Angelina Jolie (Voight) was born on the 4th of June 1975 in Los Angeles, California. Her father, actor John Voight and former actress/model Marcheline Bertrand separated when she was only a year old. She and her older brother James Haven (born in 1973, directed Angelina in five student films) were raised in New York and Los Angeles by their mother. Angelina made her film debut at the age of four and enrolled in the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute at eleven to study method acting.

At seventeen Angelina got her first big acting job (Cyborg 2). Two years later, while filming Hackers she met British actor Jonny Lee Miller. They were married on the 28th of March 1996, but separated only a year later. During that time Angelina threw herself into the title role of HBO's Gia. She received a Screen Actors Guild and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress and was nominated for an Emmy Award for the role. After that Angelina briefly attended New York University to study film (attended night classes).

When Angelina returned to the screen, she started working nonstop. At that time she also met Billy Bob Thornton while shooting Pushing Tin in 1999. In the same year she also starred in Girl, interrupted with Winona Ryder. Angelina was nominated and won her first Academy Award, plus a Golden Globe for her performance in a supporting role in Girl, interrupted.



In the year 2000 Angelina was shooting Gone in Sixty Seconds with Nicholas Cage and Original Sin with Antonia Banderas. She and Thornton were married in Las Vegas on the 5th of May 2000. The marriage was Angelina's 2nd and Thornton's 5th.
The same year Angelina was also cast as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider and for the part she went throught intensive training. She was also appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR. She has made several visits to refugee camps worldwide including in Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Namibia, Cambodia and Pakistan. Angelina and Billy Bob adopted a baby from Cambodia, and the child was named Maddox. Shortry after that Angelina filed for divorce from Billy Bob saying that their priorities were not the same anymore. The divorce became final in fall 2002.

Angelina has worked as a professional model in London, New York and Los Angeles and she has also been seen in music videos for the Rolling Stones ("Has Anybody Seen My Baby"), Meatloaf ("Rock ’n’ Roll Dreams Come Through") and Lenny Kravitz ("Stand By My Woman").



Other facts about Angelina:

• Collects different knives and blades.
• Is openly bisexual.
• Wanted to become a funeral director as a child.
• Is left-handed.
• Once dated Foxfire co-star Jenny Shimizu.
• Her favourite color is black. ("It goes with everything.")
• Met ex-husband Billy Bob Thornton in an elevator.
• Loves tattoos and scars.
• Jolie is her middle name, and means 'pretty' in French.
• Angelina gave up her last name 'Voight' because of
  her disputes with father Jon Voight.
• She has eaten cockroaches.