Biography

       June 4, 1975: A Star is born. Angelina Jolie Voight was born to Jon Voight, actor, and Marcheline Bertrand, actress and model. Not wanting to live up to the Hollywood standards, she dropped Voight as her last name. She may not have gotten the famous last name from her parents but she did get the French-Iroquois beauty of her mother and the acting spirit of her father.One of her best memories is of her brother, James, picking up a camera and saying, “Angie, act!” Ironically, he is now an aspiring filmmaker and she is a beautiful acting goddess. Marcheline gave her children the middle names, Haven and Jolie, in case they went into show business. As a child, she loved glittery underwear and making people laugh. Angelina was a born performer. Although, she wanted to become a funeral director, her parents knew she would be an actress. They say she had a great sense of creativity and would always make an event out of everything. Her parents separated when Angelina was only a year old. Their mother raised her and James in New York and Los Angeles. At 4, Angelina made her film debut in Lookin’ to Get Out playing Tosh. This film was co-produced and co-written by her father. At 11, she enrolled in the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. She calls her adolescence and “awkward, mental breakdown.” She has an interest in the macabre. Angelina wore black fishnets and boots trying to hide herself. She wanted to feel everything and go slam dancing.
         She has appeared in music videos for Lenny Kravitz, Rolling Stones, Meatloaf, and the Lemonheads. At 17, she landed her first big role in Cyborg 2. She threw up after having seen the movie.
         While filming Hackers, Angelina met Jonny Lee Miller. They married in 1996. She wore black rubber pants and a white shirt with Jonny’s name written in blood to the nuptials. A year later, they separated. She says about their relationship. “He kept me centered and we had a beautiful, amazing marriage. But our lives went in different directions. We were so completely honest.” During that time, Jolie had been living in a hotel while she threw herself into the title role of Gia, the HBO drama about a gay ‘70s supermodel who succumbs to drug addiction and AIDS.
         On the subject of her bisexuality, she is perfectly blasé: “It’s like somebody saying, ‘Would you be with somebody tall or of a different race?’ It’s such a dumb question. I married a man because I need somebody physically stronger than me. It just feels nice. I am always on top. It’s really unfortunate. I am begging for the man that can put me on the bottom. Or the woman. Anybody that can take me down.
         Gia exacted an emotional toll. Afterward, Jolie briefly attended NYU to study film. When she returned to the screen, she began working nonstop. As her star rose, there became more and more misconceptions and misrepresentations. The character that most exemplifies Jolie is Lisa in Girl, Interrupted, the impulsive, honest-to-a-fault sociopath.
         Growing up, she never lived in a house. She longs for an attic that she can go up to and bask in the memories. Now there’s a castle on an island she wants to buy and turn into a retreat for artists and friends.
         On May 5, 2000, Angelina and Billy Bob Thornton wed at a no-frills chapel in Las Vegas. They are absolutely crazy about each other. Angelina says they'll be, "together 'til the end."

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