A pure visionary of female empowerment and elegance, the actress, mother, and humanitarian is one of the most admired celebrity women in the world. Angelina Jolie was born into Hollywood royalty to Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, but she didn’t always have it all. After her parents’ celebrity divorce in 1976, her teenage years were filled with depression and difficult relationships. Jolie and her father have had a troubled past but have since reconciled and have tried to rebuild their relationship.
In 1993, with her spirits set higher, she began her professional career in acting. It wasn’t until her performance in George Wallace in 1997 that she began to receive recognition. She became an international celebrity from her 2001 hit Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and also appeared in Original Sin, Life or Something Like It, Taking Lives, Shark Tale, and Alexander the Great. Most recently, she starred in Maleficent and stepped into the role of director with the film Unbroken.
In her personal life, after a few short-lived relationships and love, Angelina Jolie had a two-month celebrity marriage with Billy Bob Thornton in 2000. In 2005, she starred in Mr. & Mrs. Smith alongside now-husband Brad Pitt. She felt the wrath of the public when she began dating the actor and was known as a home-wrecker who caused his celebrity break-up with then-wife Jennifer Aniston. Despite their rocky start, the famous couple found happiness: After welcoming six children (three adopted and three biological) into their lives, they tied the knot in a private ceremony in France during the summer of 2014.
In 2013, the actress hit a somber bump in the road when she announced that she’d be undergoing a double mastectomy in hopes of preventing her high risk of getting breast cancer. Feeling it was necessary to take extreme measures because of family history and after the death of her beloved mother in 2007, she has inspired many women with her brave decision.
