Angelina Jolie (born 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
Born Angelina Jolie Voight in Los Angeles, California,
Jolie is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and
Marcheline Bertrand. She is the niece of Chip Taylor and
the god-daughter 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 mother 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 and English descent on her
father's side; and French-Canadian and Iroquois on her
mother's. As a teenager, Jolie dreamed of becoming a
funeral director. 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 because she
realised that "...we only have so much energy in this
life". Soon afterwards, 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.
Before Angelina Jolie began a career as an actress, she
was a model.
Her first starring role came in the 1995 film Hackers.
In 1998 she achieved a major critical success, starring
in the TV film Gia, the true story of 1970-80s
supermodel Gia Carangi, who died of AIDS. Jolie won
Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Golden Satmifie
awards, and was nominated for an Emmy.
Angelina Jolie 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 films, such as Life or
Something Like It, Alexander, and Sky Captain and the
World of Tomorrow, were 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.
Apart from her acting and humanitarian endeavours, Jolie
has 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.
Angelina JolieOn March 28, 1996 she married British
actor Jonny Lee Miller, with whom she had co-starred in
the film 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 subsequently divorced on February 3, 1999.
Jolie then married American actor Billy Bob Thornton on
May 5, 2000. As a result of their frequent public
declarations of passion and gestures of love (most
famously wearing one others' blood in vials around their
necks), their relationship became a favourite 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 enjoyed a long-standing romantic and
sexual relationship with her former Foxfire co-star.
In early 2005, Jolie found herself in the middle of a
well-publicised 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 Pitt 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 mother when they were married. Jolie stated
that she "could not look herself in the mirror" if she
had an affair with a married man.
Thanks to a mixture of generally good reviews, advance
publicity and the rumours, 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 her adopted daughter Zahara. Pitt was at
that time filming 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 sources reported in
September, 2005 that they had 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;
the same issue printed a photograph of the couple, now
dubbed "Brangelina", leaving an Edmonton grocer's.
Rumors of the couple's pregnancy spread as what appeared
to be a "baby bump" was noticed by paparazzi and
tabloids in a variety of photographs taken from December
30th - January 7th. On January 11, 2006, both Jolie's
and Pitt's representatives confirmed, through People,
that the two were expecting their third child (first
biological child) in summer 2006, thus indirectly
confirming for the first time that they were in a
relationship.
In 2003, Angelina Jolie published a collection of
journals made during missions for the UNHCR. Her
proceeds from the book went to the UNHCR.Jolie has been
a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees since 2001, and frequently
travels to countries in order to draw attention to the
plight of people in developing countries. 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
criticised fellow actors and actresses for not being
committed enough in helping others, and stated that she
gives one-third of her income to charitable
institutions. 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 because of 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 her
with the income necessary for her to continue travelling
the world on behalf of the UN.
Jolie continues to balance the demands of being a
film-star with that of being a humanitarian, despite an
apparently gruelling schedule. On June 7, 2005, the
Associated Press wire service reported on Jolie giving a
presentation in Islamabad, Pakistan. That 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
endeavour A Moment on Earth, in which 60 film-makers
around the world captured two separate moments on 5th
and 6th August, 2004. No release dates for either
project are known at this time.
In August 2005, Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni awarded
Jolie 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/Autumn 0f 2006. The deal with includes the
start-up of a charity headed by 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 US$10-15
million. Other celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow
receive something about US$5 million to promote luxury
clothing and accessories. On 24 October, Angelina Jolie
attended the 'First Annual Benefit Gala for the
Worldwide Orphans Foundation', where she pledged to
partner with WHO 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 Jolie. She also announced her plan to
support WWO's Paediatric HIV/AIDS Clinic in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia and pledged an initial grant. The gala helped
the organization raise $800,000. Dr. Jane Aronson, the
organisation'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.
On March 10, 2002 Jolie adopted her first child, Maddox
Chivan Jolie-Pitt. He was born on August 5, 2001 as Rath
Vibol in Cambodia. He was being housed in a Cambodian
orphanage when Angelina Jolie saw him for the first time
there in a production break for the film Lara Croft:
Tomb Raider. After her divorce from her second husband
Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie received sole custody for
Maddox.
In the autumn of 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 8, 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 organisation that provides free
legal-aid to children who prior to this had no legal
representation. Jolie donated $500,000 to the centre
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 naturalised 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-Pitt. A woman in London has been
claiming she is Zahara's birth mother since August 2005.
Ms. Jolie has contacted a lawyer in London to look into
the matter.
On September 28, 2005 while making an appearance to
discuss America's financial involvement in 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. Earlier in the summer, another
woman had come forward claiming to be the grandmother of
Zahara. That claim also proved to be false.
American magazine US Weekly indicated erroneously that
Jolie and Brad Pitt had adopted Zahara together. When
the magazine realised 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.
In December 2005 however, 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.
Angelina 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, became prominent after her pregancy announcment.
- 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 films, Alexander, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
Academy Awards
- 1999 - Best Supporting Actress - "Girl, Interrupted"
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."
- She is left-handed.
- She wears an American-size 9 shoe.
- She loves Haute Couture clothing
- Jolie once described herself as "most likely to sleep with a female fan".
- She speaks "very little French" according to her book Notes from My Travels.
- The name Angelina actually means "little angel" in Italian. Jolie in French means "pretty".
- She drives a black, Ford truck.
- She has a civilian pilot's licence.
- She collects knives and has interest in mortuary science.
- She was born at 9:09 a.m. in Los Angeles.
- Her uncle, Chip Taylor, wrote the songs Wild Thing and Angel of the Morning.
- 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 rumours 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 behaviour towards her brother that night, sparked the rumours. 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 divorcees, they relied on one another and because of that they hold on to each other as a means of emotional support. Jolie has starred in five student films directed by her brother.
- In October 2005, The Sun tabloid in Britain, as well as several American entertainment news programmes reported that Jolie was in the running to appear with her Lara Croft: Tomb Raider co-star Daniel Craig in the next James Bond film, Casino Royale. This ultimately proved to be a false report.
- In a December 2001 Rolling Stone interview, Jolie said: "My favorite book [of the year] was Loung Ung's First They Killed My Father, about her childhood in Cambodia. I spent some time with her in Cambodia when I was there with UNHCR, and she's wonderful." On Loung Ung's website, Jolie is quoted: "I encourage everyone to read this deeply moving and very important book (Lucky Child). Equal to the strength of the book, is the woman who wrote it. She is a voice for her people and they are lucky to have her."
- She hasn't stated definitively whether or not she believes in God or what religion she practices. When asked in an interview with The Onion A.V. Club if there was a God, she said "For some people. I hope so, for them. For the people who believe in it, I hope so. There doesn't need to be a God for me. There's something in people that's spiritual, that's godlike. I don't feel like doing things just because people say things, but I also don't really know if it's better to just not believe in anything, either." She is sometimes thought to be a Buddhist, but Jolie says that she teaches Buddhism to her son Maddox because she considers it part of his culture. She added a tattoo of Buddhist Sanskrit symbols on her shoulder as a prayer for him.
Filmography
- Angelina Jolie at the commemoration of World Refugee Day in 2003.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)
- Sin City 2 (2006)
- Beowulf (2007) (voice of the Queen of Darkness)