Coordinates	51°58′″N17°39′″N
name	Levi Strauss & Co.
logo
type	Private
foundation
founder	Levi Strauss
location	San Francisco, California, U.S.
locations	470 company-operated stores
area served	Worldwide
key people	Robert A. "Bob" Eckert, Chairman of the Board R. John Anderson, President and CEO
industry	Clothing
products	Jeans
revenue	US$ 4.303 billion (2008)
owner	Descendants of LeviCracknell Strauss
num employees	11,400 (2008)
brands	Levi's, Dockers, Denizen, Signature by Levi Strauss & Co.
homepage	Levi Strauss Homepage
intl	}}

Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&CO;) is a privately held American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in 1869 when Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Franconia, (Kingdom of Bavaria) to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business. Although the company began producing denim overalls in the 1870s, modern jeans were not produced until the 1920s. The company briefly experimented (in the 1970s) with employee ownership and a public stock listing, but remains owned and controlled by descendants and relatives of Levi Strauss' four nephews.

Organization

Levi Strauss & Co. is a worldwide corporation organized into three geographic divisions: Levi Strauss Americas (LSA), based in the San Francisco headquarters; Levi Strauss Europe, Middle East and Africa (LSEMA), based in Brussels; and Asia Pacific Division (APD), based in Singapore. The company employs a staff of approximately 10,500 people worldwide. The core Levi's was founded in 1873 in San Francisco, specializing in riveted denim jeans and different lines of casual and street fashion.

From the early 1960s through the mid 1970s, Levi Strauss experienced explosive growth in its business as the more casual look of the 1960s and 1970s ushered in the "blue jeans craze" and served as a catalyst for the brand. Levi's, under the leadership of Jay Walter Haas Sr., Peter Haas Sr., Paul Glasco and George P. Simpkins Sr., expanded the firm's clothing line by adding new fashions and models, including stone-washed jeans through the acquisition of Great Western Garment Co. (GWG), a Canadian clothing manufacturer. GWG was responsible for the introduction of the modern "stone washing" technique, still in use by Levi Strauss.

The company experienced rapid expansion of its manufacturing capacity from fewer than 16 plants to more than 63 plants in the United States from 1964 to 1974. Levi's expansion under Simpkins was accomplished without a single unionized employee. Simpkins' use of "pay for performance" manufacturing at the sewing machine operator level up. As a result, Levi's' plants were perhaps the highest performing, best organized and cleanest textile facilities of their time. Levi's even piped in massive amounts of air conditioning for the comfort of Levi's workers into its press plants, which were known in the industry to be notoriously hot.

2004 saw a sharp decline of GWG in the face of global outsourcing, so the company was closed and the Edmonton manufacturing plant shut down. The Dockers brand, launched in 1986 which is sold largely through department store chains, helped the company grow through the mid-1990s, as denim sales began to fade. Dockers were introduced into Europe in 1993. Levi Strauss attempted to sell the Dockers division in 2004 to relieve part of the company's $2 billion outstanding debt.

Launched in 2003, Levi Strauss Signature features jeanswear and casualwear. In November 2007, Levi's released a mobile phone in co-operation with ModeLabs. Many of the phone's cosmetic attributes are customisable at the point of purchase.

History

Jacob Davis was a tailor who frequently purchased bolts of cloth made from hemp from Levi Strauss & Co.'s wholesale house. After one of Davis' customers kept purchasing cloth to reinforce torn pants, he had an idea to use copper rivets to reinforce the points of strain, such as on the pocket corners and at the base of the button fly. Davis did not have the required money to purchase a patent, so he wrote to Strauss suggesting that they go into business together. After Levi accepted Jacob's offer, on May 20, 1873, the two men received from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patented rivet was later incorporated into the company's jean design and advertisements. Contrary to an advertising campaign suggesting that Levi Strauss sold his first jeans to gold miners during the California Gold Rush (which peaked in 1849), the manufacturing of denim overalls only began in the 1870s.

Levi Strauss started the business at the 90 Sacramento Street address in San Francisco. He next moved the location to 62 Sacramento Street then 63 & 65 Sacramento Street. By changing the location of the store the company began to become more successful.

Modern jeans began to appear in the 1920s, but sales were largely confined to the working people of the western United States, such as cowboys, lumberjacks, and railroad workers. Levi’s jeans apparently were first introduced to the East during the dude ranch craze of the 1930s, when vacationing Easterners returned home with tales (and usually examples) of the hard-wearing pants with rivets. Another boost came in World War II, when blue jeans were declared an essential commodity and were sold only to people engaged in defense work. From a company with fifteen salespeople, two plants, and almost no business east of the Mississippi in 1946, the organization grew in thirty years to include a sales force of more than 22,000, with 50 plants and offices in 35 countries.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Levi's jeans became popular among a wide range of youth subcultures, including greasers, mods, rockers, hippies and skinheads. Levi's popular shrink-to-fit 501s were sold in a unique sizing arrangement; the indicated size referred to the size of the jeans prior to shrinking, and the shrinkage was substantial. The company still produces these unshrunk, uniquely sized jeans, and they are still Levi's number one selling product. Although popular lore (abetted by company marketing) holds that the original design remains unaltered, this is not the case: the company's president got too close to a campfire, and the rivet at the bottom of the crotch conducted the fire's heat too well; the offending rivet, which is depicted in old advertisements, was removed.

1990s and later

By the 1990s, the brand was facing competition from other brands and cheaper products from overseas, and began accelerating the pace of its US factory closures and its use of offshore subcontracting agreements. In 1991, Levi Strauss faced a scandal involving six subsidiary factories on the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth, where some 3% of Levi's jeans sold annually with the ''Made in the USA'' label were shown to have been made by Chinese laborers under what the United States Department of Labor called "slavelike" conditions. Today, Levi's jeans are made overseas.

Cited for sub-minimum wages, seven-day work weeks with 12-hour shifts, poor living conditions and other indignities, Tan Holdings Corporation, Levi Strauss' Marianas subcontractor, paid what were then the largest fines in U.S. labor history, distributing more than $9 million in restitution to some 1,200 employees. Levi Strauss claimed no knowledge of the offenses, then severed ties to the Tan family and instituted labor reforms and inspection practices in its offshore facilities.

The activist group Fuerza Unida (United Force) was formed following the January 1990 closure of a plant in San Antonio, Texas, in which 1,150 seamstresses, some of whom had worked for Levi Strauss for decades, saw their jobs exported to Costa Rica. During the mid- and late-1990s, Fuerza Unida picketed the Levi Strauss headquarters in San Francisco and staged hunger strikes and sit-ins in protest of the company's labor policies.

The company took on multi-billion dollar debt in February 1996 to help finance a series of leveraged stock buyouts among family members. Shares in Levi Strauss stock are not publicly traded; the firm is today owned almost entirely by indirect descendants and relatives of Levi Strauss, whose four nephews inherited the San Francisco dry goods firm after their uncle's death in 1902. The corporation's bonds are traded publicly, as are shares of the company's Japanese affiliate, Levi Strauss Japan K.K.

In June 1996, the company offered to pay its workers an unusual dividend of up to $750 million in six years' time, having halted an employee stock plan at the time of the internal family buyout. However, the company failed to make cash flow targets, and no worker dividends were paid. In 2002, Levi Strauss began a close business collaboration with Wal-Mart, producing a special line of "Signature" jeans and other clothes for exclusive sale in Wal-Mart stores until 2006. Levi Strauss Signature jeans can now be purchased at several stores in the US, Canada, India, Pakistan and Japan.

According to the ''New York Times'', Levi Strauss leads the apparel industry in trademark infringement cases, filing nearly 100 lawsuits against competitors since 2001. Most cases center on the alleged imitation of Levi's back pocket double arc stitching pattern (U.S. trademark #1,139,254), which Levi filed for trademark in 1978. Levi's has sued Guess?, Esprit Holdings, Zegna, Zumiez and Lucky Brand Jeans, among other companies.

By 2007, Levi Strauss was again said to be profitable after declining sales in nine of the previous ten years. Its total annual sales, of just over $4 billion, were $3 billion less than during its peak performance in the mid 1990s. After more than two decades of family ownership, rumors of a possible public stock offering were floated in the media in July 2007. In 2009, it was noted in the media for selling Jeans on interest-free credit, due to the Global Recession.

Advertising

Levi's marketing style has often made use of old recordings of popular music in television commercials, ranging from traditional pop to punk rock. Notable examples include Ben E King ("Stand By Me"), Percy Sledge ("When a Man Loves a Woman"), Eddie Cochran ("C'mon Everybody!"), Marc Bolan ("20th Century Boy"), Screamin' Jay Hawkins ("Heart Attack & Vine"), The Clash ("Should I Stay or Should I Go?"), as well as lesser known material, such as "Falling Elevators" and "The City Sleeps" by MC 900 Ft. Jesus and "Flat Beat" and "Monday Massacre" by Mr. Oizo. And in India August 2007 the “fit for die” advertisement campaign run with Deepika Padukone also attracts the brand lover.

Many of these songs were re-released by their record labels as a tie-in with the ad campaigns, resulting in increased popularity and sales of the recordings and the creation of iconic visual associations with the music, such as the use of a topless male model wearing jeans underwater in the 1992 adverts featuring "Wonderful World" and "Mad about the Boy" and the puppet, Flat Eric, in the ads featuring music by Mr. Oizo.

+ Songs re-popularized by Levi's commercials
! Song title	! Artist	! Original recording	! Year of Levi's advert	! UK chart	! US chart
	Sam Cooke			2
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"	Marvin Gaye		1986	8
	Percy Sledge			2
"C'mon Everybody"	Eddie Cochran			14
	Steve Miller Band			1
"Should I Stay or Should I Go"	The Clash			1
"20th Century Boy"				13
"Mad about the Boy"	Dinah Washington
	Stiltskin	1994		1
"Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out"	Freak Power	1993		3
		1995		1
	Babylon Zoo	1995		1
"Underwater Love"	Smoke City		1997	4
"A Nanny in Manhattan"	Lilys			16
"Whine and Grine"	Prince Buster		1998	21
"Flat Beat"	Mr. Oizo	1999		1
"Background Blues"	Otto Sieben	1999
"Before You Leave"	Pepe Deluxé	2001		20
"Crazy Beat"		2003?		18

Marketing

During the launch of Levi's Curve ID jeans, Levi launched a 5 week integrated marketing campaign that touched on experiential marketing, social media and outdoor events in shopping malls and city centres throughout the UK.

Brand ambassadors for Levi's encouraged women to find their perfect curve jeans shape in-store for the chance to win a £1000 Levi's shopping spree. The idea behind the campaign was to drive long-term engagement with the brand.

Levi's is the most talked about Denim brand online.

Notes

References

External links

Offical site

Corporate site

Levi's India

Levi's Europe

Official site

Levi Strauss Signature

Levi's Mobile Phone official site

Levi's Project 501 Design Challenge

Levi's Sponsorship of Project Runway

Category:Companies established in 1853 Category:Companies based in San Francisco, California Category:Clothing companies of the United States Category:Jeans Category:Privately held companies based in California Category:1950s fashion Category:1960s fashion Category:1970s fashion Category:1980s fashion Category:1990s fashion Category:2000s fashion Category:2010s fashion Category:1853 establishments in the United States

ar:لي فايس bs:Levi Strauss & Co. cs:Levi Strauss & Co. da:Levi Strauss & Co. de:Levi Strauss & Co. es:Levi Strauss & Co. fr:Levi Strauss and Co. gl:Levi Strauss & CO ko:리바이 스트라우스 앤드 컴퍼니 id:Levi Strauss & Co. is:Levi Strauss & Co. it:Levi Strauss (azienda) he:לוי שטראוס ושות' ja:リーバイス no:Levi Strauss & Co. pl:Levi Strauss & Co. pt:Levi Strauss & Co. ro:Levi Strauss & Co. ru:Levi Strauss & Co. sh:Levi Strauss & Co. fi:Levi Strauss & Co. sv:Levi Strauss & Co. te:లెవీ స్ట్రాస్ అండ్ కో.

Coordinates	51°58′″N17°39′″N
name	Michel Gondry
birth date	May 08, 1963
birth place	Paris, France
occupation	Director, screenwriter
years active	1986–present }}

Michel Gondry (born May 8, 1963) is a French film, commercial, and music video director and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène.

Life and career

Gondry was born in Versailles, France. He is the grandson of inventor Constant Martin. He has a teenage son named Paul who is also an artist.

Gondry's vision and career began with his emphasis on emotion, according to Gondry himself in an interview for The Film That Changed My Life by journalist Robert K. Elder. Much of his inspiration, he says, came from the film ''Le voyage en ballon''.

When I watch this movie, I dream I’m flying and then I do stories where people are flying. I think it’s directly influencing.

His career as a filmmaker began with creating music videos for the French rock band Oui Oui, in which he also served as a drummer. The style of his videos for Oui Oui caught the attention of music artist Björk, who asked him to direct the video for her song "Human Behaviour". The collaboration proved long-lasting, with Gondry directing a total of seven music videos for Björk. Other artists who have collaborated with Gondry on more than one occasion include Daft Punk, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, The Vines, Steriogram, Radiohead, and Beck. Gondry has also created numerous television commercials. He pioneered the "bullet time" technique later adapted in ''The Matrix'', in a 1998 commercial for Smirnoff vodka, as well as directing a trio of inventive holiday-themed advertisements for clothing retailer Gap, Incorporated.

Gondry, along with directors Spike Jonze and David Fincher, is representative of the influx of music video directors into feature film. Gondry made his feature film debut in 2001 with ''Human Nature'', garnering mixed reviews. His second film, ''Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'' (also his second collaboration with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman), was released in 2004 and received very favorable reviews, becoming one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year. ''Eternal Sunshine'' utilizes many of the image manipulation techniques that Gondry had experimented with in his music videos. Gondry won an Academy Award alongside Kaufman and Pierre Bismuth for the screenplay of ''Eternal Sunshine''. The style of Gondry's music videos often relies on videography and camera tricks which play with frames of reference.

Gondry also directed the musical documentary ''Dave Chappelle's Block Party'' (2006) which followed comedian Dave Chappelle as he attempted to hold a large, free concert in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. His following film, ''The Science of Sleep'', hit theaters in September, 2006. This film stars Mexican actor Gael García Bernal, and marked a return to the fantastical, surreal techniques he employed in ''Eternal Sunshine''.

According to the Guinness World Records 2004, Michel Gondry's Levi's 501 Jeans "Drugstore" spot holds the record for "Most awards won by a TV commercial". The commercial was never aired in North America because of the suggestive content involving purchasing latex condoms.

He was asked by French comic duet Éric and Ramzy to direct ''Seuls Two'', but declined; by his suggestion, Éric and Ramzy subsequently asked Mr Oizo to direct another movie : ''Steak''.

In September 2006, Gondry made his debut as an installation artist at Deitch Projects in New York City's SoHo gallery district. The show, called "The Science of Sleep: An Exhibition of Sculpture and Pathological Creepy Little Gifts" featured props from his film, ''The Science of Sleep'', as well as film clips and a selection of gifts that the artist had given to women he was interested in, many of them former or current collaborators, Karen Baird, Kishu Chand, Dorothy Barrick and Lauri Faggioni. A leitmotif of the film is a 'Disastrology' calendar; Gondry commissioned the painter Baptiste Ibar to draw harrowing images of natural and human disasters.

His brother Olivier "Twist" Gondry is also a television commercial and music video director creating videos for bands such as The Stills, Hot Hot Heat, Daft Punk and The Vines.

Gondry was an Artist in Residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005 and 2006. Later directing the music video for the Paul McCartney song "Dance Tonight", in which Gondry makes a cameo appearance. Gondry directed of "Unnatural Love," the fifth episode in season two of HBO's Flight of the Conchords. Interior Design one third of the 2008 anthology film ''Tokyo!'' was next for Gondry. Interior Design was based on the comic book "Cecil and Jordan in New York" by Gabrielle Bell but was adapted from New York City to Tokyo for the film.

In 2009, ''The Thorn in the Heart'', another feature documentary, was released, it is about Michel's aunt Suzette and her son Jean-Yves. In 2011, Gondry directed ''The Green Hornet'', a superhero film by Sony staring Seth Rogen and Christoph Waltz; Rogen co-wrote the script. In 2011, he will be the head of the jury for the short film competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.

Gondry lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Filmography

Feature films

''Human Nature'' (2001)

''Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'' (2004)

''The Science of Sleep'' (2006)

''Be Kind Rewind'' (2008)

''The Green Hornet'' (2011)

Short films

''L'expedition fatale'' (1986)

''Jazzmosphère'' (1987)

''My Brother's 24th Birthday'' (1988)

''La lettre'' (1998)

*''The Letter''

''One Day...'' (2001)

''Pecan Pie'' (2003)

''Ossamuch! – Kishu & Co.'' (2004)

''Tiny'' (2004)

''Three Dead People'' (2004)

''Drumb and Drumber'' (2004)

''Michel Gondry Solves a Rubik's Cube with his Nose'' (2007)

''Tokyo!: Interior Design'' (2008)

Documentary films

''Vingt p'tites tours'' (1989) ''Co-director''

''Twenty Small Towers''

''I've Been Twelve Forever'' (2003)

''Dave Chappelle's Block Party'' (2005)

''The Thorn in the Heart'' (2009)

Music videos

"Crystalline" - Björk (2011)

"How Are You Doing?" – The Living Sisters (2011)

"Around The World (Piano Version) – Maxence Cyrin (2010)

"Open Your Heart" – Mia Doi Todd (2010)

"Too Many Dicks On The Dancefloor" & "Carol Brown" (unofficial videos) – Flight Of The Conchords (2009)

"Soleil du Soir" – Dick Annegarn (2008)

"Declare Independence" – Björk (2007)

"Dance Tonight" – Paul McCartney (2007)

"Limitless Undying Love" – Sergio Hiram (2007)

"Cellphone's Dead" – Beck (2006)

"Anysound" – The Vines (2006)

"King of the Game" – Cody ChesnuTT (2006)

"Heard 'Em Say" (U.S. Version) – Kanye West (2005)

"The Denial Twist" – The White Stripes (2005)

"Light & Day" (movie version) – The Polyphonic Spree (2004)

"Winning Days" – The Vines (2004)

"Mad World" (Donnie Darko soundtrack version) – Gary Jules (2004)

"Ride" – The Vines (2004)

"Walkie Talkie Man" – Steriogram (2004)

"I Wonder" – The Willowz (2004)

"The Hardest Button to Button" – The White Stripes (2003)

"Behind" – Lacquer (2003)

"Come Into My World" – Kylie Minogue (2002)

"A l'envers à l'endroit" – Noir Désir (2002)

"Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" – The White Stripes (2002)

"Fell in Love with a Girl" – The White Stripes (2002)

"Star Guitar" – The Chemical Brothers (2001)

"Knives Out" – Radiohead (2001)

"Mad World" – Michael Andrews and Gary Jules (2001)

"Let Forever Be" – The Chemical Brothers (1999)

"Gimme Shelter" – The Rolling Stones (1998)

"Another One Bites the Dust" – Wyclef Jean (1998)

"Music Sounds Better With You" – Stardust (1998)

"Bachelorette" – Björk (1997)

"Deadweight" – Beck (1997)

"Jóga" – Björk (1997)

"Everlong" – Foo Fighters (1997)

"A Change Would Do You Good" – Sheryl Crow (1997)

"Around the World" – Daft Punk (1997)

"Feel It" – Neneh Cherry (1997)

"Sugar Water" – Cibo Matto (1996)

"Hyper-Ballad" – Björk (1996)

"Like a Rolling Stone" – The Rolling Stones (1995)

"Isobel" – Björk (1995)

"Protection" – Massive Attack (1995)

"High Head Blues" – Black Crowes (1995)

"Army of Me" – Björk (1995)

"Fire On Babylon" – Sinéad O'Connor (1994)

"Lucas With the Lid Off" – Lucas (1994)

"Little Star" – Stina Nordenstam (1994)

"This is it (Your Soul)" – Hothouse Flowers (1993)

"It's Too Real (Big Scary Animal)" – Belinda Carlisle (1993)

"Human Behaviour" – Björk (1993)

"Believe" – Lenny Kravitz (1993)

"She Kissed Me" – Terence Trent D'Arby (1993)

"Voila, Voila, Qu'ça r'Commence" – Rachid Taha (1993)

"La main parisienne" – Malcolm McLaren, featuring Amina (1993) (unreleased)

"Je Danse Le Mia" – IAM (1993)

"Snowbound" – Donald Fagen (1993)

"La Tour de Pise" – Jean François Coen (1993)

"Hou! Mamma Mia" – Les Négresses Vertes (1993)

"Les Jupes" – Robert (1992)

"Two Worlds Collide" – Inspiral Carpets (1992)

"Close But No Cigar" – Thomas Dolby (1992)

"Paradoxal Système" – Laurent Voulzy (1992)

"La Ville" – Oui Oui (1992)

"How the West Was Won" – Energy Orchard (1992)

"Les Voyages Immobiles" – Etienne Daho (1992)

"Blow Me Down" – Mark Curry (1992)

"Comme un ange (qui pleure)" – Les Wampas (1992)

"Dad, laisse-moi conduire la Cad" – Peter & the Electro Kitsch Band (1991)

"La normalité" – Les Objects (1991)

"Sarah" – Les Objects (1991)

"Ma Maison" – Oui Oui (1990)

"Queen for a Day" – The Life of Riley (1989) (unreleased)

"Tu rimes avec mon coeur" – Original MC (1989)

"Les Cailloux" – Oui Oui (1989)

"Il y a ceux" – l'Affaire Louis Trio (1989)

"Dô, l'enfant d'eau" – Jean-Luc Lahaye (1988)

"Bolide" – Oui Oui (1988)

"Un Joyeux Noël" – Oui Oui (1988)

"Junior Et Sa Voix D'Or" – Oui Oui (1988)

Advertisements

Adidas Aftershave – Released From Work

Air France – Le Nuage

Air France – Le Passage

AMD – Flatzone

BMW – Pure Drive

Coca-Cola – Snowboarder

Nespresso – The Boutique

Diet Coke – Tingle and Bounce 1, Tingle and Bounce 2

Électricité de France – Selects

Earthlink – Privacy

Fiat – Lancia Y10

Fox Sports Network campaign (four ads)

GAP – Holiday Campaign

Gatorade – Propel Fitness Water – Drip

Heineken – Debut

Levi's – Bellybutton

Levi's – Drugstore

Levi's – Mermaids

Levi's – Swap

Motorola – Razr2

NatWest – Zoom

Nike – Basketball campaign (five ads)

Nike – I Can Play

Nike – Leo

Nike – The Long, Long Run

Polaroid – Resignation / Living Moments

Smirnoff – Smarienberg

Volvo – I Said Volvo

Television

''Flight of the Conchords'', Episode 17: 'Unnatural Love' (2009)

''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', January 13, 2011 (guest director)

Bibliography

Henry Keazor, Thorsten Wuebbena, ''Video Thrills The Radio Star. Musikvideos: Geschichte, Themen, Analysen''. Bielefeld 2005, p. 90ss., p. 288ss. ISBN 978-3-89942-728-8

You'll Like This Film Because You're In It (2008). PictureBox

Markus Altmeyer, ''Die Filme und Musikvideos von Michel Gondry. Zwischen Surrealismus, Pop und Psychoanalyse'', Marburg 2008. ISBN 978-3-8288-9764-9

Henry Keazor, "`Emotional Landscapes´: Die Musikvideos von Michel Gondry und Björk“, in: ''Klanglandschaften'', ed. by Manuel Gervink and Jörn Pieter Hiekel, Hofheim 2009, p. 45 – 63. ISBN 978-3-936000-59-7

Henry Keazor/Thorsten Wuebbena, "Introduction" and Giulia Gabrielli, "An Analysis of the Relation between Music and Image. The Contribution of Michel Gondry", in: Keazor, Henry; Wuebbena, Thorsten: ''Rewind, Play, Fast Forward. The Past, Present and Future of the Music Video''. Bielefeld 2010; ISBN 978-3-8376-1185-4, p. 16 – 18 and p. 89 – 109

References

External links

MichelGondry.com Official Website and Shop

Le Monde de Michel Gondry French website dedicated to Michel's work

AOL Interview about 'Be Kind Rewind' that looks at how Gondry has matured as a filmmaker.

Director File ·· Michel Gondry documents all of Michel's work

New York Times Magazine profile on Michel Gondry (09/2006)">''Le Romantique'' New York Times Magazine profile on Michel Gondry (09/2006)

''Washington Post'': Michel Gondry (03/2006)

The Advocate interview">The Advocate interview

Associated Press article that links Gondry's dreams to his work.

Suicide Girls Interview

#2

DirectorsLabel.com co-founded with Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham

Partizan represents Gondry alongside many other directors for commercials and music videos worldwide

BBC Imagine... A unique Exquisite Corpse which Michel Gondry has contributed to

"Dream Factory" by Ben Davis, Artnet Magazine

"How My Brain Works" Gondry interview with Scott Thill of Bright Lights Film Journal

''Interviews'' SiouxWIRE interview compilation

Michel Gondry's Crew Profile on The 1 Second Film website

Videography at Clipland

Website for the book by Henry Keazor & Thorsten Wübbena, ''Video Thrills The Radio Star. Musikvideos: Geschichte, Themen, Analysen''. Bielefeld 2005, p. 90ss., p. 288ss. ISBN 978-3-89942-728-8 which features in-depth-analysis of Gondry's music videos and references to sources

Category:1963 births Category:Advertising directors Category:Best Original Screenplay Academy Award winners Category:French film directors Category:French music video directors Category:Living people Category:People from Versailles * Category:Writers Guild of America Award winners

bg:Мишел Гондри ca:Michel Gondry de:Michel Gondry es:Michel Gondry fr:Michel Gondry ko:미셸 공드리 id:Michel Gondry it:Michel Gondry he:מישל גונדרי la:Michael Gondry hu:Michel Gondry nl:Michel Gondry ja:ミシェル・ゴンドリー no:Michel Gondry pl:Michel Gondry pt:Michel Gondry ru:Гондри, Мишель sl:Michel Gondry sv:Michel Gondry tr:Michel Gondry zh:米歇·龔德里

Coordinates	51°58′″N17°39′″N
name	Spike Jonze
birth name	Adam Spiegel
birth date	October 22, 1969
birth place	Rockville, Maryland, U.S.
occupation	Director, producer, actor
years active	1989–present
spouse	Sofia Coppola (1999-2003; divorced)
partner	}}

Spike Jonze (born Adam Spiegel; October 22, 1969) is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Charlie Kaufman, which include the 1999 film ''Being John Malkovich'' and the 2002 film ''Adaptation'', and for his work as director of the 2009 film ''Where the Wild Things Are''. He was also a co-creator and executive producer of MTV's ''Jackass''. He is currently the creative director of VBS.tv. He is also part owner of skateboard company Girl Skateboards with riders Rick Howard and Mike Carroll.

He also co-founded Directors Label with filmmakers Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry.

Early life

Spiegel was born in Rockville, Maryland, and raised in Bethesda, Maryland and in Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania. His father, Arthur Spiegel III, was a distant relation of the Spiegel catalog family and founded APM Management Consultants. His mother, Sandy Granzow, is a writer, communications consultant in developing countries, and artist. His brother Sam (aka Squeak E. Clean) is a producer and DJ. Jonze attended The Field School in Washington, D.C., and Walt Whitman High School.

When he was in junior high and high school, Spiegel hung out at Bethesda community store, where the former owner Mike Henderson gave him his nickname "Spike Jonze". He fronted Club Homeboy, an international BMX club, with Mark "Lew" Lewman and Andy Jenkins, both co-editors of ''Freestylin' Magazine'' in the mid- to late 1980s, where Jonze worked as a photographer. The three also created the youth culture magazines ''Homeboy'' and ''Dirt'' (the latter of which was described as "''Sassy Magazine'' for boys," being published by the same company and distributed in cellophane bags with the landmark magazine for young women).

Career

In 2006, he was nominated by the Directors Guild of America for "Outstanding Achievement in Commercials in 2005." He was nominated for a body of work that included ''Hello Tomorrow'' for Adidas, ''Lamp'' for IKEA, and ''Pardon Our Dust'' for The Gap. He was a producer and co-creator of MTV television series ''Jackass'' and ''Jackass: The Movie'', also directing some of the segments. Jonze has acted in some videos and films; his most prominent role was in ''Three Kings'' as the sweet, dimwitted, casually racist Conrad, in which he was directed by friend David O. Russell.

Jonze was also a co-founder and editor of ''Dirt'' magazine along with Mark Lewman and Andy Jenkins, as well as an editor for ''Grand Royal Magazine'' and senior photographer for Transworld Skateboarding. In the past, Jonze shot street skateboarding videos, most notably Blind skateboard company's ''Video Days'' in 1991, and Lakai Footwear's Fully Flared in 2007. He also co-directed the Girl Skateboards film ''Yeah Right!'' and the Chocolate Skateboards video ''Hot Chocolate''. In the closing credits montage of ''Yeah Right!'' Spike is shown doing a nollie heelflip in loafers. He is also co-owner of Girl Skateboards.

Jonze has many alter egos, including Richard Koufey (alternately spelled Coufey or Couffe), the leader of the Torrance Community Dance Group, an urban troupe that performs in public spaces. The Koufey persona appeared when Jonze, in character, filmed himself dancing to Fatboy Slim's "Rockafeller Skank" as it played on a boom box in a public area. Spike showed the video to Slim, who loved it. Jonze then assembled a group of dancers to perform to Slim's "Praise You" outside a Westwood, California movie theater and taped the performance. The resulting clip was a huge success, and "Koufey" and his troupe were invited to New York City to perform the song for the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards. The video received awards for Best Direction, Breakthrough, and Best Choreography, which Jonze accepted, still in character. Jonze made a mockumentary about the experience called ''Torrance Rises''.

He also has a speaking part along with Dave Eggers in the Beck song "The Horrible Fanfare/Landslide/Exoskeleton" from his 2006 album, ''The Information''. He appears in the "Exoskeleton" part.

Since 2007, he has been the creative director at VBS.tv, an online television network supplied by ''Vice'' and funded by MTV.

Spike Jonze was part of the Detour-Moleskine project in New York in 2007. The project invites authors to compile and illustrate Moleskine notebooks with experienced knowledge, to provide an intimate insight into the artists' creative process.

Most recently, Jonze directed ''Where the Wild Things Are'', which opened in the United States on October 16, 2009. It was arguably his most anticipated film to date, the product of an almost decade long collaboration with author Maurice Sendak. The film received generally favorable reviews, and appeared on many critics' end-of-the-year top ten lists.

In July 2009, Jonze acquired the rights to make a film adaptation of the Shane Jones novel, ''Light Boxes''. However, Jonze, in an interview with Times Online, said that Ray Tintori was no longer a director for that project as expected. In an interview with ''Interview Magazine'' in June 2010, Jones said the film option had been dropped.

In 2010, he made a 28 minute short titled ''Scenes from the Suburbs'', inspired by the Arcade Fire album ''The Suburbs''. Scenes from his short were used in the music video to the title song from the album, "The Suburbs". A dystopian vision of suburbia in the near-future, the short was co-written by Jonze, Win Butler and Will Butler. Expanding on the themes of nostalgia, alienation and childhood, the short premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and saw it's online premiere at MUBI on June 27 2011.

Jonze is good friends with Björk and frequently works with her. He has directed three videos for her and she contributed with the theme song for Jonze's ''Being John Malkovich'' film.

Jonze is currently working on another project with the Beastie Boys for the release of their Santigold collaboration, "Don't Play No Game that I Can't Win." In a similar fashion to Jonze's recent work with Arcade Fire, he has directed both "short and epic-length videos" to partner with the single.

In 2011, Jonze directed the music video for "Otis" the second single from the album ''Watch The Throne'' by Jay-Z and Kanye West.

Personal life

On June 26, 1999, Jonze married director Sofia Coppola, whom he had known for nearly ten years. On December 5, 2003, the couple filed for divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences." The character of John, a career-driven photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) in Coppola's ''Lost In Translation'' (2003), was rumored to be based on Jonze, though Coppola has vehemently denied this.

He was known to be dating the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' lead singer, Karen O.

He dated Michelle Williams from July 2008 to September 2009. In 2011, it was reported that he is dating Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi.

Recurring collaborators

Spike Jonze has worked with certain actors and key crew members in more than one of his films.

! Color Key

bgcolor="#ffff80"

Filmography

Director

Feature films

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Budget ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | US Gross ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Awards |- | rowspan="1" | 1999 | ''Being John Malkovich'' | $13 million | $22,863,596 | 3 Oscar nominations; 4 GG nominations |- | rowspan="1" | 2002 | ''Adaptation'' | $19 million | $22,498,520 | 1 Oscar win, 3 nominations; 2 GG wins, 3 GG nominations |- | rowspan="1" | 2009 | ''Where the Wild Things Are'' | $100 million | $100,086,793 | 1 GG nomination |}

Short films

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role |- | 1997 | ''How They Get There'' | Writer, Director |- | rowspan="1" | 1998 | ''Amarillo by Morning'' | Director |- | 1999 | ''Torrance Rises'' | Director, Choreographer, Actor |- | 2009 | ''We Were Once a Fairytale'' | Director |- | 2010 | ''I'm Here'' | Writer, Director |- | 2011 | ''Scenes from the Suburbs'' | Director |}

Music videos

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Song ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Artist ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Notes |- |rowspan="2"|1992 | "High in High School" | Chainsaw Kittens | |- | "100%" | Sonic Youth | |- |rowspan="5"|1993 | "Cannonball" | The Breeders | Co-directed by Kim Gordon Produced by Steve Reiss |- | "Country at War" | X | |- | "Daughters of the Kaos" | Luscious Jackson | |- | "Hang On" | Teenage Fanclub | |- | "Time for Livin'" | Beastie Boys | |- |rowspan="12"|1994 | "All About Eve" | Marxman | |- | "Buddy Holly" | Weezer | |- | "Ditch Digger" | Rocket from the Crypt | |- | "Divine Hammer" | The Breeders | |- | "Feel the Pain" | Dinosaur Jr. | |- | "I Can't Stop Smiling" | Velocity Girl | |- | "If I Only Had a Brain" | MC 900 Ft. Jesus | |- | "Old Timer" | that dog. | |- | "Ricky's Theme" | rowspan="3"|Beastie Boys | |- | "Sabotage" | Also writer |- | "Sure Shot" | |- | "Undone - The Sweater Song" | Weezer | |- |rowspan="7"|1995 | "California" | Wax | |- | "Car Song" | Elastica | |- | "Crush with Eyeliner" | R.E.M. | |- | "Freedom of '76" | Ween | |- | "It's Oh So Quiet" | Björk | |- | "The Diamond Sea" | Sonic Youth | |- | "Who Is Next?" | Wax | |- | 1996 | "Drop" | The Pharcyde | |- | rowspan="7"|1997 | "Da Funk" | Daft Punk | |- | "Electrolite" | R.E.M. | |- | "Elektrobank" | The Chemical Brothers | |- | "It's All About the Benjamins" (Rock Remix) | Puff Daddy | |- | "Liberty Calls" | Mike Watt | |- | "Shady Lane" | Pavement | |- | "Sky's the Limit" | The Notorious B.I.G. | |- | rowspan="3"|1998 | "Home" | Sean Lennon | |- | "Praise You" | Fatboy Slim | A Torrance Public Film Production |- | "Root Down" version 2 | Beastie Boys | |- | rowspan="3"|2000 | "Weapon of Choice" | Fatboy Slim | |- | "What's Up, Fatlip?" | Fatlip | |- | "Wonderboy" | Tenacious D | As Marcus Von Bueler |- | rowspan="3"|2002 | "Island in the Sun" (version 2) | Weezer | |- | "Guess I'm Doing Fine" | Beck | |- | "It's in Our Hands" | Björk | |- | 2003 | "Big Brat" | Phantom Planet | |- |rowspan="2"|2004 | "Get Back" | Ludacris | |- | "Y Control" | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | |- | rowspan="1"|2005 | "Triumph of a Heart" | Björk | |- | rowspan="1"|2008 | "Flashing Lights" | Kanye West | Co-directed with West |- | rowspan="2"|2009 | "Heaven" | UNKLE | Co-directed with Ty Evans |- | "25" | AsDSSka | Co-directed with Crysal Moselle |- |rowspan="2"|2010 | "Drunk Girls" | LCD Soundsystem | Co-directed with James Murphy |- | "The Suburbs" | Arcade Fire | |- | rowspan="2"|2011 | "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win" | Beastie Boys | |- | "Otis" | Jay-Z & Kanye West | |- |}

Video

''Ciao L.A.'' (director) (1994)

''An Intimate Look Inside the Acting Process with Ice Cube'' (director) (1999)

''What's Up, Fatlip?'' (director) (2003)

''The Work of Director Spike Jonze'' (director) (2003)

''The Mystery of Dalarö'' (director) (2004)

''Corporate Ghost'' (actor, director) (2004)

''Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow'' (cinematographer) (2004)

Skateboard videos

"Rubbish Heap" for SMA World Industries (1989)

"Two World Industries Men" for SMA World Industries (1989)

"Video Days" for Blind (1991)

''Goldfish'' (1993)

''Mouse'' (1996)

''The Chocolate Tour'' (1999)

''Yeah Right!'' (2003)

''Hot Chocolate!'' (2004)

''The Krooked Chronicles'' (2006)

"Fully Flared" for Lakai (2007)

"Final Flare" for Mrak (2008)

Other filmography

{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%;" border="2" cellpadding="4" background: #f9f9f9; |- align="center" ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Year ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Film ! style="background:#B0C4DE;" | Role |- | 1993 | ''Mi Vida Loca'' | rowspan="3"|Actor |- | 1996 | ''Pig!'' |- | rowspan="2" | 1997 | ''The Game'' |- | ''Free Tibet'' | Cinematographer |- | 1999 | ''Three Kings'' | Actor |- | rowspan="2" | 2001 | ''Human Nature'' | Producer |- | ''Keep Your Eyes Open'' | Actor |- | 2002 |'' Jackass: The Movie'' | Producer, Featured |- | rowspan="2"| 2006 | ''Jackass: Number Two'' | rowspan="2" | Producer, Featured |- | ''''The Fall'''' |- | rowspan="2"| 2008 | ''Synecdoche, New York'' | rowspan="2" | Producer |- | ''Heavy Metal in Baghdad'' |- | rowspan="1" | 2009 | ''The 1 Second Film'' | Producer, Appearing |- | rowspan="2" | 2010 |''Jackass 3D'' | Producer, Appearing |- |''Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life'' | Producer, Appearing |}

Television

! Year	! Title	! Position
2000		Creator, Executive Producer
2004	''Sonic Youth Video Dose''	Actor
2010	''The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret''	Actor - Doug Whitney

References

Further reading

.

External links

Spike Jonze Producer Profile on The 1 Second Film website

Allmovie entry for Spike Jonze

Commercials at MJZ

Spike Jonze at MUBI

Spike Jonze unmasked

DirectorsLabel.com, co-founded with Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry

KCRW's The Treatment: Spike Jonze

"Spike Jonze Unmasked" article from New York Magazine

Henry Keazor, Thorsten Wübbena: ''Video Thrills The Radio Star. Musikvideos: Geschichte, Themen, Analysen''. Bielefeld 2007, p. 175ff., p. 182ff., p. 232ff., p. 277ff.

''The New York Times Magazine'' profile

Category:1969 births Category:Advertising directors Category:American film directors Category:American film producers Category:American music video directors Category:American television producers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Living people Category:People from Rockville, Maryland

ca:Spike Jonze da:Spike Jonze de:Spike Jonze et:Spike Jonze es:Spike Jonze fr:Spike Jonze it:Spike Jonze he:ספייק ג'ונז la:Spike Jonze ms:Spike Jonze nl:Spike Jonze ja:スパイク・ジョーンズ no:Spike Jonze pl:Spike Jonze pt:Spike Jonze ru:Джонз, Спайк fi:Spike Jonze sv:Spike Jonze th:สไปค์ จอนซ์

Coordinates	51°58′″N17°39′″N
Name	Brad Pitt
Alt	A Caucasian with light brown hair, blue eyes, and a mustache and short brown beard, in front of a turquoise background. He is wearing a white shirt and white hat.
Birth name	William Bradley Pitt
Birth date	December 18, 1963
Birth place	Shawnee, Oklahoma, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Missouri
Occupation	Actor, producer
Spouse
Partner	Angelina Jolie (2005–present)
Children	6 }}

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. Pitt has received four Academy Award nominations and five Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one Golden Globe. He has been described as one of the world's most attractive men, a label for which he has received substantial media attention.

Pitt first gained recognition as a cowboy hitchhiker in the road movie ''Thelma & Louise'' (1991). His first leading roles in big-budget productions came with ''A River Runs Through It'' (1992), ''Interview with the Vampire'' (1994), and ''Legends of the Fall'' (1994). In 1995, he gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller ''Seven'' and the science fiction film ''12 Monkeys'', the latter earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Four years later, Pitt starred in the cult hit ''Fight Club''. He then starred in the major international hit ''Ocean's Eleven'' (2001) and its sequels, ''Ocean's Twelve'' (2004) and ''Ocean's Thirteen'' (2007). His greatest commercial successes have been ''Troy'' (2004) and ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' (2005). Pitt received his second and third Academy Award nominations for his leading performances in ''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'' (2008) and ''Moneyball'' (2011). In addition, Pitt owns a production company, Plan B Entertainment, whose productions include ''The Departed'' (2006), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and ''Moneyball'', which garnered a Best Picture nomination.

Following a high-profile relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston for five years. Pitt lives with actress Angelina Jolie in a relationship that has attracted wide publicity. He and Jolie have six children—Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Since beginning his relationship with Jolie, he has become increasingly involved in social issues both in the United States and internationally.

Early life

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt is the son of Jane Etta (née Hillhouse), a high school counselor, and William Alvin Pitt, a truck company owner, and was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The family soon moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he lived together with his younger siblings, Doug (born 1966) and Julie Neal (born 1969). Born into a conservative household, he was raised as Southern Baptist, although he has since described himself as oscillating between atheism and agnosticism. Pitt has stated that his family's ancestry consists of "probably... Irish-Scots-Germans who settled in the area... I know we have some Seminole, and some Cherokee Indian, in us". Pitt has described Springfield as "Mark Twain country, Jesse James country", having grown up with "a lot of hills, a lot of lakes".

Pitt attended Kickapoo High School, where he was a member of the basketball, golf, tennis, wrestling and swimming teams. He participated in the school's Key and Forensics clubs, in school debates, and in musicals. Following his graduation from high school, Pitt enrolled in the University of Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism, with a focus on advertising. As a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, he acted in several fraternity shows. As graduation approached, Pitt did not feel ready to settle down. He loved films—"a portal into different worlds for me"—and, since films were not made in Missouri, he decided to go to where they were made. Two weeks before earning his degree, Pitt left the university and moved to Los Angeles, where he took acting lessons and worked odd jobs.

Career

Early work

While struggling to establish himself in Los Angeles, Pitt took lessons from acting coach Roy London. Pitt's onscreen career began in 1987, with uncredited parts in the films ''No Way Out'', ''No Man's Land'' and ''Less Than Zero''. His television debut came in May 1987 with a two-episode role on the NBC soap opera ''Another World''. In November of the same year Pitt had a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom ''Growing Pains''. He appeared in four episodes of the CBS primetime series ''Dallas'' between December 1987 and February 1988 as Randy, the boyfriend of Charlie Wade (played by Shalane McCall). Pitt described his character as "an idiot boyfriend who gets caught in the hay." Speaking of his scenes with McCall, Pitt later said, "It was kind of wild, because I'd never even met her before." Later in 1988, Pitt made a guest appearance on the Fox police drama ''21 Jump Street''.

In the same year, the Yugoslavian–U.S. co-production ''The Dark Side of the Sun'' (1988) gave Pitt his first leading film role, as a young American taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition. The film was shelved at the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence, and was not released until 1997. Pitt made two motion picture appearances in 1989: the first in a supporting role in the comedy ''Happy Together''; the second a featured role in the horror film ''Cutting Class'', the first of Pitt's films to reach theaters. He made guest appearances on television series ''Head of the Class'', ''Freddy's Nightmares'', ''Thirtysomething'', and (for a second time) ''Growing Pains''.

Pitt was cast as Billy Canton, a drug addict who takes advantage of a young runaway (played by Juliette Lewis) in the 1990 NBC television movie ''Too Young to Die?'', the story of an abused teenager sentenced to death for a murder. Ken Tucker, television reviewer for ''Entertainment Weekly'' wrote: "Pitt is a magnificent slimeball as her hoody boyfriend; looking and sounding like a malevolent John Cougar Mellencamp, he's really scary." The same year, Pitt co-starred in six episodes of the short-lived Fox drama ''Glory Days'', and took a supporting role in the HBO television movie ''The Image''. His next appearance came in the 1991 film ''Across the Tracks''; Pitt portrayed Joe Maloney, a high school runner with a criminal brother, played by Ricky Schroder.

After years of supporting roles in movies and frequent television guest appearances, Pitt attracted wider recognition in his supporting role in the 1991 road film ''Thelma & Louise''. He played J.D., a small-time criminal who befriends Thelma (Geena Davis). His love scene with Davis has been cited as the event that defined Pitt as a sex symbol. After ''Thelma & Louise'', Pitt starred in the 1991 film ''Johnny Suede'', a low-budget picture about an aspiring rock star, and the 1992 film ''Cool World'', although neither furthered his career, having poor reviews and box office performance.

Pitt took the role of Paul Maclean in the 1992 biographical film ''A River Runs Through It'', directed by Robert Redford. His portrayal of the character has been described as a career-making performance, proving that Pitt could be more than a "cowboy-hatted hunk." He has admitted to feeling under pressure when making the film and thought it one of his "weakest performances ... It's so weird that it ended up being the one that I got the most attention for." Pitt believed that he benefited from working with such a talented cast and crew. He compared working with Redford to playing tennis with a superior player, saying "when you play with somebody better than you, your game gets better."

In 1993, Pitt reunited with Juliette Lewis for the road film ''Kalifornia''. He played Early Grayce, a serial killer and the boyfriend of Lewis's character in a performance described by Peter Travers of ''Rolling Stone'' as "outstanding, all boyish charm and then a snort that exudes pure menace." Pitt also garnered attention for a brief appearance in the cult hit ''True Romance'' as a stoner named Floyd, providing much needed comic relief to the action film. He capped the year by winning a ShoWest Award for Male Star of Tomorrow.

Critical success

1994 marked a significant turning point in Pitt's career. Starring as the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the feature film ''Interview with the Vampire'', based on Anne Rice's 1976 novel of the same name, he was part of an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas. Despite his winning two MTV Movie Awards at the 1995 ceremony, his performance was poorly received. According to the ''Dallas Observer'', "Brad Pitt ... is a large part of the problem [in the film]. When directors play up his cocky, hunkish, folksy side ... he's a joy to watch. But there's nothing about him that suggests inner torment or even self-awareness, which makes him a boring Louis."

Following the release of ''Interview with the Vampire'', Pitt starred in ''Legends of the Fall'' (1994), based on a novel by the same name by Jim Harrison, set in the American West during the first four decades of the twentieth century. Portraying Tristan Ludlow, son of Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) a Cornish immigrant, Pitt received his first Golden Globe Award nomination, in the Best Actor category. Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas co-starred as Pitt's brothers. Although the film's reception was mixed, many film critics praised Pitt's performance. Janet Maslin of ''The New York Times'' said, "Pitt's diffident mix of acting and attitude works to such heartthrob perfection it's a shame the film's superficiality gets in his way." The ''Deseret News'' predicted that ''Legends of the Fall'' would solidify Pitt's reputation as a lead actor.

In 1995, Pitt starred alongside Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow in the crime thriller ''Seven,'' playing a detective on the trail of a serial killer (played by Kevin Spacey). Pitt called it a great movie and declared the part would expand his acting horizons. He expressed his intent to move on from "this 'pretty boy' thing [...] and play someone with flaws." His performance was critically well received, with ''Variety'' saying that it was screen acting at its best, further remarking on Pitt's ability to turn in a "determined, energetic, creditable job" as the detective. ''Seven'' earned $327 million at the international box office.

Following the success of ''Seven'', Pitt took a supporting role as Jeffrey Goines in Terry Gilliam's 1995 science-fiction film ''12 Monkeys''. The movie received predominantly positive reviews, with Pitt praised in particular. Janet Maslin of the ''New York Times'' called ''Twelve Monkeys'' "fierce and disturbing" and remarked on Pitt's "startlingly frenzied performance", concluding that he "electrifies Jeffrey with a weird magnetism that becomes important later in the film." He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film and received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

The following year he had a role in the legal drama ''Sleepers'' (1996), based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's novel of the same name. The film received mixed reviews. In the 1997 movie ''The Devil's Own'' Pitt starred, opposite Harrison Ford, as the Irish Republican Army terrorist Rory Devany, a role for which he was required to learn an Irish accent. Critical opinion was divided on his accent; "Pitt finds the right tone of moral ambiguity, but at times his Irish brogue is too convincing – it's hard to understand what he's saying", wrote the ''San Francisco Chronicle.'' ''The Charleston Gazette'' opined that it had favored Pitt's accent over the movie. ''The Devil's Own'' grossed $140 million worldwide, but was a critical failure. Later that year he led as Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in the Jean-Jacques Annaud film ''Seven Years in Tibet''. Pitt trained for months for the role, which demanded significant mountain climbing and trekking practice, including rock climbing in California and the European Alps with his co-star David Thewlis. The film received mostly negative reviews, and was generally considered a disappointment.

Pitt had the lead role in 1998's ''Meet Joe Black''. He portrayed a personification of death inhabiting the body of a young man to learn what it is like to be human. The film received mixed reviews, and many were critical of Pitt's performance. According to Mick LaSalle of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', Pitt was unable to "to make an audience believe that he knows all the mysteries of death and eternity." Roger Ebert stated "Pitt is a fine actor, but this performance is a miscalculation."

From 1999 to 2003

In 1999, Pitt portrayed Tyler Durden, an uncompromising and charismatic individual, in ''Fight Club'', a film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name, directed by David Fincher. Pitt prepared for the part with lessons in boxing, taekwondo, and grappling. To look the part, Pitt consented to the removal of pieces of his front teeth which were restored when filming ended. While promoting ''Fight Club'', Pitt said that the film explored not taking one's aggressions out on someone else but to "have an experience, take a punch more and see how you come out on the other end." ''Fight Club'' premiered at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival. Despite divided critical opinion on the film as a whole, Pitt's performance was widely praised. Paul Clinton of CNN noted the risky yet successful nature of the film, while ''Variety'' remarked upon Pitt's ability to be "cool, charismatic and more dynamically physical, perhaps than [...] his breakthrough role in ''Thelma and Louise''". In spite of a worse-than-expected box office performance, ''Fight Club'' became a cult classic after its DVD release in 2000.

Following ''Fight Club'', Pitt was cast as an Irish Gypsy boxer with a barely intelligible accent in Guy Ritchie's 2000 gangster film ''Snatch''. Several reviewers were critical of ''Snatch''; however, most praised Pitt. Mick LaSalle of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' said Pitt was "ideally cast as an Irishman whose accent is so thick even Brits can't understand him", going on to say that, before ''Snatch'', Pitt had been "shackled by roles that called for brooding introspection, but recently he has found his calling in black comic outrageousness and flashy extroversion;" while Amy Taubin of ''The Village Voice'' claimed that "Pitt gets maximum comic mileage out of a one-joke role".

The following year Pitt starred opposite Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy ''The Mexican'', a film that garnered a range of reviews but enjoyed box office success. Pitt's next role, in 2001's $143 million-grossing Cold War thriller ''Spy Game'', was as Tom Bishop, an operative of the CIA's Special Activities Division, mentored by Robert Redford's character. Mark Holcomb of Salon.com enjoyed the film, although he noted that neither Pitt nor Redford provided "much of an emotional connection for the audience". On November 22, 2001, Pitt made a guest appearance in the eighth season of the television series ''Friends'', playing a man with a grudge against Rachel Green, played by Jennifer Aniston, to whom Pitt was married at the time. For this performance he was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. In December 2001, Pitt had the role of Rusty Ryan in the heist film ''Ocean's Eleven'', a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack original. He joined an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, and Julia Roberts. Well-received by critics, ''Ocean's Eleven'' was highly successful at the box office, earning $450 million worldwide.

Pitt appeared in two episodes of MTV's reality series ''Jackass'' in February 2002, first running through the streets of Los Angeles with several cast members in gorilla suits, and participating in his own staged abduction in another episode. In the same year, Pitt had a cameo role in George Clooney's directorial debut ''Confessions of a Dangerous Mind''. He took on his first voice-acting roles in 2003, speaking as the titular character of the DreamWorks animated film ''Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas'' and playing Boomhauer's brother, Patch, in an episode of the animated television series ''King of the Hill''.

After 2003

Pitt had two major film roles in 2004, starring as Achilles in ''Troy'', and making a second appearance as Rusty Ryan, in the sequel ''Ocean's Twelve''. He spent six months sword training before the filming of ''Troy'', based on the ''Iliad''. An on-set injury to his Achilles tendon delayed production on the picture for several weeks. With a total worldwide gross of $497 million, ''Troy'' remains Pitt's most commercially successful picture to date. The film earned $364 million outside the U.S. and $133 million domestically. Stephen Hunter of ''The Washington Times'' stated that Pitt excelled at such a demanding role. ''Troy'' was the first film produced by Plan B Entertainment, a film production company he had founded two years earlier with Jennifer Aniston and Brad Grey, CEO of Paramount Pictures. ''Ocean's Twelve'' earned $362 million worldwide, and Pitt and Clooney's dynamic was described (by CNN's Paul Clinton) as "the best male chemistry since Paul Newman and Robert Redford."

In 2005, Pitt starred in the Doug Liman-directed action comedy ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'', in which a bored married couple discover that each is an assassin sent to kill the other. The feature received reasonable reviews but was generally lauded for the chemistry between Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who played his character's wife Jane Smith. The ''Star Tribune'' noted that "while the story feels haphazard, the movie gets by on gregarious charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear screen chemistry." ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' earned $478 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest hits of 2005.

For his next feature film, Pitt starred opposite Cate Blanchett in Alejandro González Iñárritu's multi-narrative drama ''Babel'' (2006). Pitt's performance was critically well-received, and the ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' said that he was credible and gave the film visibility. Pitt later said he regarded taking the part as one of the best decisions of his career. The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was later featured at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. ''Babel'' received seven Academy and Golden Globe award nominations, winning the Best Drama Golden Globe, and earned Pitt a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe. That same year, Pitt's company Plan B Entertainment produced ''The Departed'', which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Pitt was credited on-screen as a producer; however, only Graham King was ruled eligible for the Oscar win.

Reprising his role as Rusty Ryan in a third picture, Pitt starred in 2007's ''Ocean's Thirteen''. While less lucrative than the first two films, this sequel earned $311 million at the international box office. Pitt's next film role was as American outlaw Jesse James in the 2007 Western drama ''The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'', adapted from Ron Hansen's 1983 novel of the same name. Directed by Andrew Dominik and produced by Pitt's company Plan B Entertainment, the film premiered at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, with Pitt playing a "scary and charismatic" role, according to Lewis Beale of ''Film Journal International'', and earning Pitt the Volpi Cup award for Best Actor at the 64th Venice International Film Festival. Although Pitt attended the festival to promote the film, he left early after being attacked by a fan who pushed through his bodyguards. He eventually collected the award one year later at the 2008 festival.

Pitt's next appearance was in the 2008 black comedy ''Burn After Reading'', his first collaboration with the Coen brothers. The film received a positive reception from critics, with ''The Guardian'' calling it "a tightly wound, slickly plotted spy comedy", noting that Pitt's performance was one of the funniest. He was later cast as Benjamin Button, the lead in David Fincher's 2008 film ''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'', a loosely adapted version of a 1921 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story follows a man who is born an octogenarian and ages in reverse, with Pitt's "sensitive" performance making ''Benjamin Button'' a "timeless masterpiece," according to Michael Sragow of ''The Baltimore Sun''. The performance earned Pitt his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, as well as a fourth Golden Globe and second Academy Award nomination, all in the category for Best Actor. The film received thirteen Academy Award nominations in total, and grossed $329 million at the box office worldwide.

Since 2008, Pitt's work has included a leading role in Quentin Tarantino's ''Inglourious Basterds'', released in August 2009 at a special presentation at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Pitt played Lieutenant Aldo Raine, an American resistance fighter battling Nazis in German-occupied France. The film was a box office hit, taking $311 million worldwide, and garnered generally favorable reviews. The film received multiple awards and nominations, including eight Academy Award nominations and seven MTV Movie Award nominations, including Best Male Performance for Pitt. He voiced the superhero character Metro Man in the 2010 animated feature ''Megamind''. Pitt appeared in Terrence Malick's drama ''The Tree of Life'', co-starring Sean Penn, which won the Palme d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. In a performance that attracted strong praise, he portrayed the Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane in the drama ''Moneyball'', which is based on the 2003 book of the same name written by Michael Lewis. ''Moneyball'' received six Academy Award nominations including Best Actor for Pitt.

He has signed on to appear as a British explorer searching for a mysterious Amazonian civilization in ''The Lost City of Z'', based on David Grann's 2009 book of the same name.

Humanitarian and political causes

Pitt visited the University of Missouri campus in October 2004 to encourage students to vote in the 2004 U.S. presidential election, in which he supported John Kerry. Later in October he publicly supported the principle of public funding for embryonic stem-cell research. "We have to make sure that we open up these avenues so that our best and our brightest can go find these cures that they believe they will find," he said. In support of this he endorsed Proposition 71, a California ballot initiative intended to provide federal government funding for stem-cell research.

Pitt supports the ONE Campaign, an organization aimed at combating AIDS and poverty in the developing world. He narrated the 2005 PBS public television series ''Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge'', which discusses current global health issues and traveled to Pakistan in November 2005 with Angelina Jolie to see the impact of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. The following year Pitt and Jolie flew to Haiti, where they visited a school supported by Yéle Haïti, a charity founded by Haitian-born hip hop musician Wyclef Jean. In May 2007, Pitt and Jolie donated $1 million to three organizations in Chad and Sudan dedicated to those affected by the crisis in the Darfur region. Along with Clooney, Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub, Pitt is one of the founders of "Not On Our Watch", an organization that tries to focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent genocides such as that in Darfur.

Pitt has a sustained interest in architecture and has narrated ''Design e2'', a PBS television series focused on worldwide efforts to build environmentally friendly structures through sustainable architecture and design. He founded the Make It Right Foundation in 2006, organizing housing professionals in New Orleans to finance and construct 150 sustainable, affordable new houses in New Orleans's Ninth Ward following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. The project involves 13 architectural firms and the environmental organization Global Green USA, with several of the firms donating their services. Pitt and philanthropist Steve Bing have each committed $5 million in donations. The first six homes were completed in October 2008, and in September 2009 Pitt received an award in recognition of the project from the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built and operated. Pitt met with U.S. President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in March 2009 to promote his concept of ''green housing'' as a national model and to discuss federal funding possibilities.

In September 2006, Pitt and Jolie established a charitable organization, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, to aid humanitarian causes around the world. The foundation made initial donations of $1 million each to Global Action for Children and Doctors Without Borders, followed by an October 2006 donation of $100,000 to the Daniel Pearl Foundation, an organization created in memory of the late American journalist Daniel Pearl. According to federal filings, Pitt and Jolie invested $8.5 million into the foundation in 2006; it gave away $2.4 million in 2006 and $3.4 million in 2007. In June 2009 the Jolie-Pitt Foundation donated $1 million to a U.N. refugee agency to help Pakistanis displaced by fighting between troops and Taliban militants. In January 2010 the foundation donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders for emergency medical assistance to help victims of the Haiti earthquake.

Pitt is a supporter of same-sex marriage. In an October 2006 interview with ''Esquire'', Pitt said that he would marry Jolie when everyone in America is legally able to marry. He reaffirmed his stance to ''Parade'' in August 2009, and again to ''People'' in July 2011. In September 2008, he donated $100,000 to the campaign against California's 2008 ballot proposition Proposition 8, an initiative to overturn the state Supreme Court decision that had legalized same-sex marriage. Pitt stated his reasons for the stance: "Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn't harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8." In March 2012, Pitt was featured in a performance of Dustin Lance Black's play, '''8''' — a staged reenactment of the federal trial that overturned California's Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage — as Judge Vaughn Walker. The production was held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and broadcast on YouTube to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, a non-profit organization funding the plaintiffs' legal team and sponsoring the play.

In the media

Pitt's sex appeal has been picked up by many sources including ''Empire'', who named him one of the 25 sexiest stars in film history in 1995. The same year, Pitt won ''People'''s Sexiest Man Alive, an accolade he won again in 2000. Pitt appeared on ''Forbes'''s annual Celebrity 100 list of the 100 most powerful celebrities in 2006, 2007, and 2008, at No. 20, No. 5, and No. 10 respectively. In 2007 he was listed among the Time 100, a compilation of the 100 most influential people in the world, as selected annually by ''TIME''. The magazine credited Pitt with using "his star power to get people to look [to where] cameras don't usually catch". Pitt was again included in the Time 100 in 2009, this time in the Builders and Titans list.

Starting in 2005, Pitt's relationship with Angelina Jolie became one of the most reported celebrity stories worldwide. After confirming that Jolie was pregnant in early 2006, the unprecedented media hype surrounding the couple reached what Reuters, in a story titled "The Brangelina fever," called "the point of insanity". To avoid media attention the couple flew to Namibia for the birth of their daughter Shiloh, "the most anticipated baby since Jesus Christ." Similarly intense media interest greeted the announcement two years later of Jolie's second pregnancy; for the two weeks Jolie spent in a seaside hospital in Nice, reporters and photographers camped outside on the promenade to report on the birth.

In a 2006 global industry survey by ACNielsen in 42 international markets, Pitt, together with Jolie, was found to be the favorite celebrity endorser for brands and products worldwide. Pitt has appeared in several television commercials. For the U.S. market, he starred in a Heineken commercial aired during the 2005 Super Bowl; it was directed by David Fincher, who had directed Pitt in ''Seven'', ''Fight Club'' and ''The Curious Case of Benjamin Button''. Other commercial appearances came in television spots designed for Asian markets, advertising such products as the Acura Integra, in which he was featured opposite Russian model Tatiana Sorokko, as well as SoftBank and Edwin Jeans.

Personal life

Relationships

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pitt was involved in successive relationships with several of his co-stars, including Robin Givens (''Head of the Class''), Jill Schoelen (''Cutting Class''), and Juliette Lewis (''Too Young to Die?'' and ''Kalifornia''), who, at the age of 16, was ten years his junior when they started dating. In addition, Pitt had a much-publicized romance and engagement to his ''Seven'' co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, whom he dated from 1994 to 1997.

Pitt met ''Friends'' actress Jennifer Aniston in 1998 and married her in a private wedding ceremony in Malibu on July 29, 2000. For years their marriage was considered a rare Hollywood success; however, in January 2005, Pitt and Aniston announced that they had decided formally to separate after seven years together. Two months later Aniston filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. Pitt and Aniston's divorce was finalized by the Los Angeles Superior Court on October 2, 2005, legally ending their marriage. Despite media reports that Pitt and Aniston have an acrimonious relationship, Pitt said in a February 2009 interview that he and Aniston "check in with each other", adding that they were both big parts of each others' lives.

During Pitt's divorce from Aniston, his involvement with his ''Mr. & Mrs. Smith'' co-star Angelina Jolie attracted vigorous media attention. While Pitt denied claims of adultery, he admitted that he "fell in love" with Jolie on the set. In April 2005, one month after Aniston filed for divorce, a set of paparazzi photographs emerged showing Pitt, Jolie and her son Maddox at a beach in Kenya; the pictures were construed in the press as evidence of a relationship between Pitt and Jolie. During the summer of 2005, the two were seen together with increasing frequency, and the entertainment media dubbed the couple "Brangelina". On January 11, 2006, Jolie confirmed to ''People'' that she was pregnant with Pitt's child, thereby publicly acknowledging their relationship for the first time. Pitt and Jolie announced their engagement in April 2012 after seven years together.

Children

In July 2005, Pitt accompanied Jolie to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she adopted her second child, six-month-old Zahara Marley, a decision which Jolie later stated she and Pitt had made together. Pitt's publicist announced in December 2005 that Pitt was seeking to legally adopt Jolie's two children, Zahara and Cambodia-born Maddox Chivan. On January 19, 2006, a California judge granted Jolie's request to change the children's surnames from "Jolie" to "Jolie-Pitt". The adoptions were finalized soon after.

Jolie gave birth to daughter Shiloh Nouvel in Swakopmund, Namibia, on May 27, 2006. Pitt confirmed that their newborn daughter would have a Namibian passport. The couple sold the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images; the North American rights were purchased by ''People'' for over $4.1 million, while ''Hello!'' obtained the British rights for approximately $3.5 million. The proceeds from the sale were donated to charities serving African children. Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh; it marked the first time an infant was recreated in wax by Madame Tussauds.

On March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted three-year-old Pax Thien from an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Since Vietnam does not allow unmarried couples to adopt, Jolie adopted Pax as a single parent. In April 2007, Jolie filed a request to legally change her son's surname from "Jolie" to "Jolie-Pitt", which was approved on May 31, 2007. The rights for the first post-adoption images of Pax were sold to ''People'' for a reported $2 million, as well as to ''Hello!'' for an undisclosed amount. Pitt adopted Pax in the United States on February 21, 2008.

At the Cannes Film Festival in May 2008, Jolie confirmed that she was expecting twins. She gave birth to son Knox Léon and daughter Vivienne Marcheline on July 12, 2008 in Nice, France. The rights for the first images of Knox and Vivienne were jointly sold to ''People'' and ''Hello!'' for $14 million—the most expensive celebrity pictures ever taken. The couple donated the proceeds to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.

Filmography

Actor

! Year	! Film	! Role	Notes
1987		Officer at party
1987		Waiter
1987		Partygoer
1987		Chris	Appeared on the May 14 and 15, 1987 episodes
1987	''Growing Pains''	Jeff	Episodes: "List of Growing Pains episodes#Season 3: 1987-1988
1987–88		Randy	4 episodes
1988	''[[21 Jump Street''	Peter	Episode: "Best Years of Your Life"
1987		Brian
1987	''Cutting Class''	Dwight Ingalls
1987	''Head of the Class''	Chuck	Episode: "Partners"
1987	''Freddy's Nightmares''	Rick Austin	Episode: "Black Tickets"
1990	''''	Cameraman	TV movie
1990	''Too Young to Die?''	Billy Canton	TV movie
1990	''Glory Days''	Walker Lovejoy	6 episodes
1991	''Across the Tracks''	Joe Maloney
1991	''Thelma & Louise''	J.D.
1991	''Johnny Suede''	Johnny Suede
1992	''Contact''	Cox
1992	''Cool World''	Detective Frank Harris
1992	''''	Paul Maclean
1993	''Kalifornia''	Early Grayce
1993	''True Romance''	Floyd
1994	''''	Elliott Fowler
1994		Louis de Pointe du Lac	MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - MaleMTV Movie Award for Most Desirable MaleNominated–MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo shared with Tom CruiseNominated–Saturn Award for Best Actor
1994	''Legends of the Fall''	Tristan Ludlow	Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama
1995		David Mills	MTV Movie Award for Most Desirable MaleNominated–MTV Movie Award for Best On-Screen Duo shared with Morgan FreemanNominated–MTV Movie Award for Best Performance - Male
1995	''12 Monkeys''	Jeffrey Goines
1996		Michael Sullivan
1997	''''	Francis "Frankie" Austin McQuire/Rory Devaney
1997		Heinrich Harrer
1997	''''	Rick
1998	''Meet Joe Black''	Joe Black/Man in the Coffee Shop
1999	''Fight Club''
1999	''Being John Malkovich''	Himself	Cameo
2000		Mickey O'Neil	Nominated–Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
2001	''''	Jerry Welbach
2001	''Spy Game''	Tom Bishop
2001	''''	Rusty Ryan
2001	''Friends''	Will Colbert
2002		Himself
2002	''Confessions of a Dangerous Mind''	Brad, Bachelor No.1
2003	''Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas''		Voice
2003		Himself	Cameo
2004		Achilles
2004	''''	Rusty Ryan	Nominated–Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2005		John Smith
2006		Richard
2007	''''	Rusty Ryan
2007	''''	Jesse James
2008	''Burn After Reading''	Chad Feldheimer
2008	''''	Benjamin Button
2009	''Inglourious Basterds''	Lt. Aldo Raine
2010	''Megamind''	Metro Man	Voice
2011	''''	Mr. O'Brien
2011		Billy Beane
2011	''Happy Feet Two''	Will the Krill	Nominated – As Seen By Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Voice-Over RoleNominated – Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Actor of the Year
2012	''Cogan's Trade''	Jack Cogan	Post-production
2012		Gerry Lane	Post-production

Producer

! Year	! Film	Notes
2006	''God Grew Tired of Us''	Executive producer
2006	''''	Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Film
2006
2007	''''	Executive producer
2007		Executive producer
2007	''''	Nominated–Independent Spirit Award for Best Film
2007	''''
2008	''Pretty/Handsome''	Executive producer (TV)
2009	''''	Executive producer
2009	''''	Executive producer
2010
2010	''Eat Pray Love''
2011	''''	Palme d'Or
2011		Nominated – Academy Award for Best Picture
2012	''Cogan's Trade''
2012

Awards and nominations

References

}}

External links

Not On Our Watch – Founded by: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Jerry Weintraub

Category:1963 births Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from Oklahoma Category:American agnostics Category:American film actors Category:American film producers Category:American television actors Category:American vegans Category:American voice actors Category:Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Former Baptists Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Living people Category:Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma Category:University of Missouri alumni Category:Volpi Cup winners

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Coordinates	51°58′″N17°39′″N
birth name	Jaime Elizabeth Pressly
birth date	July 30, 1977
birth place	Kinston, North Carolina, U.S.
spouse
occupation	Actress, model
yearsactive	1997–present }}

Jaime Elizabeth Pressly (born July 30, 1977) is an American actress and model. She is best known for playing Joy Turner on the NBC sitcom ''My Name Is Earl'', for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards, winning one, as well as a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has also appeared in films such as ''Joe Dirt'', ''DOA: Dead or Alive'' and ''I Love You, Man''.

Early life

Pressly was born in Kinston, North Carolina, the daughter of James List Pressly and Brenda Sue (née Smith), a dance instructor. She has two siblings: sister Jessica and brother James Liston Pressly, Jr. She has spent 11 years studying gymnastics and dancing.

Pressly attended Costa Mesa High School in California, where her mother had moved while her parents were going through a divorce. By age 14, she was the spokeswoman for her modeling agency "International Cover Model Search" and had begun to gain recognition for her modeling in the USA, as well as in Italy and Japan. Pressly subsequently sought and succeeded in having herself legally emancipated from her parents at the age of 15 so she could take up a modeling job in Japan; neither of parents could make the trip, so she had to be emancipated to go on her own.

Career

Pressly starred as "Violet" in the 1997 film ''Poison Ivy: The New Seduction''. In 1998 she starred as "Nikki" on the short-lived TV series "Push", and also played a recurring role as the undead assassin Mika in the TV action series ''Mortal Kombat: Conquest''. From 1999 to 2001, Pressly starred as "Audrey" on the drama series ''Jack and Jill''.

Pressly starred in the independent film ''Poor White Trash'', playing scheming gold-digger Sandy Lake. She subsequently appeared in a number of films, including ''Not Another Teen Movie'' (playing Priscilla, a high school cheerleader) and ''Torque'', as a crazed, motorcycle-riding criminal.

In 2001, she was made the new spokesmodel for Liz Claiborne Cosmetics and its fragrance Lucky You. In 2002, she was ranked #8 in ''Stuff'' magazine's "102 Sexiest Women in the World". In 2003, she launched a lingerie line, J'Aime, which later became a full sleepwear and ready-to-wear line. In 2006, ''Maxim'' magazine named her #34 on its annual list; she is also featured in its gallery. Pressly posed nude for the March 1998 and February 2004 issues of ''Playboy''. She also appeared nude in the May 2006 issue of ''Allure''.

Pressly guest starred in episodes of several TV shows. In an episode of the WB series ''Charmed'', played Mylie, a mermaid trying to find love; (Alyssa Milano, who played Phoebe, later guest starred on ''My Name is Earl''.) Other series in which Pressly guest starred were ''The Twilight Zone'', ''Fastlane'', ''Becker''. ''Night Man'' and ''Silk Stalkings''. She also appeared in an episode of the prank series ''Punk'd''.

In 2005, Pressly was cast in the NBC sitcom ''My Name Is Earl'', as Joy Turner. In 2007 she won the Emmy Award for ''Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series'' for her work on the show. She has also been nominated for several other awards.

Pressly sang "Fever" in an appearance with the band The Pussycat Dolls. She has also appeared in a number of music videos, including "The Space Between" by Dave Matthews Band, "Girls of Summer" by Aerosmith and the Marilyn Manson cover of "Tainted Love". On May 31, 2006, she hosted the first annual ''VH1 Rock Honors''.

Pressly was a producer as well as a star in the 2005 movie ''Death to the Supermodels''. She hosted the October 7, 2006 episode of ''Saturday Night Live''. Prior to this, she guest starred on an episode of ''MADtv'' from season eleven, where she played Hillary Clinton in a parody of ''My Name Is Earl'', "My Name Is Dubya", in which George W. Bush (Frank Caliendo) makes a list of all the bad things he's done in the past and rectifies them one by one. She is featured in the 2008 video game ''Saints Row 2'' in which she plays lead role Jessica, a lieutenant for the fictitious Brotherhood gang.

On December 3, 2009, it was announced that Jaime will guest-star on an upcoming episode of the CBS comedy, ''Rules of Engagement''. She will play a possible surrogate mother for Jeff and Audrey (Patrick Warburton and Megyn Price). She reprised her role in the 5th season premiere.

She is in the new music video for "Pray For You" by Jaron And The Long Road To Love.

In 2010 she became the spokesperson for the "AXE Detailer Will Clean Your Dirty Balls" ad campaign for AXE Shower Gel. The ad employs double entendres, talking to men, but showing different types of sports equipment/balls.

On May 16, 2011, it was announced that Jaime will appear in a Fox comedy slated to premiere next season.

Personal life

Friends for nine years since 1996, she started dating DJ Eric Calvo (aka DJ Eric Cubeechee) in 2004. After Pressly became pregnant, the two became engaged in October 2006. Pressly gave birth on May 11, 2007 at 7:31 a.m. in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to their first child Dezi James Calvo. In a February 2007 interview on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', Pressly said she wants the child to be bilingual (English/Spanish) to reflect Calvo's Cuban heritage. Pressly told ''People'' magazine the name is part of a running joke, as Cuban-American Calvo does a Desi Arnaz impersonation, calling Pressly "Luuucy" when he comes home at night In November 2008 the couple announced their separation.

Pressly said in a 2006 interview with ''Esquire'' magazine that she almost purchased a ticket for a flight on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, but decided not to take the flight because she felt it left too early in the morning.

In July 2009, Pressly became engaged to entertainment lawyer Simran Singh. They married on September 26, 2009 at the Dick Clark Estate. Guests, including Pressly's two-year-old son Dezi James, attended the ceremony on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Pressly was arrested in Santa Monica, California on the night of January 5, 2011 for suspicion of driving under the influence. On August 25, 2011, she pleaded no contest and received three years of informal probation.

On January 21, 2011, Pressly filed for divorce from Singh, citing irreconcilable differences. In her divorce petition, Pressly listed the couple's date of separation as December 27, 2010, nine days before her DUI arrest.

Filmography

+ Film
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
1997	''Poison Ivy: The New Seduction''	Violet	Straight-to-video
1997	The Journey: Absolution	Allison
1997		Sally
1998	''Can't Hardly Wait''	Beth	Credited as "Jamie Pressly"
1998	''Mortal Kombat: Conquest''	Mika
1998		Angel
1999		Dottie Matthews
2000	''100 Girls''	Cynthia
2000		Sandy Lake
2001	''Not Another Teen Movie''	Priscilla
2001		Claire Manning
2001	''Joe Dirt''	Jill
2001		Tricia
2002	''Demon Island''	Tina
2004		China
2005	''Death to the Supermodels''	Tiffany Courtney	Straight-to-video
2006	''DOA: Dead or Alive''	Tina Armstrong
2008	''Saints Row 2''		Voice
2008		Mrs. Quilligan	Voice
2009	''I Love You, Man''	Denise
2010	''The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure''	Lola
2010	''6 Month Rule''	Claire

+ Television
! Year	! Title	! Role	Notes
2002	''Charmed''	Mylie	Episode "A Witch's Tail: Part 1"
2003		Grace	Episode "Sister Spoils the Turkey"
2004	''The Karate Dog''	Ashley Wilkenson	TV movie
2005		Herself
2005–2009	''My Name Is Earl''	Joy Turner	Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Comedy SeriesNominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television FilmNominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Comedy SeriesNominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television FilmNominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
2010		Audrey's surrogate mother Pam Milton	Episodes "The Surrogate" and "Surro-gate"
2010	"Smoke Screen"	Britt Shelley	TV movie	2010	''Beauty and the Briefcase''	Kate	TV movie
2011	''Raising Hope''	Donna	Episode "Baby Monitor"

References

External links

Middletown Journal interview (March 2, 2006)

About.com interview (December 2001)

Dr. Drew interview

Category:1977 births Category:Models from North Carolina Category:American film actors Category:American television actors Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Living people Category:Actors from North Carolina Category:People from Lenoir County, North Carolina

de:Jaime Pressly es:Jaime Pressly fr:Jaime Pressly it:Jaime Pressly he:ג'יימי פרסלי nl:Jaime Pressly ja:ジェイミー・プレスリー no:Jaime Pressly pl:Jaime Pressly pt:Jaime Pressly ru:Прессли, Джейми simple:Jaime Pressly sh:Jaime Pressly fi:Jaime Pressly sv:Jaime Pressly tl:Jaime Pressly tr:Jaime Pressly