*Update as of 8/28/14. Brad and Angelina have gotten married! Hollywood’s most notable couple finally tied the knot in Chateau Miraval, France. The wedding was small and attended only by family and friends.
Born on December 18, 1963 to a trucking firm owner father and a school counselor mother, William Bradley Pitt was raised in Springfield, Missouri and had an interest in speech and forensics in high school. He was a journalism major at the University of Missouri, but decided to quit and try his hand as a movie star in Hollywood.
His road to stardom began with 14 minutes of screen time in the 1990’s hit film, Thelma and Louise. Three years later he was working alongside Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire. He exploded on the scene at that point. The next few years saw Pitt starring in Twelve Monkeys (which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor), Legends of the Fall, Se7en, and deemed 1994’s Sexiest Man Alive by People Magazine. He met and soon became engaged to his co-star Gwyneth Paltrow while making Se7en. But this engagement would last for two and half years before it was officially called off.
Two of the biggest names in Hollywood in the ‘90s were Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. It didn’t take long before the two married. It lasted four and a half years, but due to various reasons—including a budding attraction to Mr. and Mrs. Smith co-star, Angelina Jolie—Brad and Jennifer called it quits.
On his impending divorce to Jennifer Aniston—“The thing I don’t understand is looking at this as a failure. It’s talked about like it failed, I guess because it wasn’t flawless. Me, I embrace the messiness of life. I find it so beautiful, actually.”—Brad Pitt
What kind of woman could steal away the only two-time winner of Sexiest Man Alive from a beautiful and Emmy-nominated Aniston?
Angelina Jolie, whose name literally translates in French to “Pretty,” was all the woman needed to capture Pitt’s heart. The two met during the filming of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and while both denied having any extra-marital attraction during the filming, Pitt and Jolie announced their partnership soon after the film’s debut.
Jolie’s sexiness couldn’t be denied. With her trademark lips and tattoo-covered arms, she is Hollywood’s classic “bad girl.” But she wasn’t just a pretty face, she had been studying to be an actress since she joined the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute at 14 years old. She was nominated for her own Best Actress award for her performance in Girl, Interrupted in 1999. She is the daughter of film legend John Voight and despite legendary riffs between the two, has recently made amends with her talented father. Her love life before Pitt included brief marriages to actor Johnny Lee Miller and shortly after, Billy Bob Thornton. Jolie and Thornton announced the adoption of a son from Cambodia in March 2002, but abruptly separated three months later.
On Brad Pitt– (He made me)” a better person. I’ve learned so much from him, as you do when you come together with another person. You both make each other better. You both learn about the best of each other, and recognize the things where you’re failing, or where you need to step up. When it’s a great partnership, you really are patient with each other.”—Angelina Jolie
Jolie adopted a daughter, six-month-old Zahara Marley, from an orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on July 6, 2005. Shortly after she and Brad became a couple, Pitt requested to adopt these children as well, and to reflect this, Jolie filed a request to legally change her children’s surnames from Jolie to Jolie-Pitt. Pitt and Jolie announced the birth of their own child, Shilohin 2006. They would go on to adopt one more child, and give birth to a set of twins, bringing the grand total of kids to six for the happy couple. Despite having so many little ones running around, Pitt and Jolie have plenty of room. They have a $1.7 million dollar estate in Los Feliz, CA as well has homes in New Orleans and the south of France. The multiple homes allow them to get away from the Hollywood limelight and to concentrate on relief efforts in New Orleans and their humanity efforts in Africa. Jolie devotes one third of her income to savings, one third to living expenses and one third to charity. But this doesn’t mean they take all their time away from the cameras. Jolie has five films scheduled to be released within the next two years, while Pitt just released the mega-grossing film, World War Z.
Pitt and Jolie are THE Hollywood power couple and their wealth and fame are recognized world wide. The work they do in Hollywood and the work they do to support causes throughout the world, should keep this couple active and inspiring to audiences for a long time to come.
On Angelina Jolie—“One of the greatest, smartest things I ever did was give my kids Angie as their mom. She is such a great mom. Oh, man, I’m so happy to have her.”—Brad Pitt
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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are now starring in the new film By The Sea. Read about it Here.
