How Angelina Jolie became the most famous actress in the world
Angelina Jolie was born in 1975 in Los Angeles to actor parents, Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. She was raised primarily by her mother, who quit her career to raise Jolie and her brother, essentially as a single mother.
Jolie made her screen debut as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in "Lookin' to Get Out" in 1982.
But her film career truly began a decade later with the low-budget production "Cyborg 2" in 1993.
Her first leading role in a major film was in the cyber-thriller "Hackers" in 1995. She met actor Jonny Lee Miller on-set and the two later married in 1996. The couple were divorced by 1999.
After "Hackers," Jolie went on to win critical acclaim for portraying 1970s drug addicted model "Gia" in HBO's 1998 TV movie.
By 1999, she was holding an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her performance in "Girl, Interrupted."
That same year, she starred alongside Billy Bob Thornton in "Pushing Tin." After a two-month courtship, the couple married in 2000 in Las Vegas. They famously wore one another's blood in vials around their necks.
In 2001, Jolie scored the lead role in the "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" franchise and became one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood.
Jolie has said that she first became aware of worldwide humanitarian crises while filming "Tomb Raider" in Cambodia and began visiting refugee camps around the world. She was soon named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.
Source: Time
Jolie and Thornton announced the adoption of a son from Cambodia in 2002, but were divorced by 2003. Jolie adopted her son Maddox in 2002 at age 3 from an orphanage in Cambodia.
Source: Daily Mail
Jolie resumed her action star career in 2005 with "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," the set on which she met her future husband Brad Pitt.
Jolie and Pitt became involved in a well-publicized Hollywood scandal when the two had an alleged affair while Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston.
The two didn't confirm their relationship until 2006, when Jolie told People that she was pregnant with Pitt's child.
The couple now have six children together — three biological and three adopted.
In 2011, Jolie made her directorial debut with the wartime drama "In the Land of Blood and Honey" — a love story set during the Bosnian War.
After more than a decade of service as a Goodwill Ambassador, Jolie was promoted to the rank of Special Envoy of High Commissioner António Guterres in 2012 and represents the organization at the diplomatic level. She has since won a slew of humanitarian awards.
Source: UNHCR
She has been named Forbes' "Highest paid Actress" multiple times, with estimated annual earnings ranging from $27 to $30 million.
After seven years and six children together, "Brangelina" finally announced their engagement in 2012.
In May 2013, Jolie wrote an op-ed in the NY Times revealing she had undergone a secret, preventative double mastectomy.
Source: NYT
Since then, Jolie has starred in "Maleficent," where she played an iconic Disney villain. The film was a big hit and a sequel has been announced.
She also directed her second film, 2014's "Unbroken," based on the popular book.
In 2014, Pitt and Jolie got married — first in California and then at their French villa. "As Americans, we couldn't marry legally in France," Jolie said.
Source: Us Weekly
Jolie starred in her second film with Brad Pitt, "By the Sea," near the end of 2015. The Universal picture is about a couple in a loveless marriage.
The film may have been one of the first signs the couple's marriage was heading down a rocky path.
"There were a few days when we thought [a working honeymoon] wasn’t the best idea," Jolie told the Telegraph in November 2015. "There were days during filming last year when we were really worried and it was hard."
!["There were a few days when we thought [a working honeymoon] wasn’t the best idea," Jolie told the Telegraph in November 2015. "There were days during filming last year when we were really worried and it was hard."](https://staticbiassets.in/thumb/msid-54435520,width-700,height-525,imgsize-48046/there-were-a-few-days-when-we-thought-a-working-honeymoon-wasnt-the-best-idea-jolie-told-the-telegraph-in-november-2015-there-were-days-during-filming-last-year-when-we-were-really-worried-and-it-was-hard-.jpg)
Source: The Telegraph
Jolie filed her divorce papers from Pitt September 15, 2016 and is reportedly seeking physical custody of the couple's six children.
Source: TMZ
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