Angelina Jolie 

Angelina Jolie  (b. 4 June 1975 – ) is an            Oscar-winning  actress,  movie director,    humanitarian     and      global celebrity.  She   rose to fame through her title role   in  the film  “Lara Croft”. In recent years, Jolie has moved into film   production,      acting as director, writer       and      producer.  She   has  six children,                 three     of      whom         are adopted. She serves in a capacity as a       Goodwill      Ambassador  for       the UNHCR.

Angelina  was       born in Los Angeles, California.   Her parents,    Jon  Voight and    Marcheline      Bertrand               were actors,      and   this   was a     significant influence  on her early life. When she was eleven, she enrolled    at the  Lee Strasberg           Theatre      Institute    and performed  in                    several          theatre productions. This  early  training was important  to           her    philosophy        of acting. A   major      component of this acting    school is  to  stay in      part for the duration   of   the   filming – taking on             the      characteristics  of             her characters.

She       later  studied   film       studies   at New  York  University.  Aged    16,  she temporarily   tried    modelling              and appeared   in  some       music     videos. However,     this    career   did   not  take off.       Ironically,          for  someone  who would  later      be  cited as  the worlds ‘most  beautiful      women,       Angelina had        difficult     periods                         in    her childhood.    She              recounts      being picked on by other children for being very thin and wearing glasses.

More    seriously, she had       a  difficult relationship          with     her   father,   Jon Voight.  In her  late teens,       and  early 20s   she          also             suffered            from depression          and                            periods  of self-harm.    Looking             back,              she observed that she was

“just     being   a  young     girl   who   was experimental, bold and a bit nutty… I was     absolutely     self-destructive.     I think  a       lot   of young  people  in  this business    lose    their  way.  You   dont know      what    is     of  value.  You   dont know where   you are. And you  know somethings wrong,    because  it   isnt life as it actually  is.   Its  like    living  in some warped reality.”

Angelina   credits  her   first      adopted daughter  for  helping her   to  pull out of     depression  and   a        tendency to self-harm. Jolie recounts  then when she  saw her    adopted  daughter she knew     she would have to     live more responsibly for  her  benefit.   “I  knew once      I  committed      to         Maddox,  I would        never         be   self-destructive again.”

In her teens, her acting career  never really      took            off                 because     her demeanour     was     often considered too ‘dark and ‘punkish.

In 1993,  she began her professional film  career with her   first  major part in the   sci-fi   film ‘Cyborg     2.  Several roles in smaller   films   followed  with Jolie receiving critical praise, though the films did not    go  on  to  be major successes.

In           1997,     she     received      her   first Golden     Globe            Award             for     her performance     in  ‘George          Wallace (1997).  She played  the second wife of Alabama segregationist governor – George Wallace.

In  1998, she    starred       in     a       biopic about          Gia Carangi,     a supermodel who struggled to deal with her fame and       success   –  dying   prematurely from AIDS as result    of sharing drug needles. Jolie  was   praised    for    her performance;      however, to  perform the  character she  adopted  ‘method acting            and             took     on            similar characteristics   to   the  role she  was playing.    As      a result,        she became difficult  to deal  with,     especially    as there      were            some  parallels    with Jolies          own                struggles                 with depression.

In     1999,            she       starred  alongside Denzel Washington                  in                         the successful film ‘The    Bone Collector (1999). Also in that  year, she  played a      woman       who   spent     time     in     a psychiatric           hospital     in                        ‘Girl Interrupted                        (1999).                          Her performance    won      her     the        triple crown of  Golden   Globe Award,    the SAG and        Academy  Award    for  the best             leading    actress.  Jolie    was gaining     a   reputation  for producing strong         acting  performances,    and she became increasingly in demand. Her   growing   acting  profile  also led to                  increased         media       interest, especially    because    of her  physical beauty and colourful life.

In 2000, she was chosen to play  the lead role in ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. This was by far her most successful film commercially,  becoming one of biggest grossing   films    of   the  year. The                 role    involved   considerable physical         training         to                play   the adventurous and  athletic  character. (often said to  be    a cross      between James Bond and Indiana Jones.

Humanitarian work

Filming     ‘Lara      Croft in       Cambodia, caused Jolie               to       become    more interested in humanitarian activities. She became an active participant in her  role as     United         Nations      High Commissioner                      for          Refugees (UNHCR).              She            has          travelled extensively  to  areas such  as Darfur, Sierra Leone      and   Afghanistan.        In 2012,         she  was   appointed Special Envoy     to        High                Commissioner Antonia        Guterres.  Jolie   says      she puts      a        third   of   her          salary    into savings,   a  third   for  living expenses and gives the final third to charity.

Speaking                      of   her   experience in visiting Afghanistan, she remarks:

“Behind                 the   labels   —    refugees, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers — are people with the same hopes,  fears, sorrow and  happiness as anyone. Their life experiences are often        deeply                tragic          but   also uplifting.     To  survive   what            many Afghan     families   have   experienced over three decades is    testimony   to the  resilience of    the      human  spirit. This         shines           through            in      their generosity,                 humour,   and        quiet determination to offer  their children a better future.”

Angelina_JolieJolie   has  become an advocate        for   childrens   education and protecting the interests of  child immigrants    and        other     vulnerable children.  She   has  also worked  with the         Education              Partnership     for Children of    Conflict and has  helped to      establish   education   policies. In January   2011,  she     established the Jolie  Legal Fellowship a   network of lawyers who       are       sponsored           to advocate       for     human          rights         in developing  countries. After she had devoted  more time  to humanitarian work, her   public profile              changed from    an  image of a   ‘wild child  to  a more positive image.

In  2004, Jolie began filming  Mr  and Mrs Smith (2005) with Brad Pitt. The film was           noted for  its       on-screen chemistry          between    Jolie and Pitt (who   was at  the       time      married  to Jennifer Aniston) Pitt  later divorced Aniston             and     in 2014  the   couple married.              However,      in   2016,  the couple separated.

Jolie            has         become  one        of   the highest-paid    actors     in   Hollywood. Her films     are  regularly commercial and  critical   successes. With    Jolies performances often being the stand out performance.

Successful films include:

1:Beowulf          (2007)     Jolie           played shape-shifting seductress   Grendels mother

2:Wanted (2008) – an internationally successful action film

3:Kung Fu Panda (2008)

4:Changelings     –      Clint       Eastwood drama

5:Salt (2010)

6:Maleficent (2014)

In     2007, she     began  her       directing career with a  documentary   ‘A Place in  Time          (2007).      Her    full  feature debut     was   a film    ‘In        the  Land  of Blood and Honey (2011) a love story set                in        the      Yugoslav   civil    war between   a  Serb             soldier      and        a Bosniak  prisoner  of    war. She    used only            actors          from          the    former Yugoslavia,  and       the    film       was       a critical success.

In     2014,  she produced  her  second film ‘Unbroken about  a   World War II hero  Louis    Zamperini.  Jolie admits she    has    a great   interest in                war movies, but was also       attracted     to tell this remarkable story of heroism and    personal  strength   because    of the        personal                          qualities              of Zamperini.

“I wanted    them  to   be  reminded   of that thing    inside   of  all   of        us, that rises   up           against these obstacles. Thats  what  Louie preached,  to help in those dark hours to remember.”

In   2013,     she   had a           preventative double   mastectomy  to   reduce   her risk    of           breast  cancer. She   wrote about     her experience    and  choices she made, which she wrote about in a New York  op-ed.  Her doctors told her  that  her   genes    left her  an  87% chance of developing breast cancer. Her   mother, Marcheline   died     from Ovarian cancer.   Jolie  explained  her decision        to        take             preventative action.

“Once            I   knew      that   this    was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I               made   a        decision    to      have   a preventive double mastectomy.”

Jolie   remains    one      of    the   highest paid  film  stars            and  is  one  of   the best-known celebrities. This  has led to  highly   paid    endorsements,  such as         for     a  single      Louis              Vuitton production,   which    led       to                     the payment of a reported $10 million.