Angelina Jolie is one of the most recognized actresses in the world. Born on June 4, 1975, in Los Angeles, California, she has built a career spanning acting, directing, and global humanitarian work.
Her talent, resilience, and advocacy have made her a truly iconic figure.
Who is Angelina Jolie?
Angelina Jolie Voight is an American actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian. She is the daughter of Academy Award-winning actor Jon Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand.
Over more than three decades, she has become one of Hollywood’s most celebrated stars.
She is best known for her Oscar-winning role in Girl, Interrupted (1999) and for blockbuster films like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Maleficent, and Eternals. Beyond acting, she directed critically praised films including Unbroken and First They Killed My Father.
Few public figures have matched her reach across both entertainment and global humanitarian causes.
Jolie served as a UNHCR Special Envoy for a decade, advocating for refugees worldwide. She has conducted field missions in more than 60 countries. Her commitment to global issues is as much a part of her identity as her acting career.
She also became a prominent voice in women’s health after publicly sharing her decision to undergo a preventive double mastectomy in 2013. That openness sparked a worldwide conversation about genetic testing and cancer prevention.
Early Life of Angelina Jolie
Angelina was born the second child of Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. Her parents separated when she was just one year old and later divorced in 1980.
After the split, Angelina and her older brother James Haven were raised primarily by their mother, who gave up her own acting career to care for them.
The family moved between New York and Los Angeles during her childhood. Her mother settled in the Palisades area of New York before returning to Los Angeles when Angelina was 11 years old.
Her childhood was not always easy.
At Beverly Hills High School, she was frequently bullied for being thin and for wearing glasses and braces. She later transferred to Moreno High School, an alternative school, where she felt more at home.
Despite the difficult years, those experiences shaped her tough, compassionate character.
Angelina Jolie Age
Angelina Jolie is 51 years old as of 2026, born on June 4, 1975.
She remains one of the most active and visible figures in both Hollywood and international humanitarian circles.
Angelina Jolie Ethnicity and Nationality
Jolie is American by nationality. On her father’s side, she is of German and Slovak descent. On her mother’s side, she has French-Canadian, Dutch, and German ancestry.
She has also stated she is part Iroquois through her mother’s lineage. Jolie holds dual citizenship in the United States and Cambodia, a country she has deep ties to through her son Maddox, whom she adopted from there in 2002.
Angelina Jolie Height and Weight
Angelina Jolie stands at 5 feet 7 inches tall, which is approximately 1.70 meters. She weighs around 115 pounds, or about 52 kilograms.
Her striking physical presence has made her one of the most photographed women in the world throughout her career.
Angelina Jolie Education
Angelina began her formal acting training at age 11 when she enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in Los Angeles. She trained there for two years and appeared in several stage productions during that time.
She later studied drama at New York University and joined the renowned Met Theatre Group in Los Angeles.
Her formal training gave her the technical foundation that she later combined with raw, natural talent to deliver some of cinema’s most memorable performances.
Angelina Jolie Career
Early Career
Angelina made her film debut at just seven years old, appearing briefly in her father’s 1982 film Lookin’ to Get Out. As a teenager, she appeared in music videos and took on small roles in low-budget films throughout the early 1990s.
Her first starring role came in the 1995 cyber-thriller Hackers, where she also met her first husband, actor Jonny Lee Miller.
She followed that with a powerful performance in the 1997 television movie George Wallace, portraying the wife of Alabama’s segregationist governor.
That role earned her her first Golden Globe Award. Her career was gaining real momentum.
Breakthrough
The year 1998 was a turning point. Jolie played the title role in the HBO biographical film Gia, portraying supermodel Gia Carangi’s tragic life with raw intensity.
The performance earned her a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and convinced Hollywood she was a force to take seriously.
Her next role made her a global star.
In Girl, Interrupted (1999), she played the charismatic and destructive Lisa Rowe alongside Winona Ryder. Her performance won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, a Golden Globe, and a SAG Award.
It remains one of the most talked-about performances of that era.
Hollywood Blockbusters
Jolie went on to star in a string of major commercial hits. She headlined Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001 and its 2003 sequel, becoming one of the few actresses to carry a major action franchise.
Jolie earned $10 million for Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) opposite Brad Pitt, and $15 million for the action film Wanted (2008).
She earned $33 million for Maleficent in 2014, making her the highest-paid actress in Hollywood that year, according to Time magazine. Her role as Thena in Marvel’s Eternals (2021) reportedly brought in more than $35 million.
Directing Career
Jolie stepped behind the camera with her 2011 directorial debut, In the Land of Blood and Honey. She later directed Unbroken (2014) and First They Killed My Father (2017), the latter produced for Netflix and shot entirely in Cambodia.
Her work as a director has been praised for its courage and its focus on human rights themes.
Recent Work
In 2024, Jolie starred as opera legend Maria Callas in the biographical film Maria. The film premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival to an eight-minute standing ovation.
It began streaming on Netflix in December 2024 and earned Jolie a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Drama.
Angelina Jolie Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Hackers | Kate Libby |
| 1998 | Gia | Gia Carangi |
| 1999 | Girl, Interrupted | Lisa Rowe |
| 2001 | Lara Croft: Tomb Raider | Lara Croft |
| 2005 | Mr. & Mrs. Smith | Jane Smith |
| 2008 | Wanted | Fox |
| 2008 | Changeling | Christine Collins |
| 2010 | The Tourist | Elise Clifton-Ward |
| 2014 | Maleficent | Maleficent |
| 2021 | Eternals | Thena |
| 2024 | Maria | Maria Callas |
Angelina Jolie Awards and Recognition
Jolie’s awards record is among the most impressive in Hollywood history. She has won one Academy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards over her career.
- Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress — Girl, Interrupted (2000)
- Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award — Honorary Oscar (2013)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series — George Wallace (1998)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries — Gia (1998)
- Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Film — Girl, Interrupted (2000)
She became the youngest person ever to receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2013 Governors Awards, at just 38 years old.
Angelina Jolie Husband
Jolie has been married three times. She first married British actor Jonny Lee Miller in 1996, whom she met on the set of Hackers.
They divorced in 1999. She then married actor Billy Bob Thornton in 2000, a relationship that drew intense media attention. They divorced in 2003.
Her most high-profile relationship was with actor Brad Pitt. They met while filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith in 2005 and went public with their relationship in January 2006.
They married on August 23, 2014, in France. Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016, citing irreconcilable differences.
Their divorce was finalized on December 30, 2024, after eight years of legal proceedings.
As of 2026, Jolie has not publicly confirmed a new romantic relationship.
Angelina Jolie Children
Jolie is the mother of six children, three adopted and three biological. She adopted Maddox from Cambodia in 2002, Zahara from Ethiopia in 2005, and Pax from Vietnam in 2007.
Her biological children with Brad Pitt are Shiloh, born in 2006, and twins Knox and Vivienne, born in 2008.
Jolie has spoken openly about how her children are the center of her world. As of 2026, several of her children have filed to drop the Pitt surname, with Maddox filing a legal name change in July 2026.
Knox and Vivienne are the only two of the six who remain under 18 years old.
She has raised her children with a focus on global awareness and humanitarian values.
Angelina Jolie Net Worth
Angelina Jolie’s estimated net worth is $120 million as of 2026.
Her wealth comes primarily from her decades-long film career, during which she consistently ranked among Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses.
She earned $33 million for Maleficent alone in 2014 and reportedly received more than $35 million for Eternals in 2021.
Her divorce settlement from Brad Pitt also contributed significantly to her finances. Reports indicate she received approximately $80 million in assets, cash, and real estate from divorce-related transactions finalized in early 2025, including proceeds from the sale of her stake in Château Miraval, the French winery she and Pitt once co-owned.
Additional income comes from her work as a director and producer. Her humanitarian work with the UNHCR was conducted voluntarily.
Angelina Jolie Social Media
Jolie joined Instagram in 2021 to speak directly about the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Her account quickly became one of the fastest-growing in the platform’s history, gaining millions of followers within days.
She continues to use social media primarily to raise awareness for refugee and human rights causes rather than for personal promotion.
She is also present on Facebook, where her verified page has accumulated tens of millions of followers over the years.
The Bottom Line
Angelina Jolie is an Oscar-winning actress, filmmaker, and humanitarian who has left a lasting mark on Hollywood and global advocacy.
From her breakout in Girl, Interrupted to her commanding turn in Maleficent, she has proven her range and depth as a performer for more than three decades.
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