Angelina Jolie Biography

Angelina Jolie Biography

With her long legs, ample bee-stung lips and striking deep-set blue eyes, Angelina Jolie may have been destined for screen stardom even without the benefit of her acting lineage or her considerable talent. The daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, she began studying acting at age 11 at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute in NYC. Even before commencing her formal training, Jolie made her screen debut as a tyke in a bit part in the Hal Ashby-directed comedy "Lookin' to Get Out" (filmed in 1980; released 1982). Co-scripted and co-produced by her father, the movie was savaged by reviewers but its littlest thespian emerged unscathed.

Abandoning her youthful plans to become a funeral director, Jolie segued to show business as a professional model and actress in music videos. She went on to appear in five student films directed by her older brother, James Haven Voight, and as part of the Met Theater in Los Angeles honed her craft alongside such veteran players as Holly Hunter, Ed Harris and Amy Madigan. Jolie returned to the screen in "Cyborg II: Glass Shadows" (1993), a better than average direct-to-video sci-fi actioner in which she played a heroic human-machine hybrid but garnered more attention and better notices in the cyber-thriller "Hackers" (1995). Playing Kate (a.k.a. 'Acid Burn'), she was paired with rising young British actor Jonny Lee Miller as teen computer whizzes battling an evil genius. The film fizzled at the box office but the romantic leads sizzled and were briefly married from 1996 to 1999.

More film work readily followed, initially in small-scale character-driven indies including an indifferently received adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' novel "Foxfire" (1996), where she played a mysterious outsider named Legs Sadovsky--described in Variety as "sort of a female James Dean"--who helps some other teenaged girls stand up for their rights. Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna's romantic comedy-drama "Love Is All There Is" (also 1996) displayed Jolie in a humorous and innocent light as half of a pair of star-crossed lovers divided by their families' feud. That same year, she appeared in the high-minded suspense drama "Without Evidence", playing a drug-addicted teen, and "Mojave Moon", opposite car dealer Danny Aiello as what Variety called "a male fantasy figure who rapidly alternates between nymphomaniac and ice maiden". "Playing God" (1997) was next, and Jolie capably essayed a woman torn between her gangster boyfriend (Timothy Hutton) and a discredited doctor (David Duchovny) in his employ. While the films remained unseen by most moviegoers, Jolie received strong notices for each of these projects.

As with many performers, Jolie had no compunction about working on the small screen and, in fact, has appeared in a handful of exceptional productions, including a co-starring role alongside Annabeth Gish and Dana Delany as Texas pioneers in the 1997 CBS historical miniseries "True Women". Jolie then brought a fiery passion to her portrayal of Cornelia Wallace, the politician's first wife, in the biographical miniseries "George Wallace" (TNT, 1997). But it was her dazzling turn as another real-life figure that catapulted her into public consciousness. Her brave, sensitive performance as the drug-addicted, AIDS-stricken model Gia Carangi in HBO's "Gia" (1998) brought her widespread critical acclaim. Jolie was twice Emmy-nominated in 1998 in the supporting category for "George Wallace" (losing to co-star Mare Winningham) and as in the leading one for "Gia" (losing to Ellen Barkin). She did, however, win back-to-back Golden Globe Awards for the performances.

After this spate of acclaimed appearances in highly-rated television productions, Jolie found her way to roles in films that similarly showcased her acting strength. She received special notice for her work in the comedy-drama "Playing By Heart" (1998), as Joan, an outgoing club kid smitten with the sullen Keenan (Ryan Phillippe). Vivid and engaging, Jolie easily held her own among an ensemble cast featuring such luminaries as Gena Rowlands and Sean Connery. The actress joined John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton in Mike Newell's NYC-set comedy about air traffic controllers, "Pushing Tin" (1999), playing Thornton's raucous wife, and played a tough detective assisting a quadriplegic colleague (Denzel Washington) in the search for a serial killer in the crime thriller "The Bone Collector". Jolie rounded out the year landing the sought after co-starring role of a sociopathic inmate in a psychiatric hospital in "Girl, Interrupted", based on Susanna Kaysen's best-selling memoir of her own two-year stay in a similar institution. Her showy co-starring turn netted her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. The actress continued portraying tough young women, this time a car thief, in the flashy "Gone in 60 Seconds" (2000) and as the flesh and blood embodiment of the titular video game action figure "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" (2001).

Academy Award and three time Golden Globe winner Angelina Jolie is proving to be one of Hollywood’s most talented leading actresses. Jolie most recently starred in the title role in the action adventure "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life," the sequel to the 2001 box-office smash, and starred as a devoted relief worker for the United Nations in the provocative drama "Beyond Borders."

Jolie’s portrayal of a mental patient in "Girl, Interrupted" garnered an Academy Award, her third Golden Globe Award, a Broadcast Film Critics Award, ShoWest’s “Supporting Actress of the Year,” and a Screen Actors Guild Award for “Best Supporting Actress.” The film, based on the true story by Susanna Kayson, was directed by James Mangold and co-starred Winona Ryder.

The HBO film "Gia" earned Jolie critical praise as well as a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of the supermodel who died of AIDS. She also received an Emmy nomination for her role opposite Gary Sinise in director John Frankenheimer’s "George Wallace," a period epic for TNT about the controversial Governor from Alabama. The film earned Jolie her first Golden Globe Award and a Cable Ace nomination for her portrayal of George Wallace’s second wife, Cornelia.

Jolie recently wrapped production on a number of projects including the action/adventure "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" with Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow, and Oliver Stone’s epic "Alexander." She is currently working on "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," co-starring with Brad Pitt, and will lend her voice to the animated feature "Shark Tale," directed by the creators of Shrek and also featuring the voices of Will Smith, Robert De Niro and Jack Black. A member of the famed MET Theatre Ensemble Workshop, Jolie trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and has also studied with Jan Tarrant in New York and Silvana Gallardo in Los Angeles.

Awards :

1997 Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award.

She won her second Golden Globe for her role as model Gia Carangi in HBO's biopic Gia.

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