Angelina Jolie: Past, Present and Future

Academy-Award winning actress, Angelina Jolie, will turn 35 on June 4, 2010, an age where starring roles for actresses often begin to decline, yet motherhood and being thirty-something has not slowed down her career. Even though Jolie is now the mother of 6 children, she is still in demand as an A list actress. The exotic beauty is currently filming "The Tourist" (201l) with Johnny Depp, and has more than a few projects in various stages of production.

Anything Angelina Jolie does (or doesn't do, as the case may be) will pop up in the media. People reported recently that Jolie and Brad Pitt designed a pair of diamond cufflinks for British jewelry house Asprey, as part of a collection featuring a serpent-inspired design. According to the report, "snakes were a symbolic guardian talisman during the actress's first pregnancy." The value of the 18k white gold cufflinks, encrusted with black diamonds and emeralds for the symbolic "snake eyes," retail for $10,000. To ordinary mortals, it all sounds highly extravagant, but the money from the sale of the cufflinks will go to a worthy cause: 100% of the net proceeds will go to the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict (EPCC), a charitable organization co-chaired by Angelina Jolie. The Protector Collection also includes pendants, bangle bracelets and earrings.

The charitable aspect of this endeavor is totally in character for the former wild child who has decided to live her life by spending 1/3 of her income, saving 1/3 and giving 1/3 away to charity. A far cry from the early days of her career when everything the "Girl Interrupted" (1999) star did seemed designed to shock us, like saying "I'm so in love with my brother right now" after her acceptance speech and then kissing her brother, James Haven, passionately on the mouth. She spoke frankly with the media about her bisexuality, her tattoos and her foray into self-mutilation: "You're young, you're drunk, you're in bed, you have knives; sh-t happens." In 2000, she married actor, Billy Bob Thornton, 20 years her senior. They got reciprocal tattoos and wore vials of each other's blood. Thornton had been engaged to actress, Laura Dern, which raised a few eyebrows, but Angelina and Billy Bob were given the stamp of approval. Their frequent PDAs amply demonstrated their passionate love and it all made much better headlines, especially when Angelina was named one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People in that same year.

Angelina was then tapped to star in "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" (2001), an action thriller she wasn't particularly interested in at first but one which would have a life-changing effect upon her. Witnessing the deprivation and suffering of refugees in Cambodia motivated the then 25-year-old actress to approach the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to offer her assistance. Angelina Jolie has worked with the agency ever since. Her journals of her field trips throughout Africa, Asia and South America are available to read on their website. In 2003, she was the first person to receive the Citizen of the World Award by the United Nations Correspondents Association. In 2005 she was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award by the United Nations Association of the USA and the Business Council for the United Nations for her work with refugees. She also was awarded Cambodian citizenship in 2005 for her extensive work in that country.

In between these honors, Angelina and Billy Bob Thornton divorced in 2003 and Maddox, the Cambodian refugee boy they adopted in 2002, stayed with Jolie. Rumors of an affair with her "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" married co-star Brad Pitt surfaced in 2005, but were initially denied. Brad Pitt, also one of People's 50 Most Beautiful People (1997) and twice named the "Sexiest Man Alive," and his actress wife, Jennifer Aniston, divorced all the same. Brad and Angelina became popularly known as "Brangelina." The scandal continues to be tabloid fodder whenever even the slightest opportunity presents itself. Brad Pitt adopted Maddox, and the Brangelina union produced 3 natural children, Shiloh, and twins, Knox and Vivienne. The couple also adopted two more children, Zahara from Ethiopia, and Pax from Vietnam. The latest rumors are that Angelina and Brad will finally tie the knot for the sake of their children, who all go by the surname Jolie-Pitt.

"The Tourist" with Johnny Depp is not due out until 2011. Jolie is also working on the animated film, "Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom" (2011), reprising her role as the voice of The Tigress. There's a rumor that she will also be the voice of Maleficent in a film with the same name due out in 2013, telling Snow White's story from the point of view of the wicked "Mistress of All Evil." This summer, Angelina will be playing a CIA officer named Evelyn Salt (see the trailer on IMDB). The film is due to be released on July 23, 2010.

Where will Angelina Jolie be in 10 years, at age 45? Will she still be with Brad Pitt? Will her children become actors? I don't have a crystal ball to answer any of those questions, but she is a woman in control of her life and finances. So it seems a pretty safe bet to say she will have the power to choose her own roles and projects for many years to come.

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