Angelina Jolie Voight, better known as Angela Jolie was born on June 4, 1975 at Long Angeles, California. A Gemini with brown hair and blue eyes, Angelina Jolie was born from a family of actors. Her mother – Marcheline Bertrand - was an actress and a model while her father – Join Voight – won an Oscar and three Golden Globe awards. Her brother - James Haven Voight – is a director.

Although a product of broken family, Angeline Jolie was happy with her collection of lizards and snakes. Harry Dean Stanton was her favorite snake while Vladimir was her favorite lizard. Watching movies with her mother awakened Angelina Jolie’s desire to be an actress too. She loved to dress-up and perform for people. At the age of seven, she already appeared in the movie ‘Lookin’ To Get Out.’ And at the age of 12, she enrolled in acting classes and workshop at Lee Strasberg Theatre.

Angelina Jolie’s teenage life was not as happy as her childhood and her wild experiences during this stage contributed much to her success as an actress today. Enrolled at Beverly High School, she continued her training and auditioned for modeling jobs that she never got. Feeling unworthy and ugly with her big eyes and big lips, she started to hate herself. Her confidence as a child got affected by her emotional, social and financial problems.

At 14, she was already living-in with her boyfriend who influenced her in using S&M. After 2 years of theater training, Angelina Jolie dropped from her classes. A scar that is still present today along Angelina Jolie’s jaw line serves as witness to the troubles she had as a teenager.

At 16, things slowly went back to normal. Angelina Jolie got separated from her punk boyfriend. And she enrolled again for acting classes and workshop. At one point in the life of Angelina Jolie, she attended writing classes and studied filmmaking at New York University. Her physical features getting better, she finally got modeling jobs at New York, London and Los Angeles. Her acting career started to shape-up in 1993 when she got the lead role as a near-human robot in Cyborg2. Then, film-after-film, Angelina Jolie started to shine as a star and finally become a serious actress. The biopics George Wallace and Gia earned her 1 Golden Globe award and 1 Emy nomination for each film. The following are the films credited to her name: Beowulf (2007), The Good Shepherd (2006), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005), Alexander (2004), Shark Tale (voice) (2004), Taking Lives (2004), Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow (2004), Beyond Borders (2003), Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003), Life Or Something Like It (2002), Original Sin (2001), Tomb Raider (2001), Gone In 60 Seconds (2000), The Bone Collector (1999), Girl, Interrupted (1999).

Angelina Jolie’s next publicized relationship was with her first husband Johnny Lee Miller whom she met while filming the movie Hackers. They got divorced because of Angelina Jolie’s frequent emotional breakdowns. Her openness in discussing sexual acts became the talk of the media. And the media’s interest was fueled more when she admitted having relationship with Jenny Shimizu, a fellow actress. She then met her second husband, Billy Bob Thornton whom she also divorced.

Her involvement with the plight of less fortunate people opened new experiences for her. She adopted Maddox, a Cambodian in 2001 and donated #5 million to Cambodia’s wildlife sanctuary. Angelina Jolie then became a Good Will Ambassador for the United Nations. She then adopted Zaharah Marley, an Ethiopian girl.

In 2006, her relationship with Brad Pitt was opened to the public and she finally became a mother to their baby, Shiloh Nouvel. As part of their humanitarian duties, they sold the rights to the pictures of Shiloh Nouvel and donated the proceeds.

• Angelina Jolie’s Humanitarian Efforts