Jolie, Angelina << joh LEE, an juh LEE nuh >> (1975-…), is a popular American motion-picture actress known for her beauty and humanitarian work. She won an Academy Award as best supporting actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999), in which she portrayed a rebellious patient in a psychiatric hospital.
Angelina Jolie Voight was born on June 4, 1975, in Los Angeles. She attended Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California, and studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Los Angeles.
Jolie became a model at 16 and appeared in several music videos. She made her film debut in Lookin’ to Get Out (1982), starring her father, the American motion-picture actor Jon Voight. Her first leading role in a major film was in the crime thriller Hackers (1995). In 1998, Jolie won critical acclaim for her portrayal of the supermodel Gia Carangi, who died of AIDS, in Gia.
Jolie became world famous for her portrayal of the action heroine Lara Croft in the action fantasy movies Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003), based on a popular video game series. She won praise for her performance in A Mighty Heart (2007), in which she portrayed Mariane Pearl, the wife of the American reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and killed by a militant group in Pakistan.
Jolie’s other notable films include Foxfire (1996); The Bone Collector and Pushing Tin (both 1999); Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000); Beyond Borders (2003); Alexander (2004); Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005); The Good Shepherd (2006); Beowulf (2007); Wanted and Changeling (both 2008); Salt and The Tourist (both 2010); Maleficent (2014); and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019). Jolie provided the voice for a tigress in the animated films Kung Fu Panda (2008) and its sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011). She also has appeared in several movies made for television.
Jolie wrote and directed In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011), a drama about the Bosnian War (1992-1995). She also directed the drama Unbroken (2014), about an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II (1939-1945). Jolie wrote, directed, and acted in By the Sea (2015).
From 2001 to 2022, Jolie served as a goodwill ambassador, and then as special envoy, for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In those roles, she advocated for displaced people around the world. In 2013, Jolie received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her humanitarian contributions. In 2014, Queen Elizabeth II made Jolie an honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her campaign to end sexual violence in war zones.
Jolie was married to the British actor Jonny Lee Miller from 1996 to 1999, to the American actor Billy Bob Thornton from 2000 to 2003, and to the American actor Brad Pitt from 2014 to 2019.
