Initially a gawky child (teased by other kids for her thin stature, glasses and braces), Jolie became something of a rebellious outcast in her youth, collecting knives (which she used to self-harm), dreaming of becoming a funeral director, and spending her time with her boyfriend moshing in clubs. She started theatre studies, but instead became a model at the age of 14, which gave her a globe-trotting career at an impressionable age, and appeared in numerous music videos -- such as Meat Loaf's "Rock & Roll Dreams Come True".
In 1993, she got her first movie role in low-budget sci-fi Cyborg 2, before making something of a splash in Hackers ('95) alongside British actor Jonny Lee Miller – whom she married a year later. In typical Jolie fashion, she wore a white skirt with her groom's name written in her own blood. They divorced in '99.
During their marriage, Jolie made her breakthrough with Playing God ('97) opposite The X-Files' David Duchovny, and won a Golden Globe the same year for her performance as Cornelia Wallace in a biopic of George Wallace. Gia ('98) was another notable role in her early career, with Jolie playing real-life supermodel Gia Carangi. Her performance bagged her a Screen Actors Guild Award and was the first film to overtly play on her attractiveness and sexuality, with a few nude (including one with Lost actress Elizabeth Mitchell!)
More roles followed, including Pushing Tin ('99) alongside Billy Bob Thornton – whom she married a year later. In typical Jolie fashion, she wore the blood of her husband in a vial around her neck. The celebrity couple's oddball relationship fuelled the tabloids for many months, helping establish Angelina Jolie as a big-name showbiz star. Her biggest critical success came in '99 when she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Girl, Interrupted – where she played a mentally ill woman. The Oscar success firmly established her as Hollywood hot property, with beauty and the talent to back it up.
Massive successes came her way very quickly, particularly when she became the embodiment of video-game heroine Lara Croft in Tomb Raider ('01) and its sequel ('03). Both films received bad-to-average reviews, but everyone agree that Jolie was perfectly cast and made for a compelling action star. After a positive start to her post-Oscar career, Jolie's career decisions took a downward turn almost immediately, with roles in box-office turkeys like CGI/live-action hyrbrid Sky Captain & The World Of Tomorrow ('04), animation Shark Tale ('04) and Oliver Stone's Alexander ('04) all in the same year.
In 2005, Jolie became the talk of Tinstletown when she was revealed as "the other woman" coming between Hollywood married couple Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. Pitt had reportedly fallen for Jolie's charms while working with her on big-budget action thriller Mr & Mrs Smith. The rumours proved to be true when Pitt and Aniston divorced, and Jolie started a relationship with Pitt. Consequently, Mr & Mrs Smith became a summer blockbuster on the back of the lead's real-life romance – and was the success Jolie really needed after '04s run of disasters. Since then, her professional career has been trying to balance "event movies" (''07s Beowulf, '08s Wanted and Kung Fu Panda) with films that earn her some critical respect ('06s The Good Shepherd, '07s A Mighty Heart).
But it's her private life that currently fuels Angelina Jolie's celebrity month-to-month. She adopted Maddox, a Cambodian-born boy, in 2002 and Zachara, an Ethiopian-born girl, in 2006. After getting involved with Pitt, he has since legally adopted Jolie's children, and the couple have their own child together – Shiloh, born in May '06. In 2007, Jolie also adopted a Vietnamese boy called Pax after he was found abandoned at a local hospital. There are currently reports that Jolie is pregnant again.
It's something of a shame for fans that Angelina Jolie isn't more present at the movies, but who can blame her when she has kids and Brad Pitt waiting at home. That said, she returns this summer with comic-book action flick Wanted (which plays on her dangerous, alluring, tough-as-nails, sexy-as-hell allure – which helped Tomb Raider and Mrs & Mrs Smith do so well.)
It seems people are less interested whenever she does serious films, as The Good Shepherd and A Mighty Heart both underperformed, which seems to suggest she can't quite escape her looks. Her large eyes, cat-like features, large breasts, long legs, toned body and iconic plump lips single her out as a fantasy figure, so her roles are probably quite limited. You have to do an awful lot of work to tone her down, or make her look ugly – and I'm sure that's the last thing most studio execs want to do with someone as attractive as Angelina Jolie! So she's in a bit of a Catch-22.
Oh well, I can't feel much sympathy for her. Being too attractive is a good flaw to have! And she really does make a perfect female action star. The added twist of her odd lifestyle and rumours of an energetic and masochistic sex life helps keeps fans interested and intrigued. She's definitely one of those super-confident, fiercely sexual women that excite (and frighten) red-blooded men, while the fact she's bisexual clearly helps her reach a wide, appreciative audience.
Name: Angelina Jolie VoightBirthdate: 4 June 1975
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, USA
