Thursday, January 28, 2010

Biography for Ben Kingsley


Date of Birth
31 December 1943, Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, UK

Birth Name
Krishna Bhanji

Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)

Spouse
Daniela Lavender     (3 September 2007 - present)
Alexandra Christmann     (3 October 2003 - 8 February 2005) (divorced)
Alison Sutcliffe     (1 July 1978 - 1 February 1992) (divorced) 2 children
Angela Morant     (1966 - 1972) (divorced) 2 children

Trivia
Educated at Manchester Grammar School.

Son of a GP.
Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the New Year's Eve Honors List 2001.

Derived his stage name from his grandfather's nickname, "Clove King." His grandfather was a spice trader in Zanzibar.

Is of half Indian and half English descent. His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was a Kenyan-born physician of Indian descent while his mother, Anna Lyna Mary Bhanji, was an English-born fashion model of Jewish-European extraction.

Ben Kingsley's paternal family was from the Indian state of Gujarat, the same state Mahatma Gandhi was from.

He has four children: Jasmine and Thomas Kingsley, with Angela Morant; and Edmund Kingsley and Ferdinand Kingsley, with Alison Sutcliffe.

Made his London stage debut in 1966 as the narrator of "A Smashing Day" produced by The Beatles manager, Brian Epstein. He wrote the music for the production as well as sang and played guitar for same. After one performance, John Lennon and Ringo Starr came backstage and told him that he should go into music and that if he didn't, "he would regret it for the rest of his life." He was subsequently offered a deal by the same publishers who handled The Beatles, but he chose to remain an actor. The next year, he was invited to join the Royal Shakespeare Company and his choice was made.

Was listed as a potential nominee on both the 2005 and 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballots. He was suggested in the Worst Supporting Actor category on the 2005 ballot for his role in the film Thunderbirds (2004). And he was suggested again the next year in the Worst Supporting Actor category of the 2006 Razzie nominating ballot for his performance in the film A Sound of Thunder (2005). He failed to receive either nomination. The very next year (2007) though, he got a Worst Supporting Actor Razzie Nomination for his performance in the film BloodRayne (2005).

Head of jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1998

Was originally cast as Ephraim in Munich (2005), but later had to withdraw from the project due to scheduling conflicts.

His performance as Don Logan in Sexy Beast (2000) is ranked #97 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Has three films on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time: Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) at #96, Gandhi (1982) at #29, and Schindler's List (1993) at #3.

At the age of ten he went busking outside a cinema in Llanelli, South Wales, with his friend Shirley Edwards.

Married his fourth wife Daniela Lavender at a country house in North Leigh in Oxfordshire in September 2007.

One of eight actors of Asian descent nominated for an Academy Award in an acting category. The others are Miyoshi Umeki, Sessue Hayakawa, Mako, Haing S. Ngor, Pat Morita, Ken Watanabe, and Rinko Kikuchi.

The initials of his professional name are a reversal of the initials of his birth name.

Personal Quotes

In an ideal way, in an ideal world, myself and the director are one. And as you rightly say, in an ideal world, you can't see the horizon between sky and sea. I felt that the times with Spielberg [Steven Spielberg] on Schindler's List (1993), we were moving as one creature.

on Winning the Oscar for Best Actor in Gandhi (1982): "If I knew I was going to win, I would not have gone dressed as a waiter."

"As an actor there's no autonomy, unless you're prepared to risk the possibility of starving."

"Hopefully, as I get older in the business, I make my choices more accurately, and I perhaps know from either the script or the first meeting that it isn't going to work."

All the great writers root their characters in true human behavior.

As a singer, I might have fallen among thieves. I wonder if I'd still be alive by now.

"Being a leading man on a film set under the direction of somebody like Dickie Attenborough [Richard Attenborough, director of Gandhi (1982)] is very empowering, and you have to be extremely careful how you use that power."

But comedy I'd love to do as much as humanly possible.

[about the holocaust] It's like a big, hulking monster squatting in the middle of our history and it won't go away.

About actress Aishwarya Rai: "It was a pleasure working with Aishwarya in The Last Legion (2007), and her fans are in for a big surprise. She is an excellent and outstanding actor. She is a shining example of beauty from India, and I'm sure we will be seeing her in more Hollywood movies real soon " (August, 2006)


Big B & Ben Kingsley play Teen Patti for their lives

The cards have been dealt and the players get ready for the game of their lives, as one of 2010’s most hyped and anticipated films, Teen Patti, releases in cinemas across UK and worldwide on 26th February 2009.

Presented by Serendipity Films, Teen Patti is a slick thriller that will draw audiences into an inescapable web of intrigue and suspense. The film unites respective acting heavyweights – Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley and godfather of Indian cinema Amitabh Bachchan – in a cinematic tour de force that is sure to win the praise of critics and audiences alike.

Set in both India and England, Teen Patti is an emotionally riveting and razor sharp thriller about greed, deception and giant feats of the imagination. Relayed against the backdrop of modern India, Teen Patti is one of the most fascinating new films to emerge from Asia.

Source: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001426/

Friday, January 15, 2010

Biography for Tom Cruise


Date of Birth
3 July 1962, Syracuse, New York, USA

Birth Name
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV

Height
5' 7" (1.70 m)

Mini Biography

In 1976, if you had told 14 year old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be considered one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to become a priest. Nonetheless, this sensitive, deeply religious youngster who was born in 1962 in Syracuse, New York, was destined to become Tom Cruise, one of the highest paid and most sought after actors in screen history. The only son (among four children) of nomadic parents young Tom spent his boyhood eternally on the move and by the time he was 14 he had attended 15 different schools in the US and Canada. He finally settled in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, with his mother and her new husband. While in high school, he developed an interest in acting and abandoned his plans of becoming a priest, dropped out of school, and at age 18 headed for New York and a possible acting career. The next 15 years of his life are the stuff of legends. He made his film debut with a small part in Endless Love (1981) and from the outset exhibited an undeniable box office appeal to both male and female audiences.

Though below average height and not particularly handsome in the traditional sense, within 5 years Tom Cruise was starring in some of the top grossing films of the 1980s including Top Gun (1986); The Color of Money (1986), Rain Man (1988) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989). By the 1990s he was one of the highest paid actors in the world earning an average 15 million dollars a picture in such blockbuster hits as Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996) and Jerry Maguire (1996) - for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for best actor. In 1990 he renounced his devout Catholic beliefs and embraced The Church Of Scientology claiming that Scientology teachings had cured him of the dyslexia that had plagued him all of his life. A kind and thoughful man well known for his compassion and generosity, Tom Cruise is one of the best liked members of the movie community. He was married to actress Nicole Kidman until 2001. Thomas Cruise Mapother IV has indeed come a long way from the lonely wanderings of his youth.


Personal Quotes

The thing about filmmaking is I give it everything, that's why I work so hard. I always tell young actors to take charge. It's not that hard. Sign your own checks, be responsible.

[to Jay Leno regarding his topless Vanity Fair cover shoot] I don't drink but I had a beer that night and they only did one setup like that. I'm a cheap date. What can I say?

[about Eyes Wide Shut (1999)] We knew from the beginning the level of commitment needed. We felt honored to work with Stanley Kubrick. We were going to do what it took to do this picture, whatever time, because I felt - and Nic [Nicole Kidman] did, too - that this was going to be a really special time for us. We knew it would be difficult. But I would have absolutely kicked myself if I hadn't done this.

I have cooked turkeys in my day but when Mom's around I let her do it.

I was 18 when I saw Akira Kurosawa's Shichinin no samurai (1954). After about 30 seconds, I realized that this was not just a cultural thing, it was universal. Years later, I read Bushido. It talked about many things that I strive for in my own life: loyalty, compassion, responsibility, the idea of looking back on your life and taking responsibility for everything you've ever done. I'm fascinated by the samurai and the samurai code - it's one of the main reasons I wanted to make The Last Samurai (2003).

Awards are wonderful. I've been nominated many times and I've won many awards. But my journey is not towards that. If it happens it will be a blast. If it doesn't, it's still been a blast.

I believe in life. I know that life comes in at your heart and it doesn't matter if you're an actor, a filmmaker or a gentleman on the street, it comes at you. What Scientology gives me is the tools to deal with that, to better enjoy my life and to be able to contribute more.

[on his role as the hit man in Collateral (2004)] I've never played a character like this before. Vincent interested me because he is such an anti-social personality, bringing destruction and chaos with him wherever he goes. He's a force of nature.

I remember getting through high school and thinking, "Boy, I'm glad I got that behind me!" Then, when I was 19, I got Risky Business (1983), and I realized, "Ah, so this is life - it's a little bigger than I thought!"


Trivia

Cousin of actor William Mapother and Amy Mapother.

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#41) (1995).

Ranked #3 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list (October 1997).

Chosen by "People" magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world (1997).

Voted Best Dressed Male Movie Star (1997).

Stopped to help a hit and run victim and paid her hospital bills. The victim was aspiring Brazilian actress Heloisa Vinhas (1996).

Caused a stir in the medical community when he claimed, in an interview, that Scientology cured him of his dyslexia (1992).

While he was working with Paul Newman in the The Color of Money (1986), he engaged in much conversation with the politically active actor. The resulting conscious raising changed him from an actor who ignored the jingoistic tone of Top Gun (1986) to a performer who chose a film with a strong anti-war tone, Born on the Fourth of July (1989) to counter his contribution to the former film.

Has three sisters: Marian, Lee Anne De Vette and Cass. Lee Anne became his publicist in 2004 after he left Pat Kingsley.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world (1991).

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world (1990).

Graduated from Glen Ridge High School in New Jersey (June 1980).

At age 14, he enrolled in a seminary to become a priest. He dropped out after one year.

He took up acting after losing his place on a high school wrestling team due to a knee injury.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Biography for Leonardo DiCaprio



Date of Birth

11 November 1974, Hollywood, California, USA

Birth Name
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio
Nickname
Leo
Lenny D

Height
6' (1.83 m)

Mini Biography

His name allegedly derives from his German mother Irmalin's having experienced a sudden kick from her unborn boy while enjoying a DaVinci painting at the Uffizi. In the year following his birth, she and his Italian father, George, were divorced. He grew up in Echo Park, then a particularly seedy, drug-dominated area of Los Angeles. At five he appeared on his favorite TV show "Romper Room" (1953) and was nearly thrown off for misbehaving. After a string of commercials, educational films ("Mickey's Safety Club"), occasional parts in TV series, a debut film role as Josh in Critters 3 (1991), a continuing role as the homeless boy Luke in the TV series "Growing Pains" (1985), he got his break-through part as Toby in This Boy's Life (1993), co-starring with Robert De Niro and Ellen Barkin.

The part led the New York Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics to name him runner-up for Best Supporting Actor. His first Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations came for the difficult role of Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). Equally challenging parts were a drug-troubled Jim Carroll in The Basketball Diaries (1995), the tormented homosexual poet Rimbaud in Total Eclipse (1995), and the angry teenage son of a harried mother in Marvin's Room (1996). He made a major impact with his starring role in a very updated Romeo + Juliet (1996). Superstardom came to DiCaprio playing Jack Dawson in Titanic (1997), highest grossing film ever, tied with Ben-Hur (1959) for most Academy Awards, though Leo himself was not nominated. His performance in the remake of The Man in the Iron Mask (1998/I) was poorly received, but the film still turned a profit. His next major film, The Beach (2000/I), was not a success, but he made another comeback in Catch Me If You Can (2002) and remains an A-list star.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan <>

Trivia

While filming The Beach (2000/I) off the coast of Thailand, Leonardo and others were swept off a camera boat by strong winds and waves. No one was injured. [16 April 1999]

His first publicity spot was about MILK.

Sues Playgirl magazine over plans to publish pictures --including full frontal nudity -- of himself. [March 1998]

Ranked #75 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997]

Chosen by People Magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." [1997]

Was considering starring in a movie about actor James Dean but turned down the role because he felt he wasn't experienced enough to do the film. [1996]

Screen tested for the part of Robin in Batman Forever (1995).

When five years old, he was in an educational TV program, called "Romper Room" (1953) and was nearly kicked off for uncontrollable behavior.

Chosen by People Magazine as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World." [1998]

Attended John Marshall High School in Los Angeles, California.

Has a stepbrother, Adam Farrar.

He and his family funded a state-of-the-art computer center at the Los Feliz branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, which was rebuilt after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

A Manhattan appeals court decided to go ahead with a $45 million lawsuit against DiCaprio by actor and screenwriter Roger Wilson for allegedly encouraging his friends in a street fight with Wilson over advances DiCaprio's friends made toward Wilson's girlfriend, Elizabeth Berkley. [2000]

For More info please click here

2012 – End of the world Hollywood movie


2012 – End of the world is an upcoming American disaster science fiction Hollywood movie which is based on a Mayan belief that the world will end in 2012. It will be directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Woody Harrelson. The film will be distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film is scheduled to release on 13th November, 2009.

The film is inspired by the several hypotheses that state the ancient Mayans predicted a doomsday event will occur sometime around the 2012 winter solstice. According to the Mayan calendar, the world will come to an end on December 21, 2012.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Angelina Jolie biography


Date of Birth
4 June 1975, Los Angeles, California, USA

Birth Name
Angelina Jolie Voight

Nickname
Angie
Catwoman
Ange
AJ

Height
5' 8" (1.73 m)

Mini Biography

Growing up in Los Angeles, Jolie was no stranger to the film industry, being the daughter of Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight. She later trained and performed at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, where she was seen in several stage productions.

She worked as a professional model in London, New York and Los Angeles, and has also appeared in music videos for such artists as Meat Loaf, Lenny Kravitz, Antonello Venditti and The Lemonheads. In addition, she has acted in five student films for the USC School of Cinema, all directed by her brother, James Haven.
IMDb Mini Biography By: finityj

Mini Biography

Angelina Jolie is an Oscar-winning actress who has become popular by taking on the title role in the "Lara Croft" series of blockbuster movies. Off-screen, Jolie has become prominently involved in international charity projects, especially those involving refugees. She often appears on many "most beautiful women" lists, and she has a personal life that is avidly covered by the tabloid press.

In her earliest years, Angelina began absorbing the acting craft from her parents - her father is the Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight and her mother is Marcheline Bertrand, who had studied with Lee Strasberg. At age 11, Angelina began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. She undertook some film studies at New York University and later joined the renowned Met Theatre Group in Los Angeles. At age 16, she took up a career in modeling and appeared in some music videos. Her exotic good looks may derive from her mixed ancestry which is Czech, French-Canadian, Iroquois and English.

In the mid-1990s, Jolie appeared in various small films where she got good notices, including Hackers (1995) and Foxfire (1996). Her critical acclaim increased when she played strong roles in the made-for-TV movies True Women (1997) (TV), and in George Wallace (1997) (TV) which won her a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination. Jolie's acclaim increased even further when she played the lead role in the HBO production Gia (1998) (TV). This was the true life story of supermodel Gia Carangi, a sensitive wild child who was both brazen and needy and who had a difficult time handling professional success and the deaths of people who were close to her. Carangi became involved with drugs and because of her needle-using habits she became, at the tender age of 26, one of the first celebrities to die of AIDS. Jolie's performance in Gia (1998) (TV) again garnered a Golden Globe award and another Emmy nomination, and she additionally earned a SAG Award.

Angelina got a major break in 1999 when she won a leading role in the successful feature The Bone Collector (1999), starring alongside Denzel Washington. In that same year, Jolie gave a tour de force performance in Girl, Interrupted (1999) playing opposite Winona Ryder. The movie was a true story of women who spent time in a psychiatric hospital. Jolie's role was reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), the role which won Nicholson his first Oscar. Unlike "Cuckoo", "Girl" was a small film that received mixed reviews and barely made money at the box office. But when it came time to give out awards, Jolie won the triple crown -- "Girl" propelled her to win the Golden Globe, the SAG Award and the Academy Award for best leading actress in a supporting role.

With her new-found prominence, Jolie began to get in-depth attention from the press. Numerous aspects of her controversial personal life became news. At her wedding to her Hackers (1995) co-star Jonny Lee Miller, she had displayed her husband's name on the back of her shirt painted in her own blood. Jolie and Miller divorced and in 2000 she married her Pushing Tin (1999) co-star Billy Bob Thornton. Jolie had become the fifth wife of a man twenty years her senior. During her marriage to Thornton, the spouses each wore a vial of the other's blood around their necks. That marriage came apart in 2002 and ended in divorce. In addition, Jolie was estranged from her famous father, Jon Voight.

In 2000, Jolie was asked to star in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). At first, she expressed disinterest, but then decided that the required training for the athletic role was intriguing. The Croft character was drawn from a popular video game. Lara Croft was a female cross between Indiana Jones and James Bond. When the film was released, critics were unimpressed with the final product, but critical acclaim wasn't the point of the movie. The public paid $275 million for theater tickets to see a buffed up Jolie portray the adventuresome Lara Croft. Jolie's father Jon Voight appeared in "Croft", and during filming there was a brief rapprochement between father and daughter.

One of the Croft movie's filming locations was Cambodia. While there, Jolie witnessed the natural beauty, culture and poverty of that country. She considered this an eye opening experience, and so began the humanitarian chapter of her life. Jolie began visiting refugee camps around the world and came to be formally appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Some of her experiences were written and published in her popular book "Notes from My Travels" whose profits go to UNHCR.

Jolie has stated that she now plans to spend most of her time in humanitarian efforts, to be financed by her actress salary. She devotes one third of her income to savings, one third to living expenses and one third to charity. In 2002, Angelina adopted a Cambodian refugee boy named Maddox and in 2005 adopted an Ethiopian refugee girl named Zahara. Jolie's dramatic feature film Beyond Borders (2003) parallels some of her real life humanitarian experiences although, despite the inclusion of a romance between two westerners, many of the movie's images were too depressingly realistic -- the film was not popular among critics or at the box office.

In 2004, Jolie began filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) with co-star Brad Pitt. The film became a major box office success. There were rumors that Pitt and Jolie had an affair while filming "Smith". Jolie insisted that because her mother had been hurt by adultery, she herself could never participate in an affair with a married man, therefore there had been no affair with Pitt at that time. Nonetheless, Pitt separated from his wife Jennifer Aniston in January 2005 and, in the months that followed, he was frequently seen in public with Jolie, apparently as a couple. Pitt's divorce was finalized later in 2005.

Jolie and Pitt announced in early 2006 that they would have a child together, and Jolie gave birth to daughter Shiloh that May. They also adopted a three-year-old Vietnamese boy named Pax. The couple continues to pursue movie and humanitarian projects.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Roger Burns

Spouse
Billy Bob Thornton (5 May 2000 - 27 May 2003) (divorced)
Jonny Lee Miller (28 March 1996 - 3 February 1999) (divorced)

Trade Mark

Husky voice

Her full lips

Trivia

Niece of Chip Taylor.

One of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People." [2000]

She is extremely close to and protective of her brother James Haven. He often accompanies her to awards shows, and she used his name, or at least his memory, as inspiration in the "Where's Jamie?!" scene in Girl, Interrupted (1999).

Has the letter "H" tattooed on the inside of her left wrist, which is a reference to two people she is close to who have this letter in their names: her brother, James Haven, and Timothy Hutton. She got the tattoo when she was dating Timothy but since their break-up she now says it's only for James.

Has a tattoo of the Tennessee Williams quote, "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages." on her left forearm.

Was married to Jonny Lee Miller in a black leather pants and a white shirt. On the white shirt she painted her husband's name in her own blood (across the back).

Tattoos include the Japanese sign for death, two pointy black American Indian symbols, a dragon, and a large black cross.

Daughter of Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand.

Majored in film at New York University.

Collects knives and has an interest in mortuary science.

Angelina and her brother, to whom she is very close, publicly spoke out to deny false rumors that the two were having an incestuous love affair. [2000]

Had a childhood dream of becoming a funeral director.

Named the world's sexiest woman in Swedish magazine Café.

"Jolie" means "pretty" in French.

Goddaughter of actress Jacqueline Bisset.

Has the Latin phrase "Quod me nutrit me destruit" ("What nourishes me also destroys me") tattooed across her stomach.

Appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland after her visits to Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Pakistan. [27 August 2001]

Born at 9:09 AM PDT

"Introducing Angelina Jolie" in opening credits of Love Is All There Is (1996) suggests delayed release as Jolie already had at least two major screen roles by 1996.

She is of Czech and American descent on her father's side and French-Canadian and Haudenosaunee (Iroquian Indian) heritage on her mother's side.

She and Billy Bob Thornton adopted a Cambodian baby boy, named Maddox. Jolie took custody of the baby in Africa, where she was shooting Beyond Borders (2003). [10 March 2002]

Ranked #87 in Premiere's 2002 annual "Power 100" list.

In role as goodwill ambassador, visited Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand, May 2002, to check on conditions of 9,000 refugees from bordering Myanmar.

July 2002 - confirms break-up with actor Billy Bob Thornton.

Measurements (before pregnancy): 36C-27-36.

Announced in late 2002 that she is "in talks" to portray the late porn star Linda Lovelace. Eventually, she lost the role to Courtney Love.

Voted the 3rd Sexiest Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine September 2002.

Her adopted son, Maddox Jolie-Pitt, was born on August 5th, 2001 in Cambodia. His original name was Rath Vibol.

Her favorite Disney character is Dumbo the flying elephant, she has said that she cried when he was able to fly.

She is the woman most American males would like to date on New Year's Eve, according to a survey by movie rental chain Blockbuster Inc. Results of the survey showed her in the top spot with 35 percent of respondents saying she would be their number one pick for a hypothetical New Year's Eve candle-lit dinner. Rival star Catherine Zeta-Jones gained second spot in the online survey conducted by Blockbuster November 11-24, 2003. The survey had 31,969 responses.

Started modelling at the age of 14.

Was named "The sexiest woman alive" by the Swedish evening newspaper "Aftonbladet." [2003]

She was voted the ninth sexiest woman in FHM UK's top 100 sexiest in 2004.

Is planning to give up her acting career to settle in England with her son Maddox and become a full-time mum. She says she wants to "Quit movies, be a great mum to Maddox and join the Parents and Teachers Association".

Favorite music: Madonna, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, The Clash, Matchbox Twenty.

One of her favorite TV shows is "King of the Hill" (1997). She also enjoys the Game Show Network and Animal Planet.

She was voted #2 on VH1's "100 Hottest Hotties."

Graduated from Beverly Hills High School at age 16, the same school as Lenny Kravitz. She also went to school with Michael Klesic and Bahar Soomekh.

Ranked #6 in Stuff magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World." [2002]

Has said that she speaks "very little French".

Voted #1 star most men would like to kiss under the mistletoe in a poll for Sky Movies.

Used to own several pet reptiles, including two snakes. Therefore she had no problem shooting the snake scene in Alexander (2004).

Went to elementary school at William O. Schaefer School in Tappan, New York. She graduated from El Rodeo elementary school in 1989.

Her father starred with her godmother Jacqueline Bisset in Der Richter und sein Henker (1975), which was directed by her godfather Maximilian Schell.

Voted Hollywood's Sexiest Single Mother, in a poll for website Date.com.

Consulted with real-life FBI profiler Robert K. Ressler for her role in Taking Lives (2004).

In 2003 was first recipient of the Citizen of the World Award from the UN's Correspondents' Association for her work as a goodwill ambassador with the UNHCR.

July 6th 2005: adopted a baby girl (born on January 8th, 2005) from Ethiopia who was orphaned by AIDS.

She ranked #2 in 2000 on Mr. Blackwell (aka Richard Selzer)'s Worst Dressed List.

Named Esquire Magazine's Sexiest Woman Alive in 2004.

Named Most Beautiful Woman in People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People 2005 issue. More than 500,000 readers were polled.

In August, 2005 was made an official citizen of Cambodia by the King for her ongoing efforts to help the environment there.

Was nominated for Worst Actress at the Razzie Awards for four straight years from 2002 to 2005, but each time was beaten by another of her fellow nominees. She has still yet to "win" an award.

Performed her own stunts in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and received cuts from the chandelier scene as a result. She also set fire to her silk pajamas on the chandelier while she was doing her "bungee jumps" in the house. She was taken to a hospital with minor burns but resumed filming the next day.

Named #7 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2005 list.

Ranked #1 in E! Television's 2006 101 Sexiest Celebrity Bodies.

Gave her Oscar Statuette, Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and Critic Choice Award to her mother. She felt she didn't need to hang on to awards.

Her godfather Maximilian Schell always gave her a doll as a birthday present, from her first to sixteenth. Sometimes it was a modern doll, made of plastic, sometimes it was an old and precious one, made of wood or porcelain.

Gave her mother the nickname "Great Lady".

One of the first actresses to win 3 consecutive Golden Globes in 3 different categories: "Best Supporting Actress in a Mini Series": George Wallace (1997) (TV), "Best Actress in a TV Movie or Mini Series": Gia (1998) (TV), "Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture": Girl, Interrupted (1999). Coincidentally, all her roles were based on real people.

Ranked and Voted #3 by AskMen.com's Top 99 Most Desirable Women of 2006

Topped People magazine`s "100 most beautiful people" list in 2006 (28 April 2006).

Named #1 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005)

She and Brad Pitt welcomed daughter Shiloh Jolie-Pitt on May 27, 2006 in Namibia, Africa. The government in Namibia is offering citizenship to her new daughter.

Has tattoos of the coordinates representing the birth countries of each of her kids (she even has the coordinates of France tattooed on her arm twice, one each for Knox and Viv), which cover up the Billy Bob Thornton tattoo (June 2006).

Holds a Private Pilot Certificate with the Airplane, Single Engine, Land rating. This means that she is qualified to fly any single-engined aircraft based on land (i.e., no seaplanes) under visual flight rules only (i.e., no instrument qualifications yet so she cannot fly in conditions requiring instruments).

Has a fondness for Liverpool Football Club because her son Maddox "only wants to play for Liverpool".

She donated many items to Rocky Stone to be given to less fortunate kids as part of the Toy Mountain Campaign.

Was the cover girl for the much anticipated issue of Forbes Magazine, in which appeared the infamous Celebrity 100 list. [June 2006]

Named #4 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2006 list.

Became the third actress to join the coveted $20 Million Club (after Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz), when she signed to do Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) for that amount.

Fan of author Ayn Rand.

Named #2 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement. (2006).

Is left-handed and therefore had to have guns specially made so that she could reload them easily for Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001).

Her mother Marcheline Bertrand died from ovarian cancer in Los Angeles after a 7 1/2 year battle (27 January 2007).

She and Brad Pitt adopted a three-year-old Vietnamese boy, Pax Thien Jolie (born November 29, 2003), who was initially named Pham Quang Sang (15 March 2007). Pax had lived in the Tam Binh orphanage because he was found abandoned outside a Ho Chi Minh City hospital shortly after his birth. Since the orphanage does not allow unmarried couples to adopt, Jolie adopted Pax as a single parent, with Pitt later adopting his son domestically.

Chosen the greatest sex symbol of all time in the British television show "The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols" (February 2007).

Was on the "Time 100", a list of the world's 100 most influential people in the world by "Time" magazine, in 2006.

Ranked #12 on the Maxim magazine Hot 100 of 2007 list.

Is an alumna of the Lee Strasberg Institute as are Frank Miranda, Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Sally Field.

2007 - Ranked #33 on EW's The 50 Smartest People in Hollywood.

In 2007, Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year at $20 million.

In 2007, moved to New Orleans with Brad Pitt and their four children.

In 2006, after the birth of her daughter Shiloh, she sold the first pictures of her newborn for $4,100,000. She later donated the profits to charity.

Ranked #3 in the 2008 Forbes The Celebrity 100 list.

The first-ever male to hold Jolie in his arms was Charley Boorman. He'd earlier served as a pageboy at the wedding of Jolie's parents Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand during the Deliverance (1972) shoot, and later happened to be present during the delivery of Jolie. Boorman was just 8-years-old and Jolie was but an infant. Today (2008) Boorman quips that his epitaph should read: "I was the first man to get his hands on Angelina Jolie".

Gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl on July 12, 2008 in Nice, France around 8 PM via c-section. Knox Léon Jolie-Pitt weighed 5lbs 3 oz. and Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt weighed 5 lbs.

Was considered for the role of Kelly Kapowski on "Saved by the Bell" (1989).

Since becoming a Goodwill Ambassador in 2001, she has visited over 20 countries.

In an interview about her movie Changeling (2008), Angie revealed that although her mom's name was Marcheline, everyone called her "Marshmallow", because she was such a softie.

Went to Beverly Hills High School with writer/actor Quincy Rose and Antonia Bennett, the daughter of Tony Bennett.

Did not return to work until eight months after giving birth to twins Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon in order to begin filming Salt (2010).

In July 2009, she was voted in first place in a poll to find the 100 Greatest Sex Symbols for Britain's Channel 4. Elvis Presley was runner-up.

Personal Quotes

Therapy? I don't need that. The roles that I choose are my therapy.

Because I am a bad girl, people always automatically think that I am a bad girl. Or that I carry a dark secret with me or that I'm obsessed with death. The truth is that I am probably the least morbid person one can meet. If I think more about death than some other people, it is probably because I love life more than they do.

You're young, you're drunk, you're in bed, you have knives; shit happens.

And my dad, you're a great actor but you're a better father.

[On if she ever caught her husband Billy Bob Thornton cheating] I've told Billy if I ever caught him cheating, I wouldn't kill him because I love his children and they need a dad. But I would beat him up. I know where all of his sports injuries are. And I'd beat her, too!

I'll make it real simple, I'm a 36-C. In the game, she's a double-D. In the movie [Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)] she's a D. We split the difference . . . [Lara] is much more athletic, and she has smaller breasts, but she's still Lara Croft, so there.

I seem to be getting a lot of things pushed my way that are strong women. It's like people see Hackers (1995) and they send me offers to play tough women with guns, the kind who wear no bra and a little tank top. I'd like to play strong women who are also very feminine.

I'd like to believe that the people that have supported me in my work or identified with me in films, the people that feel they know me, they do and they don't have misconceptions - they understand. I believe that.

[on her split from husband Billy Bob Thornton] I'm angry. I'm sad. It's a very difficult and sad time. It was a real deep connection, a deep marriage, so it's not that simple to say this or that one thing caused the problems. It's clear to me that our priorities shifted overnight. He's focused on his music and career. I'm focused on my baby. It comes down to what's important to you.

[People Magazine 8 July 1996] There's something about death that is comforting. The thought that you could die tomorrow frees you to appreciate life now.

[on playing Olympias in Alexander (2004)] I felt that if I lived at that time, with the dangers she had and the threats she had and the lack of power she had as a woman, I would not have been that different from her. And I thought I also just saw her as a mother who really would push her son at a time that if he didn't get the throne, he didn't acquire a certain kind of strength and ability and greatness, he would probably just die or be killed or be exiled. So out of concern, out of love for your own, just to come from this place that seems very much like the horrible mafia father, but in fact it was for his own survival that she was focused on, which made it very easy for me to focus on thinking of my own son and what he had to do to protect himself from bad things that could hurt him.

If you don't get out of the box you've been raised in, you won't understand how much bigger the world is.

[on the superficiality of the industry] We are setting an example of what we think is beautiful and you really want to put that much make up on me?

You might never find out that you are useful for all the right reasons - and not all those stupid things that people tell you you're useful for.

[(CNN International Edition 29th January, 2005)] My role as goodwill ambassador has made my work as a film star relatively dull. I can't find anything that interests me enough to go back to work. I'm simply not excited about anything. I'm not excited about going to a film set.

[on what she does with the money she makes each year] Save one-third, live on one-third and give away one-third.

If I make a fool of myself, who cares? I'm not frightened by anyone's perception of me.

If I think more about death than some other people, it is probably because I love life more than they do.

Love one person, take care of them until you die. You know, raise kids. Have a good life. Be a good friend. And try to be completely who you are. And figure out what you personally love. And like go after it with everything you've got no matter how much it takes.

[Regarding the possibility of marriage with her current beau and father of her child, Brad Pitt] We have both been married before so it's not marriage that necessarily kept some people together.

[2002] I'm drawn to kids that are already born. I think some people are meant to do certain things, and I believe I'm meant to find my children in the world somewhere and not necessarily have them genetically.

[interview with Ann Curry] I'm in a strange, I suppose, place in my life. I think that happens when you lose a parent, where you drop into a different kind of serious. And yet, at the same time, you want to laugh and enjoy as much as possible every day. I'm hanging on to my family really tight at this moment, and, because of that, trying to be as good a woman as I can be in my life. Dammit, you got me crying.

It's alright. It's a part of life . . . I lost my mom. It's a natural thing for a child to lose a parent. I lost my mom too young, but it happened. And I'm happy she's out of pain, because I love her and she's my friend.

Not many people know this about me but I'm a natural blonde. My hair went from light blonde naturally to a darker kind of blonde. My mother dyed my hair dark when I was a child as I loved the look then. So I'm basically a natural blonde.

[on making action movies] I think there's always going to be that side of me. [Harrison Ford] is doing it, and he's doing it well, (so) it looks like I've got some more time.

[on Megan Fox] Is she aiding in Africa or sitting in on U.N. conferences? Donating herself to something bigger than Hollywood? I'm not familiar with her work, is she an Oscar contender?

Salary
Wanted (2008) $15,000,000
Beowulf (2007) $8,000,000
A Mighty Heart (2007) $10,000,000
The Good Shepherd (2006) $10,000,000
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) $20,000,000
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) $12,000,000
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) $7,000,000

Where Are They Now

(January 2006) Expecting a child with boyfriend Brad Pitt in Summer 2006

(January 2006) In the Dominican Republic filming The Good Shepherd (2006).

(May 2006) Gave birth to her third child, a girl named Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt with boyfriend Brad Pitt on May 27, 2006.

(October 2006) In Pune, India filming A Mighty Heart (2007).

(July 2008) Gives birth to twins, a boy named Knox Leon and a girl named Vivienne Marcheline, in Nice, France.