Jolie became one of Hollywood's marquee names, with starring roles in movies like Wanted, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Salt and Changeling. She later had a huge international blockbuster with Disney's Maleficent, which spawned a sequel. Jolie also directed the films In the Land of Blood and Honey, Unbroken and By the Sea, in which she co-starred with then-husband Brad Pitt.

Early Life 

Actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie Voight was born on June 4, 1975, in Los Angeles, California, to actor Jon Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand. She began acting at a young age, studying at the Lee StrasbergTheater Institute while in her early teens. Jolie later attended New York University.

Angelina Jolie's Movies

'Gia' and Oscar Win for 'Girl, Interrupted'

In the 1990s, Angelina Jolie became a popular actress. She gave a star-making performance in the 1998 television film Gia, based on the short, tragic life of model Gia Marie Carangi, for which she won a best actress Golden Globe. Her rapid ascent continued with Girl, Interrupted (1999), as the rebellious member of a group of institutionalized teenagers, her performance resulting in an Academy Award win for best supporting actress. 

'Tomb Raider,' 'Taking Lives,' 'Sky Captain'

In the new millennium Jolie continued to take on a variety of interesting roles. She portrayed adventurer Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider films (2001 and 2003), a FBI profiler in Taking Lives (2004) and a squadron commander in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004).

'Mr. and Mrs. Smith,' 'The Good Shepherd,' 'A Mighty Heart'

After teaming with Brad Pitt to play married assassins in the sexy action flick Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), Jolie played a neglected, troubled socialite wife in The Good Shepherd (2006) and then a vengeful, monstrous mother in an adaptation of Beowulf (2007). That year she also gave a brilliant performance as Mariane Pearl, the pregnant widow of Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl, in A Mighty Heart. The film was based on Mariane's account of her husband's abduction and murder.

'Kung Fu Panda,' 'Changeling,' 'Salt'

In 2008, Jolie joined the voice cast of the animated comedy Kung Fu Panda as Master Tigress, a role she later reprised for multiple sequels. That year she also portrayed an assassin in Wanted and starred in the Clint Eastwood-directed thriller Changeling, as a mother who investigates her son's unusual disappearance and reappearance. The role led to her first Oscar nomination in the best actress category. Jolie went on to earn the lead role in the action-packed Salt (2010), about a CIA agent, Evelyn Salt, who is on the run after being accused of being a Russian spy. That same year, she played the mysterious Elise Clifton-Ward in the espionage flick The Tourist, alongside Johnny Depp.

'Maleficent' and Sequel

In 2014, the actress enjoyed the rewards of shaping a major blockbuster, both starring in and executive producing Disney's Maleficent. Jolie portrayed the sorceress title character, with the film taking on a woman-centered revisionist approach to the main villain from the animated classic Sleeping Beauty (1959). With U.S. critics divided on theMaleficent's merits, the project nonetheless worked box office magic, earning around $240 million domestically and an additional $517 million overseas. The sequel, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, hit theaters in October 2019.

Director: 'In the Land of Blood and Honey,' 'Unbroken'

Jolie also began honing her craft as a director. She made her feature-length directorial debut with 2011's In the Land of Blood and Honey, looking at a relationship horribly damaged by the Bosnian War. This was followed by 2014's Unbroken, a biopic that told the story of OlympianLouis Zamperini's survival in a Japanese POW camp. The film was based on the bestselling Laura Hillenbrand book of the same name and earned more than $163 million worldwide.

'By the Sea,' 'First They Killed My Father'

In 2016, Jolie directed and co-starred with Pitt in the art film By the Sea, a slowly-paced Mediterranean tale set in the 1970s about a married couple and the tensions of their relationship. The following year, she focused strictly on directing for First They Killed My Father, based on a Cambodian activist's memoir of being trained as a child soldier.

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