Angelina Jolie Biography
Angelina Jolie is the daughter of Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight, and former actress/model Marcheline Bertrand. Jon Voight separated from Bertrand when Jolie was 1, remained in California while the family lived on the East coast. "He was the perfect example of an artist who couldn't be married," she says. "He had the perfect family, but there's something for him that's very scary about that." Jolie, is her middle name. Ultimately, she decided to use it because, she says, "I love my father, but I'm not him."
Angelina began training and performing at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute at around 12. She was seen in several stage productions at the Institute. She worked as a professional model in London, New York and Los Angeles, and has also appeared in music videos for such artists as the Rolling Stones, Meat Loaf, Lenny Kravitz, Antonello Venditti and The Lemonheads. In addition, she has acted in five student films for the USC School of Cinema, all directed by her brother, James Haven. She landed her first feature film starring part in Hackers, about a group of high school computer hackers. Previously, she had roles in independent features Gathering Evidence and Oh No, Not Her. Angelina was married to her co-star from Hackers, Jonny Lee Miller (although they are now divorced). The marriage took place in May of 1996 where she wore black rubber clothes. She has a extensive dagger collection (likes knives) and has many tattoos (one is the Japanese word for death on her shoulder). Today Angelina splits her time between New York and Los Angeles.
Though she made her screen debut as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in the 1982 film Lookin' to Get Out, Jolie's acting career began in earnest a decade later with the low budget production Cyborg 2 (1993). Her first leading role in a major film was in Hackers (1995). She starred in the critically acclaimed biographical films George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999). Jolie achieved international fame as a result of her portrayal of videogame heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), and since then has established herself as one of the best-known and highest-paid actresses in Hollywood. She had her biggest commercial success with the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005).
Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie currently lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, and Zahara, a biological daughter, Shiloh, and twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline. The twins were delivered by Cesarian section on July 12, 2008 in Nice, France.
Jolie has promoted humanitarian causes throughout the world, and is noted for her work with refugees through UNHCR.