Angelina Jolie

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Angelina Jolie Voight was born on June 4, 1975, to Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand. At age 11, four years after making her film debut opposite her father in Lookin’ to Get Out, Angelina Jolie began studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.

Although her dream as a child was actually to become a funeral director, 16-year-old Angelina Jolie worked as a professional model in London, New York and Los Angeles. Musical groups and singers such as the Rolling Stones, Lemonheads, Meatloaf, and Lenny Kravitz cast her in their music videos, and even her brother James Haven Voight directed her in his student films for the USC School of Cinema.

Wishing to get even closer to pursuing an acting career, Jolie studied at L.A.’s MET Theatre Company, which also counts Ed Harris and Holly Hunter among its alumni.

Angelina Jolie In Hackers

Angelina Jolie’s first foray into film was of a sci-fi nature, with a supporting role in 1993′s Cyborg 2, which didn’t even make it to the big screen, and a lead role in Hackers (1995) where she met her future ex-husband, British actor Jonny Lee Miller ofTrainspotting fame. They were separated within the year and filed for divorce in 1999.

Angelina Jolie’s career as an actress, however, was flying high. She received critical acclaim for Without Evidence (1995) in which she portrayed a drug-addicted teen, as well as for her roles as a rebellious teen known as Legs in Foxfire (1996) and as an Italian girl in love with the son of her family’s rival in Love Is All There Is(1996).

In 1997, she had a supporting role in the box-office bomb Playing God, starring David Duchovny and Timothy Hutton.

Angelina Jolie Wins A Golden Globe

Angelina Jolie’s television roles were what gained her the ultimate respect of critics. She was honored with a 1997 Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination for her role as Cornelia Wallace in the TV movie George Wallace, costarring Gary Sinise. But the best was yet to come for Angelina Jolie.

She won her second Golden Globe for her role as model Gia Carangi in HBO’s biopic Gia. Her intense portrayal of the drug-addicted model who was diagnosed with AIDS was highly deserving of the Best Actress Golden Globe and Emmy nomination.

Bio

Angelina Jolie is an Oscar-winning actress who has become popular by taking on the title role in the "Lara Croft" series of blockbuster movies. 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.

In her earliest years, Angelina began absorbing the acting craft from her parents - her father is the Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight and her mother is Marcheline Bertrand, who had studied with Lee Strasberg. At age 11, Angelina began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. 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. Her exotic good looks may derive from her mixed ancestry which is Slovak, French-Canadian, Iroquois and English.

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) (TV), and in George Wallace (1997) (TV) 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) (TV). 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) (TV) again garnered a Golden Globe award and another Emmy nomination, and she additionally earned a SAG Award.

 

Vital Stats

Date of Birth: June 4, 1975

Birth Place: Los Angeles, California