Angelina Jolie Biography
Angelina Jolie (born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975) is an Academy Award-winning American actress and former fashion model. She is known for her beauty, her tumultuous off-screen life, and humanitarian work with refugees. She has received three Golden Globes as well as an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film Girl, Interrupted.
Born in Los Angeles, California, Jolie is the daughter of 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 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 Czech Republic. 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 side. 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. She stated that she didn't want to publicize her reasons for not having a relationship with her father, but since she had just adopted her son Maddox, that she didn't think it was healthy for her to be around him. Voight has yet to meet any of his three grandchildren.
Career
Before she began a career as an actress, she was a model who was signed with Finesse Model Management. She modeled in both the United States and Europe. She also appeared in numerous music videos, including those of Korn, Meat Loaf, Lenny Kravitz, and The Rolling Stones.
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.
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 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 the fish Lola in the successful animated film Shark Tale. Nonetheless, she has become one of Hollywood's most "in-demand" actresses.
Thanks to a mixture of generally good reviews and advance publicity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith opened in the No. 1 position at the box-office on its release in early June 2005, providing Jolie with her first box-office success in several years. Following the success of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Jolie is set to earn up to $15 million to star in the film The Good Shepherd, alongside Robert De Niro and Matt Damon.
Jolie has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees since 2001, and she 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 and Autumn of 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 about US$5 million to promote luxury clothing and accessories. On 24 October 2005 Angelina Jolie attended the 'First Annual Benefit Gala for the Worldwide Orphans Foundation,' where she pledged to partner with the 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 the WHO'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.
In March 2007, Angelina Jolie adopt one baby from Vietnam, Pax Thien. Angelina already has two adopted children, Maddox and Zahara, and her first biological child, with partner Brad Pitt, Shiloh daughter.
Angeina Jolie was admitted to the Santa Maria maternity clinic of Lenval French hospital in Nice on 1 July to prepare to give birth twins. On July 12, 2008, Jolie gave birth to the couple's twins, a boy named Knox Leon Jolie-Pitt of 5.03 pounds and a girl named Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt weighing 5 pounds, both delivered via an early caesarean section.
Angelina Jolie Filmography - Movies - TV
- Atlas Shrugged (2008) (announced) .... Dagny Taggart
- Wanted (2008) (pre-production)
- The Changeling (2008) (pre-production)
- Kung Fu Panda (2008) (post-production) (voice) .... Tigress
- Beowulf (2007) (post-production) (voice) .... Grendel's Mother
- A Mighty Heart (2007) (post-production) .... Mariane Pearl
- The Good Shepherd (2006) .... Clover/Margaret Ann Russell
- Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) .... Jane Smith
- Alexander (2004) .... Olympias
... aka Alexandre (France)
- The Fever (2004) .... Revolutionary
- Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) .... Franky
- Shark Tale (2004) (voice) .... Lola
- Taking Lives (2004) .... Illeana
- Beyond Borders (2003) .... Sarah Jordan
... aka Jenseits aller Grenzen (Germany)
- Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) .... Lara Croft
... aka Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Die Wiege des Lebens (Germany)
- Life or Something Like It (2002) .... Lanie Kerrigan
- Original Sin (2001) .... Julia Russell/Bonnie Castle
... aka Péché originel (France)
- Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) .... Lara Croft
... aka Tomb Raider (USA: short title)
- Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000) .... Sara 'Sway' Wayland
- Girl, Interrupted (1999) .... Lisa Rowe
... aka Durchgeknallt (Germany)
... aka Durchgeknallt - Girl, interrupted (Germany: TV title)
- The Bone Collector (1999) .... Amelia Donaghy
- Pushing Tin (1999) .... Mary Bell
... aka Turbulenzen - und andere Katastrophen (Germany)
- Playing by Heart (1998) .... Joan
- Hell's Kitchen (1998) .... Gloria McNeary
... aka Hell's Kitchen N.Y.C. (USA)
- Gia (1998) (TV) .... Gia Marie Carangi
- Playing God (1997) .... Claire
... aka Playing Hero
- George Wallace (1997) (TV) .... Cornelia Wallace
- True Women (1997) (TV) .... Georgia Virginia Lawshe Woods
- Foxfire (1996) .... Margret 'Legs' Sadovsky
- Love Is All There Is (1996) .... Gina Malacici
- Mojave Moon (1996) .... Eleanor 'Elie' Rigby
- Hackers (1995) .... Kate Libby/'Acid Burn'
- Without Evidence (1995) .... Jodie Swearingen
- Alice & Viril (1993) .... Alice
- Angela & Viril (1993) .... Angela
- Cyborg 2 (1993) .... Casella 'Cash' Reese
- Lookin' to Get Out (1982) .... Tosh
Angelina Jolie Producer - Filmography
- Trudell (2005) (executive producer)
- Lovesick (2005/I) (producer)
Angelina Jolie Soundtrack - Filmography
- Beyond Borders (2003) (performer: "Traumerei")
... aka Jenseits aller Grenzen (Germany)
