Angelina Jolie - Mother, Actress, Model and UNHCR Ambassador

Born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975 in Los Angeles, CA at 9:09am to Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand (she legally dropped the “Voight” in 2002). Between her parents, she is a mixture of Czecholslovakian, French-Canadian, English and Iroquois heritage. Her actor father separated from her mother in 1976. She has one brother, James Haven Voight, who also entered the movie industry – he’s a director.

As a child, Angelina wanted to become a funeral director, but she soon turned to acting because of her parents. How could she not? Her father is an Oscar-winning actor and her mother had studied with Lee Strasberg. At 11 years old, Angelina began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She was a film student at New York University and later joined the Met Theatre Group in Los Angeles. She made her stage debut playing a German dominatrix in "Room Service". At 16 she started modeling and appeared in some music videos, such as "Anybody seen my baby" by The Rolling Stones.

In the mid 90’s Angelina started with small films where she got good exposure, including “Hackers” and “Foxfire,” and her fame increased with the made-for-TV movie “George Wallace,” for which she won a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination. In 1998 she starred in HBO’s “Gia” and won another Golden Globe award, another Emmy nomination, and a SAG Award.

Her major breaks were in 1999 in “The Bone Collector” with Denzel Washington, and in “Girl, Interrupted” opposite Winona Ryder. For "Girl" she won a Golden Globe, the SAG Award, and the Academy Award for best leading actress in a supporting role.

Angelina divorced her "Hackers" co-star Jonny Lee Miller, and in 2000 she married her Billy Bob Thornton.