was from Czechoslovakia. Her mother also studied with Lee Strasberg. She is of Czech, French Canadian, English, and Iroquois descent. As a teenager, Jolie dreamed of becoming a funeral director. She is the adoptive mother of son Maddox Chivan, from Cambodia, and daughter Zahara Marley, from Ethiopia. She attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute from the age of 11, later attending Beverly Hills High School. Though she enrolled at the film school at New York University after finishing Gia, she did not complete her studies.
Jolie has been long estranged from her father, though a reconciliation was attempted by his appearing with her in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. In the October 2004 issue of Premiere Magazine, Jolie indicated that she was no longer interested in pursuing a relationship with her father, but that she did not hate him but that she realized that "...we only have so much energy in this life." Soon after, he claimed that she has "serious emotional problems" on Access Hollywood, and she legally dropped Voight as her last name, taking "Angelina Jolie" as her legal name.
Career
Her first starring role came in the 1995 movie Hackers.
In 1998 she achieved a major critical success, starring in the TV movie "Gia," the true tale of a '70s supermodel who died of AIDS. Jolie won Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Satellite awards, and was nominated for an Emmy. She also was honored at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Film Festival for her role as the bisexual model.
She had roles in several box office flops until 1999, when she co-starred in The Bone Collector with Denzel Washington and won an Oscar for Girl, Interrupted. Her first headlining blockbuster role came from 2001's video game based Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
Several of her subsequent movies, such as Life or Something Like It, Alexander, and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow , were major box office disappointments, although Jolie herself usually received good notices. She did provide the voice of Lola in the successful animated film, Shark Tale. Nonetheless she has become one of Hollywood's most "in-demand" actresses. Following the success of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, she's set to earn up to $15 million to star in the film The Good Shepherd.
Besides her acting and humanitarian endeavors, Jolie has also worked as a professional model in London, New York and Los Angeles and appeared in numerous music videos including those of Korn, Meat Loaf, Lenny Kravitz, and The Rolling Stones.
Relationships
On March 28, 1996 she married British actor Jonny Lee Miller, with whom she had co-starred in the movie Hackers. Jolie attended her wedding in black leather trousers and a white shirt, which had her husband's name painted in her blood on the back. Jolie and Miller divorced on February 3, 1999. Jolie then married American actor Billy Bob Thornton on May 5, 2000. Due to their frequent public declarations of passion and gestures of love (most famously wearing each others' blood in vials around their necks), their relationship was a favorite topic of the entertainment media. Jolie and Thornton divorced on May 27, 2003.
Jolie has said in interviews that she is bisexual. In an interview with Barbara Walters, Jolie said "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!" In an interview with a British tabloid, model Jenny Shimizu claimed to have a long-standing romantic and sexual relationship with her former Foxfire co-star.
Brad Pitt
In early 2005, Jolie found herself at the center of a well-publicized Hollywood scandal when she was accused of being the "other woman" in the marital break-up of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. The allegation was that she and Brad had started an affair during filming of the spy comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith. However in several interviews she has denied starting an affair with Pitt. In an interview with Marie Claire magazine recently she stated that she could never have a relationship with a married man because she has seen what relationships like that did to her mother. Her father has acknowledged that he cheated on Jolie's mom when they were married. Jolie stated she "could not, could not look herself in the mirror" if she had an affair with a married man.
Thanks to a mixture of generally good reviews and advance publicity due to all the rumors, Mr. & Mrs. Smith opened in the No. 1 position at the box office after it was released in early June 2005, providing Jolie with her first box-office success in several years.
In late June 2005, the New York Post reported a claim that Jolie was pregnant, a report republished on June 30 by Britain's Sky TV, Sun Media Corporation in Canada, and the Asian Hindustan Times, among others. Her publicist denied this report, which would ultimately prove to be premature.
Speculation over the nature of Jolie and Pitt's relationship continued throughout the summer of 2005. On August 22, the Calgary Herald ran a front-page story with a photo of Jolie taken during a surprise visit she made to Calgary, Alberta a couple of days earlier, accompanied by Zahara. Brad Pitt was at that time filming a movie in Calgary, as was her father, Jon Voight. It was later reported that Jolie and Pitt visited the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller, Alberta together, and CNN and the Calgary Sun reported on September 22, 2005 that they visited West Edmonton Mall together. On September 30, the Calgary Sun reported that Pitt and Jolie had rented a house together in the city of Spruce Grove, Alberta, west of Edmonton where Pitt was filming more scenes for his movie; the same issue printed a photograph of the two actors (dubbed "Brangelina") leaving an Edmonton grocery store.
On January 11, 2006, both Jolie's and Pitt's representatives confirmed, through People Magazine, that the two were expecting their first biological child in Summer 2006, thus indirectly confirming for the first time that they were in a relationship. The last names of Jolie's two adopted children have been legally changed to Joli-Pitt.
Humanitarian Work
Jolie has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees since 2001, and frequently travels to remote countries to draw attention to the plight of people in Third World nations. In 2003, she published Notes from My Travels, a collection of journal entries that chronicled her early work with the U.N.. In a January 2005 interview with Reuters, Jolie criticized fellow actors for not being committed enough in helping others, and stated that she gives one-third of her income to charitable organizations. On October 12, 2005, Jolie was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award by the UNA-USA.
Jolie was also one of the first celebrities to accept an invitation to be one of the bearers of the Olympic Torch during the 2004 Olympic Games, though she was ultimately unable to participate due to filming commitments.
Since taking on her goodwill ambassador duties, Jolie has on numerous occasions made public statements that she wants to quit acting and concentrate on her UN work (for example, see Ireland On-Line in June 2005 ). However, she has also stated that her work provides the income necessary for her to continue travelling the world on behalf of the UN.
Jolie continues to balance the demands of being a movie star with that of being a humanitarian, despite an apparently grueling schedule. On June 7, 2005, the Associated Press wire service reported on Jolie giving a presentation in Islamabad, Pakistan. That very same day, she attended the premiere of Mr. & Mrs. Smith in Los Angeles. She now lives full-time in Buckinghamshire, England, and owns property in Cambodia, which she had to have demined. Angelina Jolie spent the new year of 2005 by going abroad to film a documentary called "A Moment in the World." She called on several actors and actresses to film in various locations around the world at the same time for three minutes. This was done in order to capture random moments that are happening across the world at the same time. Some confusion has arisen between this project and the independent endeavor A Moment on Earth, in which 60 filmmakers around the world captured two separate moments on August 5th and 6th, 2004. No release dates for either project are known at this time.
In August 2005, Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni awarded Jolie a Cambodian citizenship for her conservation work in the country.
In September 2005 Jolie was named the new spokesperson for the clothing line St. John Knits starting in the Spring/Fall 0f 2006. The deal with the clothing company includes the startup of a charity headed by Ms. Jolie. The charity will focus on children's issues and causes. It has been reported but not confirmed that she will also sit on the board of directors and have stock in the company. The deal is also believed to be the biggest celebrity clothing endorsement with the actress receiving 10-15 million dollars. Other celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow receive something in the neighborhood of 5 million dollars to promote luxury clothing and accessories. On October 24 Angelina Jolie attended the First Annual Benefit Gala for the Worldwide Orphans Foundation. While there she pledged to partner with WWO to treat children in Ethiopia who have been orphaned by AIDS and are HIV positive. "AIDS is chronic and manageable, and does NOT have to kill any longer," said Ms. Jolie. Ms. Jolie announced her plan to support WWO's Pediatric HIV/AIDS Clinic in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and pledged an initial grant. The gala helped the organization raise $800,000. Dr. Jane Aronson, the organization's founder, and Ms. Jolie first met through the adoption of her daughter Zahara and Jolie credits the doctor with helping save her daughter's life.
Adoptions
On March 10, 2002 Jolie adopted her first child, Maddox Chivan Jolie. He was born on August 5, 2001 as Rath Vibol in Cambodia. He was being housed in an orphanage when Angelina Jolie saw him for the first time when she was stopped in Cambodia during production of the film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. After the divorce from her second husband Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie received sole custody for Maddox.
In Fall 2004, it was reported that Jolie had started proceedings to adopt another child, this time from Russia. However, no adoption ever took place. On March 8th, Jolie took part in a Washington Press club luncheon. It was there that she announced the founding of the National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children in Washington, D.C., an organization that provides free legal aid to children who prior to this had no legal representation. Jolie donated $500,000 to the center which will help keep it afloat for the first two years of its operation. At that same conference she stated that she never intended to adopt a Russian orphan boy. Jolie expressed a deep sadness at the media's exploitation of the child. She stated that she was on business through the United Nations and not looking for a child to adopt. She also mentioned that her son wanted an "African brother or sister" because of his love of Africa and the work he knows she does in that region.
Around the same time, Lauryn Galindo, the Hawaii-based adoption facilitator whose services Jolie had used to adopt Maddox, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to visa fraud and money laundering charges. She had been falsifying records of children to be adopted in visa applications to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and several of the children she placed had not been abandoned at all but were enticed away or bought from their birth families. There is no evidence that Maddox was among them, although the investigation is continuing. Maddox Jolie, as he is legally named, was naturalized as a United States citizen some time ago, and there is no indication that that will be rescinded.
On July 5, 2005, People magazine reported that Jolie was in the final stages of adopting a baby girl, who was orphaned by AIDS, from Ethiopia, through the agency Wide Horizons for Children. Jolie has named her daughter Zahara Marley Jolie. A woman in London has been claiming she is Zahara's birth mother since August 2005. There has been no legal development regarding this claim. Ms. Jolie has contacted a lawyer in London to look into the matter. Earlier in the summer another woman came forward claiming to be the grandmother of Zahara. That claim too proved to be false. On September 28, 2005 while making an appearance to discuss America's financial involvement with fighting AIDS globally on CNN's "The Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer, Jolie stated that her daughter is an "AIDS orphan." By that she means her birth mother died from the disease but her daughter does not have the disease. The birth father of Zahara is not known. Her statement made it clear that the birth mother is indeed dead. In late October 2005, an Ethiopian judge ruled that there is no evidence to suggest that Ms. Jolie would have to file for re-adoption of her daughter Zahara Marley Jolie. The judge ruled that the woman claiming to be her mother is not the birth mother.
American magazine US Weekly indicated erroneously that Jolie and Brad Pitt had adopted Zahara together. When the magazine realized its error, the presses were stopped and an apology issued to Jolie and Pitt; printing of the issue resumed with the correction made, though a number of copies with the error were still released to the public. Reportedly, however, Pitt was present when Jolie signed the adoption papers. The agency later said Brad Pitt was not present when Angelina Jolie picked up her daughter.
On December 2, 2005, it was confirmed that Pitt was seeking to legally adopt Jolie's two children. In support of this bid (and as part of legal requirements), Jolie took out classified advertisements in the Los Angeles paper, the Daily Commerce, announcing the name change request, and on January 19, 2006, a judge in California approved this request. The children's legal surnames were formally changed to Jolie-Pitt.
Tattoos
Jolie's inventory of tattoos has become the subject of much media attention, and she frequently adds or even changes existing tattoos. She has said that all the tattoos she possesses have a special meaning. Her tattoos include:
- the letter H (for her brother James Haven) on the inside of her left wrist.
- "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages" (Tennessee Williams) on her left forearm.
- a large prayer for her son Maddox on her left shoulder which covers up the Chinese "death" tattoo.
- two pointy black tribals on the lower parts of her back.
- Quod me nutrit me destruit (Latin for "What nourishes me also destroys me") several inches below her navel.
- a tilted Latin cross on the lower left of her abdomen.
- a large Asian tiger on her back.
- a dragon under the tiger.
- XIII (number 13 in Roman numerals) on her left forearm.
- Arabic for "strength of will." (العزيمة) on her right forearm.
- "know your rights" just under her neck between her shoulders.
Lasered/Covered:
- a dragon on her left arm (she has been lasering it for some months now but it can still be faintly seen).
- "Billy Bob", the name of her former husband Billy Bob Thornton, on her left arm (like the dragon, it is still somewhat visible despite having been in the process of removal for a long time).
- a Chinese character for courage now covered by the Tennessee Williams quote.
- a Chinese character for death (死) now covered by the prayer for her son.
- a tattoo both Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina had a copy of. It was on her right forearm, now covered by the "strength of will" tattoo.
- a dragon she got in Amsterdam while drunk, now covered by the latin cross.
- a window on her lower back. On Inside the Actors Studio, she explained that she covered this tattoo, because, while she used to spend all of her time staring through windows wishing to be outside, she now lives there all of the time.
Jolie has gone on record as saying that a positive effect resulting from the large number of tattoos on her body is that, while she is not opposed to film nudity, filmmakers have been forced to become more creative when plotting any nude or love scenes involving her. Make-up has been used to cover up the tattoos in productions such as the Tomb Raider movies, Alexander, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
Other trivia
- She has said that she is bisexual and once claimed to have been in love with fashion model Jenny Shimizu, her co-star in the film Foxfire. "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."
- Is the 3rd highest paid actress after Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz.
- She is left-handed.
- She wears a size 9 shoe.
- Jolie once described herself as "most likely to sleep with a female fan."
- She speaks French.
- The name Angelina actually means "little angel" in Italian. Jolie in French means "pretty".
- She drives a black Ford truck.
- She has a pilot's license.
- She collects knives and has interest in mortuary science.
- She was born at 9:09 a.m. in Los Angeles.
- She claims to have a fondness for Liverpool Football Club, having revealed that her baby son, Maddox, "only wants to play for Liverpool" after he was admitted to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool for treatment.
- She has continually denied rumors of an incestuous relationship with her brother, James Haven. During her acceptance speech for winning the Best Actress in a Supporting Role award for Girl, Interrupted during the 2000 Academy Awards, Jolie stated "I'm so in love with my brother right now" which, combined with her affectionate behavior towards her brother that night, sparked the rumors. On Inside the Actor's Studio she stated that she never had an incestuous relationship with her brother, stating that "the world is a lot sicker than I thought," in reference to the conclusion everyone jumped to. Also in an interview with People Magazine she and her brother stated that being children of divorce they relied on each other and because of that they hold on to each other, as a means of emotional support. Jolie has starred in five student movies, all of which were directed by her brother.
- In October 2005, The Sun tabloid in Britain, as well as several American entertainment news programs, reported that Jolie is in the running to appear with her Lara Croft: Tomb Raider co-star Daniel Craig in the next James Bond film, Casino Royale.
Filmography
- Lookin' to Get Out (1982)
- Cyborg 2 (1993)
- Angela & Viril (1993) (short subject)
- Alice & Viril (1993) (short subject)
- Without Evidence (1995)
- Hackers (1995)
- Mojave Moon (1996)
- Love Is All There Is (1996)
- Foxfire (1996)
- Playing God (1997)
- True Women (1997)
- Gia (1998)
- Hell's Kitchen (1998)
- Playing by Heart (1998)
- Pushing Tin (1998)
- The Bone Collector (1999)
- Girl, Interrupted (1999)
- Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000)
- Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
- Original Sin (2001)
- Life or Something Like It (2002)
- Trading Women (2003) (documentary) (narrator)
- Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
- Beyond Borders (2003)
- Taking Lives (2004)
- Shark Tale (2004) (voice of Lola)
- Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
- Alexander (2004)
- Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
- The Good Shepherd (2006)
- Beowulf (2007 of Queen of Darkness) (voice)
See also
External links
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- Angelina Jolie at IMDb
- Angelina Jolie, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador
- Angelina Jolie's Refugee Journals
- Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Profile
- Angelina Jolie in Relationships