Angelina Jolie - Mother, Actress, Model and UNHCR Ambassador

Born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4, 1975 in Los Angeles, CA at 9:09am to Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand (she legally dropped the "Voight" in 2002). Between her parents, she is a mixture of Czecholslovakian, French-Canadian, English and Iroquois heritage. Her actor father separated from her mother in 1976. She has one brother, James Haven Voight, who also entered the movie industry - he's a director.

As a child, Angelina wanted to become a funeral director, but she soon turned to acting because of her parents. How could she not? Her father is an Oscar-winning actor and her mother had studied with Lee Strasberg. At 11 years old, Angelina began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She was a film student at New York University and later joined the Met Theatre Group in Los Angeles. She made her stage debut playing a German dominatrix in "Room Service". At 16 she started modeling and appeared in some music videos, such as "Anybody seen my baby" by The Rolling Stones.

In the mid 90's Angelina started with small films where she got good exposure, including "Hackers" and "Foxfire," and her fame increased with the made-for-TV movie "George Wallace," for which she won a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination. In 1998 she starred in HBO's "Gia" and won another Golden Globe award, another Emmy nomination, and a SAG Award.

Her major breaks were in 1999 in "The Bone Collector" with Denzel Washington, and in "Girl, Interrupted" opposite Winona Ryder. For "Girl" she won a Golden Globe, the SAG Award, and the Academy Award for best leading actress in a supporting role.

Angelina divorced her "Hackers" co-star Jonny Lee Miller, and in 2000 she married her Billy Bob Thornton.

She did "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" in 2001, with her father Jon Voight. One of the "Croft" filming sites was in Cambodia, and that's where she began visiting refugee camps around the world and came to be appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In 2002, Angelina adopted her son Maddox, born August 5, 2001 in Kandal, Cambodia and in 2005 she adopted her daughter Zahara, born January 8, 2005 in Awassa, Ethiopia. In 2004, she began filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith now hubby Brad Pitt. Her marriage to Billy Bob Thornton fell apart in 2002, and there were rumors that she and Brad had an affair while they were filming "Smith." Brad's divorce from Jennifer Aniston was finalized in late 2005. Earlier this year, Angelina and Brad announced that they were expecting, and their daughter Shiloh was born on May 27, 2006 in Namibia, Africa.

Here are a few other little facts about Angelina:

- She's left handed
- Her favorite color is black
- The name "Angelina" actually means "Pretty Little Angel Eyes" and "Jolie" in French means "pretty" or "lovely"
- She likes to watch King of the Hill, Animal Planet and The Game Show Network
- She is openly bisexual and once described herself as "most likely to sleep with a female fan"
- She used to have a pet lizard named Vladimir, and a snake named Harry Dean Stanton.
- Her nicknames include Angie, AJ, Jellybean, Catwoman and Bunny
- And her favorite fast food restaurant is McDonalds

Angelina's professional resume is just too extensive to list, so you can refer to the Resources for her accolades.