OVERALL LIFE:
Angelina Jolieo(June 4, 1975) is an American actress and director. She
has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three
Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by
Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian
causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR). She has been cited as the world's "most
beautiful" woman, a title for which she has received substantial media
attention.
Jolie made her screen debut
as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in Lookin' to Get Out (1982),
but her film career began in earnest a decade later with the low-budget
production Cyborg 2 (1993). Her first leading role in a major film was
in the cyber-thriller Hackers (1995). She starred in the critically
acclaimed biographical television films George Wallace (1997) and Gia
(1998), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her
performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999).
Jolie achieved wide fame
after her portrayal of video game heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb
Raider (2001), and established herself among the highest-paid actresses
in Hollywood with the sequel The Cradle of Life (2003).She reinforced
her reputation as a leading action star with Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
and Wanted (2008)—her biggest non-animated commercial successes to date
-and received further critical acclaim for her performances in the
dramas A Mighty Heart (2007) and Changeling (2008), which earned her a
nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Jolie made her
directorial debut with the wartime drama In the Land of Blood and Honey
(2011).
Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie now
lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship notable for fervent media
attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, and
Zahara, and three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.
1982; 1991–1997
When she was seven years old, Jolie had a small part in Lookin' to Get
Out (1982), a movie co-written by and starring her father, Jon Voight.
She committed to acting at the age of 16, but initially found it
difficult to pass auditions, often being told that she was "too
dark."[14] She appeared in five of her brother's student films, made
while he attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts, as well as in
several music videos, namely Lenny Kravitz's "Stand by My Woman" (1991),
Antonello Venditti's "Alta Marea" (1991), The Lemonheads's "It's About
Time" (1993), and Meat Loaf's "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through"
(1993). She began to learn from her father, as she noticed his method of
observing people to become like them. Their relationship during this
time was less strained, with Jolie realizing that they were both "drama
queens."
Jolie began her professional film career in 1993, when she played her
first leading role in the low-budget, straight-to-video science-fiction
sequel Cyborg 2, as Casella "Cash" Reese, a near-human robot, designed
to seduce her way into a rival manufacturer's headquarters and then
self-detonate. Jolie was so disappointed with the film that she did not
audition again for a year.Following a supporting role in the independent
film Without Evidence (1995), Jolie starred as Kate "Acid Burn" Libby
in her first Hollywood picture, Hackers (1995). The New York Times
wrote, "Kate (Angelina Jolie) stands out. That's because she scowls even
more sourly than [her co-stars] and is that rare female hacker who sits
intently at her keyboard in a see-through top. Despite her sullen
posturing, which is all this role requires, Ms. Jolie has the sweetly
cherubic looks of her father, Jon Voight."The movie failed to make a
profit at the box office, but developed a cult following after its video
release.
She next appeared in the 1996 comedy Love Is All There Is, a modern-day
loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set among two rival Italian family
restaurant owners in The Bronx, New York. In the road movie Mojave Moon
(1996) she played a young woman who falls for Danny Aiello's middle-aged
character, while he develops feelings for her mother, played by Anne
Archer. That same year, Jolie also portrayed Margret "Legs" Sadovsky,
one of five teenage girls who form an unlikely bond in the film Foxfire
after they beat up a teacher who has sexually harassed them. The Los
Angeles Times wrote about her performance, "It took a lot of hogwash to
develop this character, but Jolie, Jon Voight's knockout daughter, has
the presence to overcome the stereotype. Though the story is narrated by
Maddy, Legs is the subject and the catalyst."
In 1997, Jolie starred with David Duchovny in the thriller Playing God,
set in the Los Angeles underworld. The movie was not well-received by
critics; Roger Ebert noted that "Angelina Jolie finds a certain warmth
in a kind of role that is usually hard and aggressive; she seems too
nice to be [a criminal's] girlfriend, and maybe she is."She then
appeared in the television film True Women (1997), a historical romantic
drama set in the American West and based on the book by Janice Woods
Windle. That year, she also appeared as a stripper in the music video
for "Anybody Seen My Baby?" by the Rolling Stones.
1998–2000
Jolie's career prospects began to improve after she won a Golden Globe
Award for her performance in TNT's George Wallace (1997). She portrayed
Cornelia Wallace, the second wife of Alabama Governor George Wallace,
played by Gary Sinise. The film was very well-received by critics and
won, among other awards, the Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or
Television Film. Jolie also received an Emmy Award nomination for her
performance.
In 1998, Jolie starred in HBO's Gia, portraying supermodel Gia Carangi.
The film chronicled the destruction of Carangi's life and career as a
result of her addiction to heroin, and her decline and death from AIDS
in the mid-1980s. Vanessa Vance from Reel.com noted, "Angelina Jolie
gained wide recognition for her role as the titular Gia, and it's easy
to see why. Jolie is fierce in her portrayal—filling the part with
nerve, charm, and desperation—and her role in this film is quite
possibly the most beautiful train wreck ever filmed."For the second
consecutive year, Jolie won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for
an Emmy Award. She also won her first Screen Actors Guild Award.
In accordance with Lee Strasberg's method acting, Jolie preferred to
stay in character in between scenes during many of her early films, and
as a result had gained a reputation for being difficult to deal with.
While shooting Gia, she told her then-husband Jonny Lee Miller that she
would not be able to phone him: "I'd tell him: 'I'm alone; I'm dying;
I'm gay; I'm not going to see you for weeks.'"After Gia wrapped in 1997,
Jolie announced that she had given up acting for good, because she felt
that she had "nothing else to give."She separated from Miller and moved
to New York, where she enrolled at New York University to study
filmmaking and attend writing classes; she later described it as "just
good for me to collect myself."Encouraged by her Golden Globe Award win
for George Wallace and the positive critical reception of Gia, she
resumed her career.
Jolie returned to film in the 1998 gangster movie Hell's Kitchen. Later
that year, she appeared in Playing by Heart, part of an ensemble cast
that included Sean Connery, Gillian Anderson, Ryan Phillippe, and Jon
Stewart. The film received predominantly positive reviews, and Jolie was
praised in particular. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Jolie,
working through an overwritten part, is a sensation as the desperate
club crawler learning truths about what she's willing to gamble." Jolie
won the Breakthrough Performance Award from the National Board of Review
of Motion Pictures.
In 1999, she starred in the comedy-drama Pushing Tin, alongside John
Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. The film received a
mixed reception from critics, and Jolie's character—Thornton's seductive
wife—was particularly criticized. The Washington Post wrote, "Mary
(Angelina Jolie) [is] a completely ludicrous writer's creation of a
free-spirited woman who weeps over hibiscus plants that die, wears lots
of turquoise rings and gets real lonely when Russell spends entire
nights away from home."She then co-starred with Denzel Washington in The
Bone Collector (1999), an adaptation of a crime novel by Jeffery
Deaver. Jolie played a police officer haunted by her cop father's
suicide, who reluctantly helps Washington track down a serial killer.
The movie grossed $151 million worldwide,but was a critical failure. The
Detroit Free Press concluded, "Jolie, while always delicious to look
at, is simply and woefully miscast."
"Jolie is emerging as one of the great wild spirits of current movies, a loose cannon who somehow has deadly aim."
—Roger Ebert on Jolie's performance in Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Jolie
next took the supporting role of the sociopathic Lisa Rowe in Girl,
Interrupted (1999), an adaptation of former mental patient Susanna
Kaysen's memoir of the same name. While Winona Ryder played the main
character in what was hoped to be a comeback for her, the film instead
marked Jolie's final breakthrough in Hollywood.She won her third Golden
Globe Award, her second Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Academy Award
for Best Supporting Actress. Variety noted, "Jolie is excellent as the
flamboyant, irresponsible girl who turns out to be far more instrumental
than the doctors in Susanna's rehabilitation".
In 2000, Jolie appeared in
her first summer blockbuster, Gone In 60 Seconds, in which she played
Sarah "Sway" Wayland, the ex-girlfriend of car thief Nicolas Cage. The
role was small, and The Washington Post criticized that "all she does in
this movie is stand around, cooling down, modeling those fleshy,
pulsating muscle-tubes that nest so provocatively around her teeth."She
later explained that the film had been a welcome relief after the
emotionally heavy role of Lisa Rowe. It became her highest grossing
movie up until then, earning $237 million internationally.
Although highly regarded for her acting abilities, Jolie's films to date
had often not appealed to a wide audience, but Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
(2001) made her an international superstar. An adaptation of the popular
Tomb Raider videogame, Jolie was required to learn a British accent and
undergo extensive martial arts training to play the title role of Lara
Croft. She was generally praised for her physical performance, but the
movie generated mostly negative reviews. Slant commented, "Angelina
Jolie was born to play Lara Croft but [director] Simon West makes her
journey into a game of Frogger."The movie was an international success
nonetheless, earning $275 million worldwide,and launched her global
reputation as a female action star.
Jolie then starred opposite Antonio Banderas as his mail-order bride in
Original Sin (2001), a thriller based on the novel Waltz into Darkness
by Cornell Woolrich. The film was a major critical failure, with The New
York Times noting, "The story plunges more precipitously than Ms.
Jolie's neckline."In 2002, she starred in Life or Something Like It as
an ambitious television reporter who is told that she will die in a
week. The film was poorly received by critics, though Jolie's
performance received positive reviews. CNN's Paul Clinton wrote, "Jolie
is excellent in her role. Despite some of the ludicrous plot points in
the middle of the film, this Academy Award-winning actress is
exceedingly believable in her journey towards self-discovery and the
true meaning of fulfilling life."
Jolie reprised her role as
Lara Croft in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003), which
established her among Hollywood's highest-paid actresses.The sequel was
not as lucrative as the original, earning $156 million at the
international box office.She appeared in the music video for Korn's "Did
My Time," which was used to promote the film. She next starred in
Beyond Borders (2003), as a socialite who joins aid workers in Africa
and Asia. The film reflected Jolie's real-life interest in promoting
humanitarian relief, but it was critically and financially unsuccessful.
The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Jolie, as she did in her Oscar-winning
role in Girl, Interrupted, can bring electricity and believability to
roles that have a reality she can understand. She can also, witness the
Lara Croft films, do acknowledged cartoons. But the limbo of a hybrid
character, a badly written cardboard person in a fly-infested,
blood-and-guts world, completely defeats her."
In 2004, Jolie starred alongside Ethan Hawke in the thriller Taking
Lives. She portrayed an FBI profiler summoned to help Montreal law
enforcement hunt down a serial killer. The movie received mixed reviews
and The Hollywood Reporter concluded, "Angelina Jolie plays a role that
definitely feels like something she has already done, but she does add
an unmistakable dash of excitement and glamour."She also provided the
voice of the angelfish Lola in the DreamWorks animated movie Shark Tale
(2004), and had a brief appearance in Sky Captain and the World of
Tomorrow (2004), a science fiction adventure film shot entirely with
actors in front of a bluescreen. That same year, Jolie played Olympias
in Alexander, about the life of Alexander the Great. The film failed
domestically, which director Oliver Stone attributed to disapproval of
the depiction of Alexander's bisexuality,but it succeeded
internationally, with revenue of $139 million outside the United States.
Jolie then starred opposite
Brad Pitt in the 2005 action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which tells
the story of a bored married couple, John and Jane Smith, who find out
that they are both secret assassins. The film received mixed reviews,
but was generally lauded for the chemistry between the two leads. The
Star Tribune noted, "While the story feels haphazard, the movie gets by
on gregarious charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear
screen chemistry."The movie earned $478 million worldwide, making it the
seventh-highest grossing film of 2005.
Jolie next appeared in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd (2006), a film
about the early history of the CIA, as seen through the eyes of Edward
Wilson, an officer based on James Jesus Angleton and played by Matt
Damon. Jolie played the supporting role of Margaret "Clover" Russell,
Wilson's neglected wife. According to the Chicago Tribune, "Jolie ages
convincingly throughout, and is blithely unconcerned with how her
brittle character is coming off in terms of audience sympathy."
In 2007, Jolie made her
directorial debut with the documentary A Place in Time, which captures
daily life in 27 locations around the world during a single week. The
film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and was intended for
distribution to high schools through the National Education
Association.Jolie then starred as Mariane Pearl in the documentary-style
drama A Mighty Heart (2007). Based on Pearl's memoir of the same name,
the film chronicles the kidnapping and murder of her husband, The Wall
Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, in Pakistan. The Hollywood
Reporter described Jolie's performance as "well-measured and moving,"
played "with respect and a firm grasp on a difficult accent."Jolie was
nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for
her performance. She also played Grendel's mother in the animated epic
Beowulf (2007), which was created through the motion capture technique.
Jolie co-starred alongside
James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman in the 2008 action movie Wanted, an
adaptation of Mark Millar's graphic novel of the same name. The film
received predominately favorable reviews and proved an international
success, earning $342 million worldwide.She also provided the voice of
Master Tigress in the DreamWorks animated movie Kung Fu Panda (2008).
With revenue of $632 million internationally, it became the
third-highest grossing film of 2008.That same year, Jolie took on the
lead role in Clint Eastwood's drama Changeling.Based in part on the
Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, the film stars Jolie as Christine
Collins, who is reunited with her kidnapped son in 1928 Los Angeles—only
to realize the boy is an impostor. The Chicago Tribune noted, "Jolie
really shines in the calm before the storm, the scenes . when one
patronizing male authority figure after another belittles her at their
peril." Jolie received nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe
Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award.
Jolie next starred in the
2010 thriller Salt, her first film in two years. She starred alongside
Liev Schreiber as CIA agent Evelyn Salt, who goes on the run after she
is accused of being a KGB sleeper agent. Originally written as male, the
character Salt underwent a gender change after a Colombia Pictures
executive suggested Jolie for the role to director Phillip Noyce. The
film was an international success with revenue of $294 million.It
received mixed to positive reviews, with Jolie's performance earning
praise; Empire remarked, "When it comes to selling incredible, crazy,
death-defying antics, Jolie has few peers in the action business."She
also starred opposite Johnny Depp in The Tourist (2010), which was a
major critical failure. Peter Travers wrote, "Depp and Jolie hit career
lows, producing the chemistry of high-fashion zombies." After a slow
start at the domestic box office, the film went on to gross $278 million
worldwide. Jolie received a controversial Golden Globe Award
nomination, which was speculated to have been given merely to ensure her
high-profile presence at the awards ceremony.
In 2011, Jolie reprised her
voice role as Master Tigress in the animated DreamWorks sequel Kung Fu
Panda 2. It became the fourth-highest grossing film of 2011 and Jolie's
highest grossing film to date, earning $663 million at the international
box office. She also made her directorial feature debut with In the
Land of Blood and Honey (2011), a love story between a Serb soldier and a
Bosniak prisoner of war, set during the 1992-95 Bosnian War. Jolie, who
had twice visited Bosnia-Herzegovina in her capacity as a UNHCR
Goodwill Ambassador, explained that she made the film to rekindle
attention for the survivors of a war that took place in recent history.
Prior to production in Sarajevo, however, the filming permit was briefly
revoked in response to protests from the Association of Women Victims
of War, over unfounded rumors that Jolie's script was about a rape
victim who falls in love with her rapist.When Jolie presented the
finished film to an audience assembled by Bosnian war-victims advocacy
organizations, the response was "overwhelmingly positive."
Jessica Marie Alba (born April 28, 1981) is an American television and film
actress. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in Camp
Nowhere and The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994). Alba rose to prominence as
the lead actress in the television series Dark Angel (2000–2002).Alba later
appeared in various films including Honey (2003), Sin City (2005), Fantastic
Four (2005), Into the Blue (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
and Good Luck Chuck both in 2007.
Alba has been well-received in popular culture. She received the Teen
Choice Award for Choice Actress and Saturn Award for Best Actress for her role
in Dark Angel. In 2006, Alba received an MTV Movie Award for "Sexiest
Performance" for Sin City. Her acting has also drawn criticism, however,
as she was nominated for a 2007 Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her
performances in Awake, Good Luck Chuck, and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver
Surfer. She was also nominated for the same award in 2005 for her performances
in Fantastic Four and Into the Blue.
