Angelina Jolie is an Academy Award-winning actress who rose to fame after her role in Girl, Interrupted (1999), playing the title role in the "Lara Croft" blockbuster movies, as well as Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Wanted (2008), Salt (2010) and Maleficent (2014). 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.

Jolie was born Angelina Jolie Voight in Los Angeles, California. In her earliest years, Angelina began absorbing the acting craft from her actor parents, Jon Voight, an Oscar-winner, and Marcheline Bertrand, who had studied with Lee Strasberg. Her good looks may derive from her ancestry, which is German and Slovak on her father's side, and French-Canadian, Dutch, Polish, and remote Huron, on her mother's side. At age eleven, Angelina began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, where she was seen in several stage productions. 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.

In the mid-1990s, Jolie appeared in various small films where she got good notices, including Hackers (1995) and Foxfire (1996). Her critical acclaim increased when she played strong roles in the made-for-TV movies True Women (1997), and in George Wallace (1997) 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 (1998). 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 (1998) again garnered a Golden Globe Award and another Emmy nomination, and she additionally earned a SAG Award.

Family

Trivia

One of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. [2000]
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 as inspiration in the "Where's Jamie?!" scene in Girl, Interrupted (1999).
Has the letter "H" tattooed on the inside of her left wrist, which is a reference to two people she is close to who have this letter in their names: her brother, James Haven, and Timothy Hutton. She got the tattoo when she was dating Timothy but since their break-up she now says it's only for James.
Has a tattoo of the Tennessee Williams quote, "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages" on her left forearm.
Was married to Jonny Lee Miller in a black leather pants and a white blouse. On the white blouse, she painted her husband's name in her own blood (across the back).
Tattoos include the Japanese sign for death, two pointy black American Indian symbols, a dragon, and a large black cross.
Daughter of Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. Niece of Chip Taylor.
Collects knives and has an interest in mortuary science.
Angelina and her brother, to whom she is very close, publicly spoke out to deny false rumors that the two were having an incestuous relationship. [2000]
Began modeling at age 14 and had a childhood dream of becoming a funeral director.
Named the world's sexiest woman in Swedish magazine Café.
Goddaughter of actress Jacqueline Bisset.
Has the Latin phrase "Quod me nutrit me destruit" ("What nourishes me also destroys me") tattooed across her stomach.
Appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland after her visits to Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Pakistan. [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.
On her father's side, she has German and Slovak ancestry. Her mother was of approximately one half French-Canadian, one quarter Dutch, and one quarter Polish, descent. Angelina also has a remote Huron ancestor, her maternal eight times great-grandmother, Catherine Anenontha, who was born, c. 1649, in Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec. Angelina's paternal grandparents were Elmer Vojtka, later Elmer Voight, and Barbara Kamp, while Angelina's maternal grandparents were Rolland Frederic Bertrand and Lois June Gouwens.
Ranked #87 in Premiere magazine's 2002 annual "Power 100" list.
In role as goodwill ambassador, she visited Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand to check on conditions of 9,000 refugees from bordering Myanmar. [May 2002]
In late 2002, she announced that she was in talks to portray the late porn star Linda Lovelace.

Personal Quotes 

Therapy? I don't need that. The roles that I choose are my therapy.
Because I am a bad girl, people always automatically think that I am a bad girl. Or that I carry a dark secret with me or that I'm obsessed with death. The truth is that I am probably the least morbid person one can meet. If I think more about death than some other people, it is probably because I love life more than they do.
You're young, you're drunk, you're in bed, you have knives; shit happens.
And my dad, you're a great actor but you're a better father.
[on if she ever caught her husband Billy Bob Thornton cheating] I've told Billy if I ever caught him cheating, I wouldn't kill him because I love his children and they need a dad. But I would beat him up. I know where all of his sports injuries are. And I'd beat her, too!
I'll make it real simple, I'm a 36-C. In the game, she's a double-D. In the movie [Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)], she's a D. We split the difference... [Lara] is much more athletic, and she has smaller breasts, but she's still Lara Croft, so there.
I seem to be getting a lot of things pushed my way that are strong women. It's like people see Hackers (1995) and they send me offers to play tough women with guns, the kind who wear no bra and a little tank top. I'd like to play strong women who are also very feminine.
I'd like to believe that the people that have supported me in my work or identified with me in films, the people that feel they know me, they do and they don't have misconceptions - they understand. I believe that.
[on her split from husband Billy Bob Thornton] I'm angry. I'm sad. It's a very difficult and sad time. It was a real deep connection, a deep marriage, so it's not that simple to say this or that one thing caused the problems. It's clear to me that our priorities shifted overnight. He's focused on his music and career. I'm focused on my baby. It comes down to what's important to you.