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James Haven (born James Haven Voight; May 11, 1973)^[1] is an American actor and producer. He is the son of actor Jon Voight and the brother of actress Angelina Jolie.

Early life[link]

Haven was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. He is the brother of actress Angelina Jolie and the nephew of singer-songwriter Chip Taylor.^[1] On his father's side, Haven is of German and Slovak descent,^[2][3] and on his mother's side, he is of French Canadian, Dutch, and German ancestry.^[2] He is also said to be part Iroquois through his mother,^[4] although Voight has claimed that Bertrand was "not seriously Iroquois."^[5]

After his parents' separation in 1976, Haven and his sister were raised by their mother, who abandoned her acting ambitions and moved with them to Palisades, New York. When he was 13, the family moved back to Los Angeles,^[6] where he attended Beverly Hills High School. Following graduation, he enrolled at the USC School of Cinema-Television. While at the university, he received a George Lucas Award for a student film he directed starring his sister.^[1]

Career[link]

Haven began his professional acting career in 1998. He had minor roles in several films starring his sister, Angelina Jolie, namely Gia (1998), Hell's Kitchen (1998), and Original Sin (2001), as well as in Monster's Ball (2001), which starred his sister's then-husband, Billy Bob Thornton. He also appeared in a 2004 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and a 2007 episode of The Game.

In 2005, Haven was the executive producer of the documentary Trudell, which chronicles the life and work of Santee Sioux musician and activist John Trudell. Trudell was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival, and won the Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival.^[7] In 2011, he also served as executive producer to the short comedy film That's Our Mary, which follows two actresses awaiting the final casting decision for the role of the Virgin Mary at a faith–based film studio.

Since 2006, Haven has been the executive board director of Artivist, a festival in Los Angeles that highlights films addressing human rights, animal rights, and environmental issues.^[8]

Personal life[link]

Haven was the subject of tabloid speculation of an incestuous relationship with his sister, Angelina Jolie, after he attended the Oscars with her in 2000. During her acceptance speech for Best Supporting Actress, Jolie said, "I'm so in love with my brother right now," which, combined with a kiss he gave her on the mouth that night, sparked rumors in the tabloid media. Haven dismissed the speculation, stating that the incident "was totally misconstrued."^[9]

Like his sister, Haven was estranged from their father for several years, during which he legally dropped "Voight" as his surname.^[10] In the wake of his mother's death from ovarian cancer on January 27, 2007,^[10] he reconciled with his father after a six-year estrangement.^[11] Haven became a born-again Christian in 2009.^[12]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Haven

• James Haven at the Internet Movie Database
• Artivist, an organization supported by Haven

Jon Voight
Voight in Los Angeles in October 2011
Born	Jonathan Vincent Voight (1938-12-29) December 29, 1938 (age 73) Yonkers, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Catholic University of America
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1958–present
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Lauri Peters (1962–1967; divorced) Marcheline Bertrand (1971–1980; divorced)
Children	James Haven Angelina Jolie
Family	Chip Taylor (brother)
Awards	Golden Globe Award, Academy Award

Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight (/vɔɪt/) (born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. He has won one Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie.

Voight came to prominence in the late 1960s with his performance as a would-be gigolo in Midnight Cowboy (1969). During the 1970s, he became a Hollywood star with his portrayals of a businessman mixed up with murder in Deliverance (1972), a paraplegic Vietnam veteran in Coming Home (1978), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, and a penniless ex-boxing champion in The Champ (1979).

Although his output slowed during the 1980s, Voight received critical acclaim for his performance as a ruthless bank robber in Runaway Train (1985). During the 1990s, he most notably starred as an unscrupulous showman attorney in The Rainmaker (1997). Voight gave critically acclaimed biographical performances during the 2000s, appearing as sportscaster Howard Cosell in Ali (2001), as Nazi officer Jürgen Stroop in Uprising (2001), and as Pope John Paul II in the television miniseries of the same name (2005).

Personal life[link]

Voight was born in Yonkers, New York,^[1] the son of Barbara (née Kamp; 1910–1995) and Elmer Voight (né Voytka; 1909–1973),^[2] a professional golfer. He has two brothers, Barry Voight (born 1937), a former volcanologist at Pennsylvania State University,^[3] and Wesley Voight (born 1940), known as Chip Taylor, a singer-songwriter who penned "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning". Voight's paternal grandfather was a Slovak immigrant from Košice,^[2][4] then under Austro-Hungarian rule, while his maternal grandfather and his maternal grandmother's parents were immigrants from Germany.^[2]

Voight was raised as a Catholic,^[5] and attended Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, New York, where he first took an interest in acting, playing the comedic role of Count Pepi Le Loup in the school's annual musical, The Song of Norway. Following his graduation in 1956, he enrolled at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he majored in art and graduated with a B.A. in 1960. After graduation, Voight moved to New York City, where he pursued an acting career.

In 1962, Voight married actress Lauri Peters, whom he met when they both appeared in a production of The Sound of Music. They divorced in 1967 after five years of marriage. He married actress Marcheline Bertrand in 1971. They separated in 1976, filed for divorce in 1978, and divorced in 1980. Their children, James Haven (born 1973) and Angelina Jolie (born 1975), would go on to enter the film business, Haven as an actor and producer, and Jolie as a movie star in her own right. Voight was estranged from his children for several years, but they reconciled in 2007 after Bertrand's death.^[6]

Career[link]

1960s[link]

In the early sixties, Voight found work in television, appearing in several episodes of Gunsmoke, between 1962 and 1966, as well as guest spots on Naked City, and The Defenders, both in 1963, and Twelve O'Clock High, in 1966.

His theatre career took off in January 1965, playing Rodolfo in Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge in an Off-Broadway revival.

Voight's film debut did not come until 1967, when he took a part in Phillip Kaufman's crimefighter spoof, Fearless Frank. Voight also took a small role in 1967's western, Hour of the Gun, directed by veteran helmer John Sturges. In 1968 Voight took a role in director Paul Williams' Out of It.

In 1969, Voight was cast in the groundbreaking Midnight Cowboy, a film that would make his career. Voight played Joe Buck, a naïve male hustler from Texas, adrift in New York City. He comes under the tutelage of Dustin Hoffman's Ratso Rizzo, a tubercular petty thief and con artist. The film explored late sixties New York and the development of an unlikely, but poignant friendship between the two main characters. Directed by John Schlesinger and based on a novel by James Leo Herlihy, the film struck a chord with critics and audiences. Because of its controversial themes, the film was released with an X rating and would make history by being the only X-rated feature to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Both Voight and co-star Hoffman were nominated for Best Actor, but lost out to John Wayne in True Grit.

1970s[link]

In 1970 Voight appeared in Mike Nichols' adaptation of Catch-22, and re-teamed with director Paul Williams to star in The Revolutionary, as a left wing college student struggling with his conscience.

Voight next appeared in 1972's Deliverance. Directed by John Boorman, from a script that poet James Dickey had helped to adapt from his novel of the same name, it tells the story of a canoe trip gone awry in a feral, backwoods America. The film and the performances of Voight and co-star Burt Reynolds received great critical acclaim and were popular with audiences.

Voight played a directionless young boxer in 1973's The All American Boy, then appeared in the 1974 film, Conrack, directed by Martin Ritt. Based on Pat Conroy's autobiographical novel The Water Is Wide, Voight portrayed the title character, an idealistic young schoolteacher sent to teach underprivileged black children on a remote South Carolina island. The same year he appeared in The Odessa File, based on Frederick Forsyth's thriller, as Peter Miller, a young German journalist who discovers a conspiracy to protect former Nazis still operating within Germany. This film first teamed him with the actor-director Maximilian Schell, who acted out a character named, and based on, "Butcher Of Riga" Eduard Roschmann, and for whom Voight would appear in 1976's End of the Game, a psychological thriller based on a story by Swiss novelist and playwright, Friedrich Dürrenmatt.

Voight was Steven Spielberg's first choice for the role of Matt Hooper in the 1975 blockbuster Jaws, but he turned down the role, which was ultimately played by Richard Dreyfuss.^[7]

In 1978, Voight portrayed the paraplegic Vietnam veteran Luke Martin in Hal Ashby's film Coming Home. Voight, who was awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival, for his portrait of an embittered paraplegic, reportedly based on real-life Vietnam veteran-turned-anti-war activist Ron Kovic, with whom Fonda's character falls in love. The film included a much-talked-about love scene between the two. Jane Fonda won her second Best Actress award for her role, and Voight won for Best Actor in a Leading Role.^[8]

In 1979, Voight once again put on boxing gloves, starring in 1979's remake of the 1931 Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper vehicle, The Champ, with Voight playing the part of an alcoholic ex-heavyweight and a young Rick Schroder playing the role of his adoring son. The film was an international success, but less popular with American audiences.

1980s[link]

Voight at the Academy Awards in 1988

He next re-teamed with director Ashby in 1982's Lookin' to Get Out, in which he played Alex Kovac, a con man who has run into debt with New York mobsters and hopes to win enough in Las Vegas to pay them off. Voight both co-wrote the script and also co-produced. He also produced and acted in 1983's Table for Five, in which he played a widower bringing up his children by himself.

In 1985, Voight teamed up with Russian writer and director Andrei Konchalovsky to play the role of escaped con Manny Manheim in Runaway Train. The script was based on a story by Akira Kurosawa, and paired Voight with Eric Roberts as a fellow escapee. Voight received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and won the Golden Globe's award for Best Actor. Roberts was also honored for his performance, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Voight followed up this and other performances with a role in the 1986 film, Desert Bloom, and reportedly experienced a "spiritual awakening" toward the end of the decade. In 1989 Voight starred in and helped write Eternity, which dealt with a television reporter's efforts to uncover corruption.

1990s[link]

He made his first foray into television movies, acting in 1991's Chernobyl: The Final Warning, followed by The Last of his Tribe, in 1992. He followed with 1992's The Rainbow Warrior for ABC, the story of the ill-fated Greenpeace ship sunk by French operatives in the Auckland harbour. For the remainder of the decade, Voight would alternate between feature films and television movies, including a starring role in the 1993 miniseries Return to Lonesome Dove, a continuation of Larry McMurtry's western saga, 1989's Lonesome Dove. Voight played Captain Woodrow F. Call, the part played by Tommy Lee Jones in the original miniseries. Voight made a cameo appearance as himself on the Seinfeld episode "The Mom & Pop Store" airing November 17, 1994, in which George Costanza buys a car that appears to be owned by Jon Voight. Voight described the process leading up to the episode in an interview on the Red Carpet at the 2006 BAFTA Emmy Awards:

Well what happened was I was asked to be on Seinfeld. They said: "Would you do a Seinfeld?" And I said, and I just happened to know to see a few Seinfelds and I knew these guys were really tops; they were really, really clever guys, and I liked the show. And so I said "Sure!" and I thought they would ask me to do a walk-on, the way it came: "Would you come be part of the show?" And I said "Yeah, sure I'll do it." You know what I mean? Then I got the script and my name was on every page because it was about my car. And I laughed; it was hysterically funny. So I was really delighted to do it. The writer came up to me and he said "Jon, would you come take a look at my car to see if you ever owned it?", because the writer wrote it from a real experience where someone sold him the car based on the fact that it was my car. And I went down and I looked at the car and I said "No, I never had this car." So unfortunately I had to give him the bad news. But it was a funny episode.^[9]

Voight at the Cannes Film Festival in 1993

In 1995, Voight played a role in the film, Heat, directed by Michael Mann, and appeared in the television films Convict Cowboy, and The Tin Soldier, also directing the latter film.

Voight next appeared in 1996's blockbuster Mission: Impossible, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Tom Cruise. Voight played the role of spymaster James Phelps, a role originated by Peter Graves in the television series. His performance proved unpopular with fans of the series, who criticised him for taking over the role from actor Peter Graves and playing the character as one of the villains.

The year 1997 was a busy time for Voight in which he appeared in six films, beginning with Rosewood, based on the 1923 destruction of the primarily black town of Rosewood, Florida, by the white residents of nearby Sumner. Voight played John Wright, a white Rosewood storeowner who follows his conscience and protects his black customers from the white rage. Voight next appeared in Anaconda. Set in the Amazon, Voight played Paul Sarone, a snake hunter obsessed with a fabled giant anaconda, who hijacks an unwitting National Geographic film crew looking for a remote Indian tribe. Voight next appeared in a cameo role in Oliver Stone's U Turn, portraying a blind man. Voight took a supporting role in The Rainmaker, adopted from the John Grisham novel and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. He played an unscrupulous lawyer representing an insurance company, facing off with a neophyte lawyer played by Matt Damon. His last film of 1997 was Boys Will Be Boys, a family comedy directed by Dom DeLuise.

The following year, Voight had the lead role in the television movie The Fixer, in which he played Jack Killoran, a lawyer who crosses ethical lines in order to "fix" things for his wealthy clients. A near-fatal accident awakens his dormant conscience and Killoran soon runs afoul of his former clients. He also took a substantial role in Tony Scott's 1998 political thriller, Enemy of the State, in which Voight played Will Smith's stalwart antagonist from the NSA .

Voight was reunited with director Boorman in 1998's The General. Set in Dublin, Ireland, the film tells the true-life story of the charismatic leader of a gang of thieves, Martin Cahill, at odds with both the police and the IRA. Voight portrays Inspector Ned Kenny, determined to bring Cahill to justice.

Voight next appeared in 1999's Varsity Blues. Voight played a blunt, autocratic football coach, pitted in a test of wills against his star player, portrayed by James Van Der Beek. Produced by fledgling MTV Pictures, the film became a surprise hit and helped connect Voight with a younger audience.

Voight played Noah in the 1999 television production Noah's Ark, and appeared in Second String, also for TV. He also appeared with Cheryl Ladd in the feature A Dog of Flanders, a remake of a popular film set in Belgium.

2000s[link]

Voight next portrayed President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 2001's action/war film, Pearl Harbor, having accepted the role when Gene Hackman declined (his performance was received favorably by critics). Also that year, he appeared as Lord Croft, father of the title character of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Based on the popular video game, the digital adventuress was played on the big screen by Voight's own real-life daughter, Angelina Jolie.

That year, he also appeared in Zoolander, directed by Ben Stiller who starred as the title character, a vapid supermodel with humble roots. Voight appeared as Zoolander's coal-miner father. The film extracted both pathos and cruel humor from the scenes of Zoolander's return home, when he entered the mines alongside his father and brothers and Voight's character expressed his unspoken disgust at his son's chosen profession.

Also in 2001, Voight joined Leelee Sobieski, Hank Azaria and David Schwimmer in the made-for-television movie Uprising, which was based on the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto. Voight played Major-General Juergen Stroop, the German officer responsible for the destruction of the Jewish resistance, and received an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Director Michael Mann tagged Voight for a small but crucial role in the 2001 biopic Ali, which starred Will Smith as the controversial former heavyweight champ, Muhammad Ali. Voight was almost unrecognizable under his make-up and toupee, as he impersonated the sports broadcaster Howard Cosell. Voight received his fourth Academy Award nomination, this time for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his performance, extending his reign as one of Hollywoods most talented actors.

Also in 2001, he appeared in the television mini-series Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story along with Vanessa Redgrave, Matthew Modine, Richard Attenborough, and Mia Sara.

In the critically acclaimed CBS miniseries Pope John Paul II, released in December 2005, Voight, who was raised a Catholic, portrayed the pontiff from the time of his election until his death, garnering an Emmy nomination for the role.

In 2003, he played the role of Mr. Sir in Holes. In 2004, Voight joined Nicolas Cage, in National Treasure as Patrick Gates, the father of Cage's character. In 2006, he was Kentucky Wildcats head coach Adolph Rupp in the Disney hit Glory Road. In 2007, he played United States Secretary of Defense John Keller in the summer blockbuster Transformers, reuniting him with Holes star Shia LaBeouf. Also in 2007, Voight reprised his role as Patrick Gates in National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

In 2008, Voight played Jonas Hodges, the villain, in the seventh season of the hit Fox drama 24, a role that many argue is based on real life figures Alfried Krupp, Johann Rall and Erik Prince. Voight plays the CEO of a fictitious Arms industry called Starkwood, which has loose resemblances to Blackwater USA and ThyssenKrupp. Voight made his first appearance in the two-hour prequel episode 24: Redemption on November 23. He then went on to recur for 10 episodes of Season 7. He joined Dennis Haysbert as the only two actors ever to have been credited with the "Special Guest Appearance" card on 24.

Political views[link]

Voight's first roles were almost uniformly counter-cultural. In his early life, his political views were liberal and he supported President John F. Kennedy, whose death "traumatized" him.^[10] He also worked for George McGovern's voter registrations efforts in the inner cities of Los Angeles.^[11] Voight actively protested against the Vietnam War.^[12] In the late 1970s, he made public appearances alongside Jane Fonda and Leonard Bernstein in support of the leftist Unidad Popular group in Chile.^[13]

In a July 28, 2008, op-ed in The Washington Times, he wrote that he regretted his youthful anti-war activism, calling it the result of "Marxist propaganda." He pointed in particular to the massive human rights abuses in Vietnam and Cambodia after the American withdrawal.^[12] Voight wrote about his political transformation:

We were traumatized in the Sixties and all of that behavior — the dancing in circles, the smoking pot and saying "all we need is love" — it was because we couldn't identify evil; we couldn't believe in evil — we didn't want to believe in evil so we just hid from it. It was a very disturbing time ... overwhelmingly, it was a very bizarre, selfish and hedonistic philosophy that wasn't very helpful. It attacked the family — the attack on the family was very severe because not only was there this idea of [indiscriminate love] and that would solve the world's problems, which gave rise to teen pregnancy, but also this idea not to trust anyone over 30. This was from people who were over 30 and bombed out of their minds with every kind of drug they could put into their system. Then there was the romanticization of the drugs — there were people coming out with [pseudo] scientific evidence that [drugs] increase your enlightenment — it was devastating. Today, I find that people look back at that time in a romantic way and that's as dangerous as anything is. It wasn't a romantic time. It was a time of great distortion.^[10]

On April 27, 2007, Voight spoke about criticism of George W. Bush in an interview with Bill O'Reilly on The O'Reilly Factor: "And they — what I hear, you know, talking about our president. When I hear people saying quite unthinkable things about our president, when I see our president defaced, which is defacing our country. He's the leader of our country. He's the leader of the free world. It — my heart is very heavy."^[14]

Voight endorsed former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for the 2008 Republican Party nomination. He contacted Giuliani's California finance chairperson and asked to work on the campaign. According to The New York Times, his role in Giuliani's group "brought some high-wattage celebrity to a campaign that was in distress." He worked a variety of supporting side roles in the Florida primary, such as warming up crowds. He stated on that trail that New York City had become a much safer city in the 1990s, once remarking, "God sent an angel; his name was Rudy Giuliani."^[15] In another interview in Miami with AventuraUSA.com, Voight said he first met Giuliani "years ago" at a movie premiere in New York City and the main reason for his support was Giuliani's public poise in the wake of the September 11 attacks.^[16]

In March 2008, Voight appeared at a rally aboard the USS Midway in San Diego, California, for the kick-off of Vets for Freedom's National Heroes Tour.^[17] In an April 11, 2008, interview on the CNN Headline News Glenn Beck Show Voight stated that he had thrown his support to Republican Senator John McCain for President.^[18]

In May 2008, Voight paid a solidarity visit to Israel in honor of its 60th birthday. "I'm coming to salute, encourage and strengthen the people of Israel on this joyous 60th birthday," said Voight. "This week is about highlighting Israel as a moral beacon. At a time when its enemies threaten nuclear destruction, Israel heals."^[19] On July 28, 2008, he wrote an editorial in The Washington Times critical of then-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.^[12] Also in the article, Voight accused four-star General and former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO Wesley Clark of having "shame upon him, having been relieved of his command"^[20] and said that Clark "has done their ['the Obama camp's'] bidding and become a lying fool in his need to demean a fellow soldier and a true hero."^[20] In August 2011, Voight visited terror victims at Soroka Medical Center in the Negev after attacks from Gaza.^[21]

In September 2008, Voight appeared in a video from the Republican National Convention admonishing viewers to support the United States military. He also provided the narration for a video biography of Alaska governor Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, that appeared on McCain's campaign website. Voight was a guest at the 2008 Republican National Convention.

On June 8, 2009, Voight hosted a Republican congressional fundraiser, and he also made his own speech within the event, criticizing President Obama. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich praised Voight's speech.^[22] McConnell told Voight about his speech: "I really enjoyed that."^[23] On June 10, 2009, on the topic of Voight's fundraiser speech, Glenn Beck told Voight in a radio interview: "It's good not to be alone. It's good not to be alone."^[24] In a June 13, 2009, article, New York Times columnist Frank Rich said of Voight's speech, in which Voight called to "bring an end to this false prophet Obama," that: "This kind of rhetoric, with its pseudo-Scriptural call to action, is toxic."^[25]

When appearing on Governor Mike Huckabee's Fox News talk show, Voight said Obama was arrogant, caused civil unrest, and stood for all that this country was against during its past. He went on to state:

"I'm here to validate all the millions of people who are opposed to the Obama healthcare. We're witnessing a slow and steady takeover of our true freedoms. We're becoming a socialist nation, and Obama is causing civil unrest in this country ... The stimulus didn't work ... We're being told what cars we can drive, how much we can make ... Obama has made this [healthcare] a personal crusade now ... As we can see it really is about him. He is arrogant and he's adamant that he's going to get this passed ... He's trying everything, even the so-called God card. If you love God, he tells us, then it's your duty to vote this healthcare bill in ... They're taking away God's first gift to man. Our free will."^[26]

Voight's comments drew harsh criticism from Dallas Morning News columnist Rod Dreher, whose article appeared in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on September 16, 2009. Wrote Dreher:^[27]

Last weekend, I tuned into a Fox program hosted by the avuncular former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, of whom I am a fan. There sat actor Jon Voight, staring gravely at the host, who praised the thespian's "courage." ... Voight then accused the president of trying to depose God and deify himself — as, according to the Book of Revelation, the Antichrist will do. It may sound ridiculous — after all, who looks to celebrities for political wisdom? — but it's deadly serious to millions of Americans. To his great discredit, Huckabee, a pastor, let this crazy talk pass unchallenged.

In a letter released on September 11, 2009, Voight accused his former Coming Home co-star, Jane Fonda, of "aiding and abetting those who seek the destruction of Israel".^[28] Fonda was one of more than 50 celebrities who signed an online petition letter by John Greyson in which Greyson said he would pull his film Covered from the Toronto International Film Festival in protest over the Festival's "inaugural City-to-City Spotlight on Tel Aviv".^[29] Greyson's belief was that the spotlight on Tel Aviv would mean that the Festival was facilitating a propaganda campaign for the Israeli government.^[28][29]

Voight's letter said in part:

... people like Jane Fonda and all the names on that letter are assisting the Palestinian propagandists against the State of Israel. ... Jane Fonda's whole idea of the 'poor Palestinians,' and 'look how many Palestinians the Israelis killed in Gaza,' is misconstrued. Does she not remember what actually took place in Gaza? Did Israel not give the Palestinians of Gaza the hope that there could be peace? In response, did Hamas not launch rockets from Gaza into Israel, killing many innocent people? This seems to me to be another one of Jane Fonda's misplaced 'patriotic' duties toward the wrong people. I was in Israel. I saw the rockets coming down on Sderot, and visited many families who lost their loved ones. How long can a democratic country keep from defending itself? Time and again, [Israel] offered the Palestinians land. They always refused. They don't want a piece of the pie, they want the whole pie. They will not be happy until they see Israel in the sea.^[28]

Fonda later explained that she had regretted signing the petition, saying that she had signed the letter ...

... without reading it carefully enough, without asking myself if some of the wording wouldn't exacerbate the situation rather than bring about constructive dialogue ... In the hyper-sensitized reality of the region in which any criticism of Israel is swiftly and often unfairly branded as anti-Semitic, it can become counterproductive to inflame rather than explain and this means to hear the narratives of both sides, to articulate the suffering on both sides, not just the Palestinians. By neglecting to do this, the letter allowed good people to close their ears and their hearts.^[30]

In November 2009 Voight was a featured speaker, at a Tea Party protesting the healthcare reform legislation, and again at a rally outside the capital on March 20, 2010. During his speech at the capital, Voight stated the White House was using "radical Chicago tactics" in hopes to pass health care reform.^[31]

In June 2010, the Washington Times published An open letter to President Obama from Jon Voight, calling President Obama a liar and promoter of anti-Semitism.

In January 2012, he endorsed Mitt Romney for the Republican 2012 nomination.^[32]

Filmography[link]

Other awards[link]

• 1967, Theatre World Award for That Summer
• 1979, ShoWest Convention Award for Male Star of the Year
• 1995, Giffoni Film Festival François Truffaut Award
• 2001, National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Career Achievement Award
• 2007, Montreal World Film Festival Grand Prix Special des Amériques for exceptional contribution to the cinematographic art
• 2009, CineVegas Marquee Award

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Potton, Ed (2007-09-22). "Jon Voight on making Deliverance". The Times (London). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article2483299.ece. Retrieved 2007-09-23. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jon Voight

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Jon Voight

• Jon Voight at the Internet Movie Database
• Jon Voight at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jon Voight at the Internet Off-Broadway Database

Marcia Lynne "Marcheline" Bertrand^[1] (May 9, 1950 – January 27, 2007) was an American actress and producer. She also co-founded the All Tribes Foundation, to culturally and economically benefit Native Americans, and the Give Love Give Life organization, to raise public awareness of women's cancers. Bertrand was the former wife of actor Jon Voight and the mother of actress Angelina Jolie and actor James Haven. She died of ovarian cancer at the age of 56.

Early life[link]

Born at St. Francis Hospital in Blue Island, Illinois, Bertrand was brought up in the nearby small town of Riverdale.^[2] Her parents were Lois June (née Gouwens; 1928–1973) and Rolland F. Bertrand (1923–1985).^[1] She had two younger siblings: a sister, Debbie, and a brother, Raleigh.^[3] Bertrand was of French Canadian, Dutch, and German descent.^[1] She also claimed to be of Iroquois ancestry,^[4][5] although her former husband, Jon Voight, once said that Bertrand was "not seriously Iroquois."^[6] According to her daughter, Angelina Jolie, Bertrand was often wrongly identified as a French actress, with Jolie saying, "My mom is as far from French Parisian as you can get. She grew up in a bowling alley that my grandparents owned."^[5] In 1965, Bertrand's family moved from the Chicago area to Beverly Hills, California, where she attended Beverly Hills High School from sophomore year through graduation.^[7]

Film career[link]

During her early years as an actress, Bertrand studied with Lee Strasberg.^[8] In 1971, she played Connie in the episode "Love, Peace, Brotherhood and Murder" on the fourth season of the television show Ironside. In 1982, she appeared in a minor role in Lookin' to Get Out, a film co-written by and starring her former husband, Jon Voight. The following year, Bertrand played her final film role in the comedy The Man Who Loved Women, a remake of the French film of the same name.

Bertrand then turned her attention toward producing. In 1983, she founded Woods Road Productions with her then-partner Bill Day. In 2005, Bertrand was the executive producer of the documentary Trudell, which chronicles the life and work of Santee Sioux musician and activist John Trudell. Trudell was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival, and won the Special Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival.^[9]

Humanitarian work[link]

Bertrand and her partner John Trudell founded the All Tribes Foundation, to support the cultural and economic survival of Native peoples.^[10] By 2007, the foundation had issued over $800,000 in grants to reservation-based programs that strengthen tribal ways of life and safeguard a future for Native communities.^[10]

On International Women's Day in 2003, Bertrand and Trudell produced a benefit concert for Afghan women refugees in conjunction with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.^[10]

Bertrand, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1999,^[11] also founded the Give Love Give Life organization with Trudell; their objective was to raise public consciousness about ovarian and other gynecological cancers through the use of music.^[12] The first Give Love Give Life concert was held in February 2004 at The Roxy in West Hollywood.^[12] Bertrand and Trudell worked to organize strategic support in the music and film community for Johanna's Law, legislation to fund national outreach and education about the signs and symptoms of gynecological cancers, which was signed into law on January 12, 2007.^[12] To benefit the Women's Cancer Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a second Give Love Give Life concert was held at the Gibson Amphitheater in Los Angeles in February 2007, a month after Bertrand died from cancer.^[12]

Personal life[link]

Bertrand married actor Jon Voight on December 12, 1971.^[1] Following a miscarriage in 1972,^[2] they had two children, James Haven (born May 11, 1973) and Angelina Jolie (born June 4, 1975). Both their children are actors; Jolie credits her mother rather than her famous father with getting her involved in acting.^[13] Bertrand and Voight separated in 1976 as a result of Voight's adultery.^[8][14] She filed for divorce in 1978,^[11] which was finalized in 1980.^[14] Following her legal separation from Voight, Bertrand began a relationship with documentary-filmmaker Bill Day.^[15] They lived together for eleven years, but never married.^[16] During her later life, she was in a relationship with musician and activist John Trudell.^[17]

At the time of her death, Bertrand had three grandchildren by her daughter, Maddox, Zahara, and Shiloh.^[11] She chose the name Pax for her fourth grandchild, who was adopted by her daughter in March 2007.^[18] Her granddaughter Vivienne, born July 2008, received the middle name Marcheline in honor of Bertrand.^[19]

Death[link]

Toward the end of her life, Bertrand preferred to keep a low profile and did not grant interviews.^[11] She died at the age of 56 on January 27, 2007 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after an almost eight-year battle with ovarian cancer.^[11] Her children were with her at the time of her death.^[20][11] Bertrand's daughter stated that her mother's side of the family tended not to be long-lived, saying, "There is no longevity on my mother's side of the family. My grandmother also died young so my mother always thought it could happen to her."^[21]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Marcheline Bertrand at the Internet Movie Database
• Marcheline Bertrand at AllRovi
• Marcheline Bertrand memorial page
• Marcheline Bertrand's will
• Official site of Give Love Give Life

Angelina Jolie
Jolie at the Cannes premiere of The Tree of Life in 2011
Born	Angelina Jolie Voight (1975-06-04) June 4, 1975 (age 37) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Citizenship	United States, Cambodia, Sarajevo (honorary)
Occupation	Actress, director, writer, producer, humanitarian
Years active	1982; 1991–present
Spouse	Jonny Lee Miller (1996–1999) Billy Bob Thornton (2000–2003)
Partner	Brad Pitt (2005–present)
Children	6
Parents	Jon Voight Marcheline Bertrand
Relatives	James Haven (brother) Chip Taylor (uncle)

Angelina Jolie ( /dʒoʊˈliː/ joh-LEE, born Angelina Jolie Voight; June 4, 1975) is an American actress and director. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011.^[1][2] Jolie promotes humanitarian causes, and is noted for her work with refugees as a Special Envoy and former Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She has been cited as the world's "most beautiful" woman, a title for which she has received substantial media attention.^[3][4][5][6]

Jolie made her screen debut as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in Lookin' to Get Out (1982), but her film career began in earnest a decade later with the low-budget production Cyborg 2 (1993). Her first leading role in a major film was in the cyber-thriller Hackers (1995). She starred in the critically acclaimed biographical television films George Wallace (1997) and Gia (1998), and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted (1999).

Jolie achieved wide fame after her portrayal of video game heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), and established herself among the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood with the sequel The Cradle of Life (2003).^[7] She reinforced her reputation as a leading action star with Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) and Wanted (2008)—her biggest non-animated commercial successes to date^[8]—and received further critical acclaim for her performances in the dramas A Mighty Heart (2007) and Changeling (2008), which earned her a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Jolie made her directorial debut with the wartime drama In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011).

Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie now lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship notable for fervent media attention. Jolie and Pitt have three adopted children, Maddox, Pax, and Zahara, and three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne.

Early life and family[link]

Born in Los Angeles, California, Jolie is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. She is the sister of actor James Haven, niece of singer-songwriter Chip Taylor, and goddaughter of actors Jacqueline Bisset and Maximilian Schell. On her father's side, Jolie is of German and Slovak descent,^[9][10] and on her mother's side, she is of primarily French Canadian, Dutch, and German ancestry.^[9] Like her mother, Jolie has stated that she is part Iroquois;^[11] her only known Native ancestor was a Huron woman born in 1649.^[9]

Jon Voight at the Academy Awards in 1988; Jolie can be seen behind his right shoulder

After her parents' separation in 1976, Jolie and her brother lived with their mother, who abandoned her acting ambitions to focus on raising her children.^[12] As a child, Jolie regularly saw movies with her mother and later explained that this had inspired her interest in acting; she had not been influenced by her father.^[13] When she was six years old, her mother and stepfather, filmmaker Bill Day, moved the family to Palisades, New York;^[14] they returned to Los Angeles five years later. She then decided she wanted to act and enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, where she trained for two years and appeared in several stage productions.

At the age of 14, Jolie dropped out of her acting classes and aspired to become a funeral director.^[15] She began working as a fashion model, modeling mainly in Los Angeles, New York, and London. During this period, she wore black clothing, experimented with knife play, and went out moshing with her live-in boyfriend.^[13] Two years later, after the relationship had ended, she rented an apartment above a garage a few blocks from her mother's home.^[12] She graduated from high school and returned to theater studies, though in recent times she has referred to this period with the observation, "I am still at heart—and always will be—just a punk kid with tattoos."^[16]

Jolie suffered episodes of suicidal depression throughout her teens and early twenties.^[15] She felt isolated at Beverly Hills High School among the children of some of the area's affluent families, as her mother survived on a more modest income, and she was teased by other students, who targeted her for being extremely thin and for wearing glasses and braces.^[13] She found it difficult to emotionally connect with other people, and as a result she started to self-harm;^[17] later commenting, "I collected knives and always had certain things around. For some reason, the ritual of having cut myself and feeling the pain, maybe feeling alive, feeling some kind of release, it was somehow therapeutic to me."^[18] She also began experimenting with drugs; by the age of 20, she had tried "just about every drug possible," including heroin.^[19]

Jolie has had a difficult relationship with her father. Due to Voight's marital infidelity and the resulting breakup of her parents' marriage, she was estranged from her father for many years.^[20] They reconciled and he appeared with her in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), but their relationship again deteriorated.^[12] In July 2002, Jolie—who had long used her middle name as a stage name to establish her own identity as an actress—filed a request to legally drop Voight as her surname, which was granted on September 12, 2002.^[21] In August of that year, Voight claimed his daughter had "serious mental problems" on Access Hollywood.^[20] In response, Jolie released a statement in which she indicated that she no longer wished to pursue a relationship with her father.^[20] She explained that because she had adopted her son Maddox, she did not think it was healthy for her to associate with Voight.^[22] In the wake of her beloved mother's death from ovarian cancer on January 27, 2007,^[23] Jolie again reconciled with her father after a six-year estrangement.^[24]

Career[link]

Early work: 1982; 1991–1997[link]

When she was seven years old, Jolie had a small part in Lookin' to Get Out (1982), a movie co-written by and starring her father, Jon Voight. She committed to acting at the age of 16, but initially found it difficult to pass auditions, often being told that she was "too dark."^[15] She appeared in five of her brother's student films, made while he attended the USC School of Cinema-Television, as well as in several music videos, namely Lenny Kravitz's "Stand by My Woman" (1991), Antonello Venditti's "Alta Marea" (1991), The Lemonheads's "It's About Time" (1993), and Meat Loaf's "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through" (1993). She began to learn from her father, as she noticed his method of observing people to become like them. Their relationship during this time was less strained, with Jolie realizing that they were both "drama queens."^[13]

Jolie began her professional film career in 1993, when she played her first leading role in the low-budget, straight-to-video science-fiction sequel Cyborg 2, as Casella "Cash" Reese, a near-human robot, designed to seduce her way into a rival manufacturer's headquarters and then self-detonate. Jolie was so disappointed with the film that she did not audition again for a year.^[15] Following a supporting role in the independent film Without Evidence (1995), Jolie starred as Kate "Acid Burn" Libby in her first Hollywood picture, Hackers (1995). The New York Times wrote, "Kate (Angelina Jolie) stands out. That's because she scowls even more sourly than [her co-stars] and is that rare female hacker who sits intently at her keyboard in a see-through top. Despite her sullen posturing, which is all this role requires, Ms. Jolie has the sweetly cherubic looks of her father, Jon Voight."^[25] The movie failed to make a profit at the box office, but developed a cult following after its video release.^[26]

She next appeared in the 1996 comedy Love Is All There Is, a modern-day loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set among two rival Italian family restaurant owners in The Bronx, New York. In the road movie Mojave Moon (1996) she played a young woman who falls for Danny Aiello's middle-aged character, while he develops feelings for her mother, played by Anne Archer. That same year, Jolie also portrayed Margret "Legs" Sadovsky, one of five teenage girls who form an unlikely bond in the film Foxfire after they beat up a teacher who has sexually harassed them. The Los Angeles Times wrote about her performance, "It took a lot of hogwash to develop this character, but Jolie, Jon Voight's knockout daughter, has the presence to overcome the stereotype. Though the story is narrated by Maddy, Legs is the subject and the catalyst."^[27]

In 1997, Jolie starred with David Duchovny in the thriller Playing God, set in the Los Angeles underworld. The movie was not well-received by critics; Roger Ebert noted that "Angelina Jolie finds a certain warmth in a kind of role that is usually hard and aggressive; she seems too nice to be [a criminal's] girlfriend, and maybe she is."^[28] She then appeared in the television film True Women (1997), a historical romantic drama set in the American West and based on the book by Janice Woods Windle. That year, she also appeared as a stripper in the music video for "Anybody Seen My Baby?" by the Rolling Stones.

Breakthrough: 1998–2000[link]

Jolie's career prospects began to improve after she won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in TNT's George Wallace (1997). She portrayed Cornelia Wallace, the second wife of Alabama Governor George Wallace, played by Gary Sinise. The film was very well received by critics and won, among other awards, the Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film. Jolie also received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance.

In 1998, Jolie starred in HBO's Gia, portraying supermodel Gia Carangi. The film chronicled the destruction of Carangi's life and career as a result of her addiction to heroin, and her decline and death from AIDS in the mid-1980s. Vanessa Vance from Reel.com noted, "Angelina Jolie gained wide recognition for her role as the titular Gia, and it's easy to see why. Jolie is fierce in her portrayal—filling the part with nerve, charm, and desperation—and her role in this film is quite possibly the most beautiful train wreck ever filmed."^[29] For the second consecutive year, Jolie won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Emmy Award. She also won her first Screen Actors Guild Award.

In accordance with Lee Strasberg's method acting, Jolie preferred to stay in character in between scenes during many of her early films, and as a result had gained a reputation for being difficult to deal with. While shooting Gia, she told her then-husband Jonny Lee Miller that she would not be able to phone him: "I'd tell him: 'I'm alone; I'm dying; I'm gay; I'm not going to see you for weeks.'"^[30] After Gia wrapped in 1997, Jolie announced that she had given up acting for good, because she felt that she had "nothing else to give."^[31] She separated from Miller and moved to New York, where she enrolled at New York University to study filmmaking and attend writing classes; she later described it as "just good for me to collect myself."^[31] Encouraged by her Golden Globe Award win for George Wallace and the positive critical reception of Gia, she resumed her career.^[15]

Jolie returned to film in the 1998 gangster movie Hell's Kitchen. Later that year, she appeared in Playing by Heart, part of an ensemble cast that included Sean Connery, Gillian Anderson, Ryan Phillippe, and Jon Stewart. The film received predominantly positive reviews, and Jolie was praised in particular. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Jolie, working through an overwritten part, is a sensation as the desperate club crawler learning truths about what she's willing to gamble."^[32] Jolie won the Breakthrough Performance Award from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.

In 1999, she starred in the comedy-drama Pushing Tin, alongside John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, and Cate Blanchett. The film received a mixed reception from critics, and Jolie's character—Thornton's seductive wife—was particularly criticized. The Washington Post wrote, "Mary (Angelina Jolie) [is] a completely ludicrous writer's creation of a free-spirited woman who weeps over hibiscus plants that die, wears lots of turquoise rings and gets real lonely when Russell spends entire nights away from home."^[33] She then co-starred with Denzel Washington in The Bone Collector (1999), an adaptation of a crime novel by Jeffery Deaver. Jolie played a police officer haunted by her cop father's suicide, who reluctantly helps Washington track down a serial killer. The movie grossed $151 million worldwide,^[8] but was a critical failure. The Detroit Free Press concluded, "Jolie, while always delicious to look at, is simply and woefully miscast."^[34]

Jolie next took the supporting role of the sociopathic mental patient Lisa Rowe in Girl, Interrupted (1999), an adaptation of author Susanna Kaysen's memoir of the same name. While Winona Ryder played the main character in what was hoped to be a comeback for her, the film instead marked Jolie's final breakthrough in Hollywood.^[36] She won her third Golden Globe Award, her second Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Variety noted, "Jolie is excellent as the flamboyant, irresponsible girl who turns out to be far more instrumental than the doctors in Susanna's rehabilitation."^[37]

In 2000, Jolie appeared in her first summer blockbuster, Gone In 60 Seconds, in which she played Sarah "Sway" Wayland, the ex-girlfriend of car thief Nicolas Cage. The role was small, and The Washington Post criticized that "all she does in this movie is stand around, cooling down, modeling those fleshy, pulsating muscle-tubes that nest so provocatively around her teeth."^[38] She later explained that the film had been a welcome relief after the emotionally heavy role of Lisa Rowe. It became her highest grossing movie up until then, earning $237 million internationally.^[8]

International success: 2001–present[link]

Although highly regarded for her acting abilities, Jolie's films to date had often not appealed to a wide audience, but Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) made her an international superstar. An adaptation of the popular Tomb Raider videogame, Jolie was required to learn an English accent and undergo extensive martial arts training to play the title role of Lara Croft. She was generally praised for her physical performance, but the movie generated mostly negative reviews. Slant commented, "Angelina Jolie was born to play Lara Croft but [director] Simon West makes her journey into a game of Frogger."^[39] The movie was an international success nonetheless, earning $275 million worldwide,^[8] and launched her global reputation as a female action star.

Jolie then starred opposite Antonio Banderas as his mail-order bride in Original Sin (2001), a thriller based on the novel Waltz into Darkness by Cornell Woolrich. The film was a major critical failure, with The New York Times noting, "The story plunges more precipitously than Ms. Jolie's neckline."^[40] In 2002, she starred in Life or Something Like It as an ambitious television reporter who is told that she will die in a week. The film was poorly received by critics, though Jolie's performance received positive reviews. CNN's Paul Clinton wrote, "Jolie is excellent in her role. Despite some of the ludicrous plot points in the middle of the film, this Academy Award-winning actress is exceedingly believable in her journey towards self-discovery and the true meaning of fulfilling life."^[41]

Jolie at the Cologne premiere of Alexander in 2004

Jolie reprised her role as Lara Croft in Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003), which established her among Hollywood's highest-paid actresses.^[7] The sequel was not as lucrative as the original, earning $156 million at the international box office.^[8] She appeared in the music video for Korn's "Did My Time", which was used to promote the film. She next starred in Beyond Borders (2003), as a socialite who joins aid workers in Africa and Asia. The film reflected Jolie's real-life interest in promoting humanitarian relief, but it was critically and financially unsuccessful. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Jolie, as she did in her Oscar-winning role in Girl, Interrupted, can bring electricity and believability to roles that have a reality she can understand. She can also, witness the Lara Croft films, do acknowledged cartoons. But the limbo of a hybrid character, a badly written cardboard person in a fly-infested, blood-and-guts world, completely defeats her."^[42]

In 2004, Jolie starred alongside Ethan Hawke in the thriller Taking Lives. She portrayed an FBI profiler summoned to help Montreal law enforcement hunt down a serial killer. The movie received mixed reviews and The Hollywood Reporter concluded, "Angelina Jolie plays a role that definitely feels like something she has already done, but she does add an unmistakable dash of excitement and glamour."^[43] She also provided the voice of the angelfish Lola in the DreamWorks animated movie Shark Tale (2004), and had a brief appearance in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), a science fiction adventure film shot entirely with actors in front of a bluescreen. That same year, Jolie played Olympias in Alexander, about the life of Alexander the Great. The film failed domestically, which director Oliver Stone attributed to disapproval of the depiction of Alexander's bisexuality,^[44] but it succeeded internationally, with revenue of $139 million outside the United States.^[8]

Jolie then starred opposite Brad Pitt in the 2005 action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which tells the story of a bored married couple, John and Jane Smith, who find out that they are both secret assassins. The film received mixed reviews, but was generally lauded for the chemistry between the two leads. The Star Tribune noted, "While the story feels haphazard, the movie gets by on gregarious charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear screen chemistry."^[45] The movie earned $478 million worldwide, making it the seventh-highest grossing film of 2005.^[46]

Jolie as Christine Collins on the set of Changeling in 2007

Jolie next appeared in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd (2006), a film about the early history of the CIA, as seen through the eyes of Edward Wilson, an officer based on James Jesus Angleton and played by Matt Damon. Jolie played the supporting role of Margaret "Clover" Russell, Wilson's neglected wife. According to the Chicago Tribune, "Jolie ages convincingly throughout, and is blithely unconcerned with how her brittle character is coming off in terms of audience sympathy."^[47]

In 2007, Jolie made her directorial debut with the documentary A Place in Time, which captures daily life in 27 locations around the world during a single week. The film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and was intended for distribution to high schools through the National Education Association.^[48] Jolie then starred as Mariane Pearl in the documentary-style drama A Mighty Heart (2007). Based on Pearl's memoir of the same name, the film chronicles the kidnapping and murder of her husband, The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, in Pakistan. The Hollywood Reporter described Jolie's performance as "well-measured and moving," played "with respect and a firm grasp on a difficult accent."^[49] Jolie was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance. She also played Grendel's mother in the animated epic Beowulf (2007), which was created through the motion capture technique.

Jolie co-starred alongside James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman in the 2008 action movie Wanted, an adaptation of Mark Millar's graphic novel of the same name. The film received predominately favorable reviews and proved an international success, earning $342 million worldwide.^[8] She also provided the voice of Master Tigress in the DreamWorks animated movie Kung Fu Panda (2008). With revenue of $632 million internationally, it became the third-highest grossing film of 2008.^[50] That same year, Jolie took on the lead role in Clint Eastwood's drama Changeling.^[51] Based in part on the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, the film stars Jolie as Christine Collins, who is reunited with her kidnapped son in 1928 Los Angeles—only to realize the boy is an impostor. The Chicago Tribune noted, "Jolie really shines in the calm before the storm, the scenes [...] when one patronizing male authority figure after another belittles her at their peril."^[52] Jolie received nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a BAFTA Award.

Jolie on the Salt panel at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2010

Jolie next starred in the 2010 thriller Salt, her first film in two years. She starred alongside Liev Schreiber as CIA agent Evelyn Salt, who goes on the run after she is accused of being a KGB sleeper agent. Originally written as male, the character Salt underwent a gender change after a Colombia Pictures executive suggested Jolie for the role to director Phillip Noyce. The film was an international success with revenue of $294 million.^[8] It received mixed to positive reviews, with Jolie's performance earning praise; Empire remarked, "When it comes to selling incredible, crazy, death-defying antics, Jolie has few peers in the action business."^[53] She also starred opposite Johnny Depp in The Tourist (2010), which was a major critical failure. Peter Travers wrote, "Depp and Jolie hit career lows, producing the chemistry of high-fashion zombies."^[54] After a slow start at the domestic box office, the film went on to gross $278 million worldwide.^[8] Jolie received a controversial Golden Globe Award nomination, which was speculated to have been given merely to ensure her high-profile presence at the awards ceremony.^[55][56]

In 2011, Jolie reprised her voice role as Master Tigress in the animated DreamWorks sequel Kung Fu Panda 2. It became the fourth-highest grossing film of 2011 and Jolie's highest grossing film to date, earning $666 million at the international box office.^[8][57] She also made her directorial feature debut with In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011), a love story between a Serb soldier and a Bosniak prisoner of war, set during the 1992–95 Bosnian War. Jolie, who had twice visited Bosnia-Herzegovina in her capacity as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, explained that she made the film to rekindle attention for the survivors of a war that took place in recent history.^[58] The film, which Jolie also scripted and co-produced, aroused both praise and criticism in the Balkans; the response from Bosniak war-victims advocacy organizations was "overwhelmingly positive,"^[59] while a Serb war prisoners group decried the film for its alleged anti-Serb bias.^[60] Sarajevo's regional government named Jolie an honorary citizen of the capital for raising awareness of the war.^[61] In the Land of Blood and Honey won the Stanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild of America, which honors films that highlight provocative social issues.^[62] It also received a nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Jolie will play the Disney villain Maleficent in the upcoming film of the same name, where the character's background story will be revealed.^[63]

Humanitarian work[link]

Jolie stated that she first became personally aware of worldwide humanitarian crises while filming Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) in Cambodia.^[65] She contacted the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for information on international trouble spots.^[64] To learn more about the conditions in these areas, Jolie began visiting refugee camps around the world. In February 2001, she went on her first field visit, an 18-day mission to Sierra Leone and Tanzania; she later expressed her shock at what she had witnessed.^[64] In the following months, she returned to Cambodia for two weeks and met with Afghan refugees in Pakistan.^[66][67] She covered all costs related to her missions and shared the same rudimentary working and living conditions as UNHCR field staff on all of her visits.^[64] Jolie was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva on August 27, 2001.^[68]

Since then, Jolie has been on field missions around the world and met with refugees and internally displaced persons in more than 30 countries.^[69] Asked what she hoped to accomplish, she stated, "Awareness of the plight of these people. I think they should be commended for what they have survived, not looked down upon."^[66] Jolie aims to visit what she terms "forgotten emergencies," crises that media attention has shifted away from.^[70] She is noted for not shying away from traveling to areas that are at war:^[71] she visited the Darfur region of Sudan during the Darfur conflict in 2004;^[72] Chad during its civil war in 2007;^[73] Iraq during the Second Gulf War in 2007 and 2009;^[74][75] Afghanistan during the ongoing war in 2008 and 2011;^[76] and Libya during the Libyan revolution in 2011.^[77]

After more than a decade of service as Goodwill Ambassador, Jolie was promoted to the rank of Special Envoy of High Commissioner António Guterres on April 17, 2012. As Special Envoy, she represents the UNHCR and High Commissioner António Guterres at the diplomatic level and works to facilitate long-term solutions for people displaced by large-scale crises, such as Afghanistan and Somalia. "This is an exceptional position reflecting an exceptional role she has played for us," said a UNHCR spokesman.^[78]

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Jolie at World Refugee Day in 2005

In addition to her work with the UNHCR, Jolie uses her public profile to promote humanitarian causes through the mass media. Her early field visits were chronicled in her book Notes from My Travels, which was published in conjunction with the release of her film Beyond Borders (2003). She filmed a 2005 MTV special, The Diary of Angelina Jolie & Dr. Jeffrey Sachs in Africa, portraying her and noted economist Dr. Jeffrey Sachs on a trip to a remote group of villages in Western Kenya. Jolie has also regularly released public service announcements promoting World Refugee Day and other causes.

Over time, Jolie became more involved in promoting humanitarian causes on a political level. She has regularly attended World Refugee Day in Washington, D.C., and she was an invited speaker at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2005 and 2006. She also began lobbying humanitarian interests in the U.S. capital, where she met with members of Congress at least 20 times between 2003 and 2006, during which she pushed for several bills to aid refugees and vulnerable children in the Third World and the United States.^[68] She explained in 2006, "As much as I would love to never have to visit Washington, that's the way to move the ball."^[68] In 2007, she became a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.^[79]

Jolie has established several charitable organizations. In 2003, she founded the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation—named the Maddox Jolie Project until 2007—which is dedicated to community development and environmental conservation in Cambodia's northwestern province Battambang.^[80] In 2006, she partnered with the Global Health Committee to establish the Maddox Chivan Children's Center, a daycare facility for children afflicted and affected by HIV in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.^[81] That same year, she and her partner Brad Pitt founded the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, to aid humanitarian causes worldwide.^[82] In 2007, Jolie and noted economist Dr. Gene Sperling founded the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, which funds education programs for children affected by man-made or natural disasters.^[83] In 2008, she collaborated with the Microsoft Corporation to establish Kids in Need of Defense, a pro bono movement of law firms, corporate law departments, NGOs and volunteers committed to providing legal counsel to unaccompanied immigrant children in the U.S.^[84] In 2010, she established the Jolie Legal Fellows Programme, which recruits lawyers to support governmental child protection efforts in Haiti.^[85]

Jolie has received wide recognition for her humanitarian work. In 2002, she received the inaugural Humanitarian Award by the Church World Service's Immigration and Refugee Program.^[86] In 2003, she was the first recipient of the Citizen of the World Award by the United Nations Correspondents Association. In 2005, she was awarded the Global Humanitarian Award by the UNA-USA.^[87] On July 31, 2005, King Norodom Sihamoni awarded Jolie Cambodian citizenship for her conservation work in the country.^[88] In 2007, Jolie received the Freedom Award by the International Rescue Committee.^[89] In 2011, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres presented Jolie with a gold pin reserved for the most long-serving staff, in recognition of her decade as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.^[90]

Personal life[link]

Relationships[link]

Jolie had a serious boyfriend for two years from the age of 14. Her mother allowed them to live together in her home, of which Jolie later said, "I was either going to be reckless on the streets with my boyfriend or he was going to be with me in my bedroom with my mom in the next room. She made the choice, and because of it, I continued to go to school every morning and explored my first relationship in a safe way."^[91] She has compared the relationship to a marriage in its emotional intensity, and said that the breakup compelled her to dedicate herself to her acting career at the age of 16.^[92]

During filming of Hackers (1995), Jolie had a romance with British actor Jonny Lee Miller, her first lover since the relationship in her early teens.^[15] They were not in touch for many months after production ended, but eventually reconnected and married soon after on March 28, 1996. She attended her wedding in black rubber pants and a white T-shirt, upon which she had written the groom's name in her blood.^[93] Jolie and Miller separated in September 1997 and divorced on February 3, 1999. They remained on good terms, and Jolie later explained, "It comes down to timing. I think he's the greatest husband a girl could ask for. I'll always love him, we were simply too young."^[94]

Jolie and her partner Brad Pitt at the Deauville premiere of The Assassination of Jesse James in 2007

Jolie had a brief relationship with model-actress Jenny Shimizu on the set of Foxfire (1996). She later said, "I would probably have married Jenny if I hadn't married my husband. I fell in love with her the first second I saw her."^[95] Shimizu claimed in 2005 that her relationship with Jolie had lasted many years and continued even while Jolie was romantically involved with other people.^[96] In 2003, asked if she was bisexual, Jolie responded, "Of course. If I fell in love with a woman tomorrow, would I feel that it's okay to want to kiss and touch her? If I fell in love with her? Absolutely! Yes!"^[97]

After a two-month courtship, Jolie married actor Billy Bob Thornton on May 5, 2000, in Las Vegas. They met on the set of Pushing Tin (1999), but did not pursue a relationship at that time as Thornton was engaged to actress Laura Dern.^[98] As a result of their frequent public declarations of passion and gestures of love—most famously wearing one another's blood in vials around their necks—their marriage became a favorite topic of the entertainment media.^[99] Jolie and Thornton announced the adoption of a son from Cambodia in March 2002, but abruptly separated three months later. Their divorce was finalized on May 27, 2003. Asked about the sudden dissolution of their marriage, Jolie stated, "It took me by surprise, too, because overnight, we totally changed. I think one day we had just nothing in common. And it's scary but... I think it can happen when you get involved and you don't know yourself yet."^[100]

In early 2005, Jolie was involved in a well-publicized Hollywood scandal when she was accused of being the reason for the divorce of actors Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. She and Pitt were alleged to have started an affair during filming of Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). She denied this on several occasions, but later admitted that they "fell in love" on the set.^[101] She explained in 2005, "To be intimate with a married man, when my own father cheated on my mother, is not something I could forgive. I could not look at myself in the morning if I did that. I wouldn't be attracted to a man who would cheat on his wife."^[97] Jolie and Pitt did not publicly comment on the nature of their relationship until January 2006, when Jolie confirmed to People that she was pregnant with Pitt's child.^[102] Pitt and Jolie announced their engagement in April 2012, after seven years together.^[103] The couple—dubbed "Brangelina" by the entertainment media—are the subject of worldwide media coverage.

Children[link]

On March 10, 2002, Jolie adopted her first child, seven-month-old Maddox Chivan, from an orphanage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.^[104] He was born as Rath Vibol on August 5, 2001, in a local village.^[105] Jolie applied for adoption after she had visited Cambodia twice, while filming Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) and on a UNHCR field mission. The adoption process was halted in December 2001 when the U.S. government banned adoptions from Cambodia amid allegations of child trafficking.^[106] Once the adoption was finalized, she took custody of Maddox in Namibia, where she was filming Beyond Borders (2003).^[106] Although Jolie and her then-husband Billy Bob Thornton announced the adoption together, she in fact adopted Maddox as a single parent.^[107][108]

Jolie adopted a daughter, six-month-old Zahara Marley, from an orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on July 6, 2005. Zahara was born as Yemsrach on January 8, 2005, in Awasa.^[109] At the time of the adoption, Zahara was wrongly believed to be an AIDS orphan and it was unknown whether she herself had contracted HIV, but she later tested negative.^[110] Shortly after they returned to the United States, Zahara was hospitalized for dehydration and malnutrition.^[110] In November 2007, media outlets reported that Zahara's biological mother wanted her daughter back, but she denied these reports, saying she thought Zahara was "very fortunate" to have been adopted by Jolie.^[109]

A pregnant Jolie with director Clint Eastwood at the Cannes premiere of Changeling in 2008

Jolie was accompanied by her partner Brad Pitt when she traveled to Ethiopia to take custody of Zahara.^[111] She later indicated that she and Pitt had made the decision to adopt from Ethiopia together.^[112] In December 2005, Pitt's publicist announced that Pitt was seeking to adopt Maddox and Zahara.^[113] To reflect this, Jolie filed a request to legally change her children's surnames from Jolie to Jolie-Pitt, which was granted on January 19, 2006.^[114] The adoptions were finalized soon after.^[115]

In an attempt to avoid the media frenzy surrounding their relationship, Jolie and Pitt went to Namibia for the birth of their first biological child. On May 27, 2006, Jolie gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh Nouvel, in Swakopmund. Pitt confirmed that their newborn daughter would have a Namibian passport.^[116] The couple decided to sell the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images themselves, rather than allowing paparazzi to make these valuable photographs. People paid a reported $4.1 million for the North American rights, while Hello! obtained the British rights for a reported $3.5 million.^[117] All profits were donated to charities serving African children.^[117]

On March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted a son, three-year-old Pax Thien, from an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.^[118] He was born as Pham Quang Sang on November 29, 2003, in HCMC, where he was abandoned soon after birth.^[119] Jolie adopted Pax as a single parent, because Vietnam's adoption regulations do not allow unmarried couples to co-adopt.^[118] 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.^[120] In April, Jolie filed a request to legally change her son's surname from Jolie to Jolie-Pitt, which was approved on May 31, 2007.^[121] Pitt's adoption of Pax was finalized in the United States on February 21, 2008.^[122]

At the Cannes Film Festival in May 2008, Jolie confirmed that she was expecting twins. For the two weeks she spent in a seaside hospital in Nice, France, reporters and photographers camped outside on the promenade.^[123] She gave birth to a son, Knox Léon, and a daughter, Vivienne Marcheline, on July 12, 2008.^[124] The rights for the first images of Knox and Vivienne were jointly sold to People and Hello! for a reported $14 million—the most expensive celebrity pictures ever taken. The proceeds were donated to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.^[124]

In the media[link]

Jolie at the New York premiere of A Mighty Heart in 2007; several of her tattoos are visible

During the first decade of her career, Jolie—who does not employ a publicist or an agent^[125]—maintained a "wild child" persona in her communication with the media. She openly discussed her love life, including her bisexuality and her interest in BDSM.^[17] After she kissed her brother during the Academy Awards in 2000, their close relationship became the subject of tabloid media speculation, which she dismissed.^[126] She spoke about her experiences with drugs and depression, and recalled the time, in 1997, when she almost hired a hitman to kill her, as well as the three days, just before her marriage to Billy Bob Thornton, that she was sectioned at UCLA's psychiatric ward.^[15] By the mid-2000s, Jolie's involvement with the UNHCR and the adoption of her son Maddox had transformed her public image from Hollywood eccentric into humanitarian and devoted mother.^[105][125]

Jolie has attracted notable media attention for her physical appearance—particularly her full lips and her many tattoos, being her most distinctive features. She has been named the world's "most beautiful" or "sexiest" woman by various media outlets, including Vogue in 2002,^[3] Esquire in 2004,^[127] American FHM and British Harper's Bazaar in 2005,^[4][128] People and Hello! in 2006,^[5][129] Empire in 2007,^[130] and Vanity Fair in 2009.^[6] Jolie's extensive collection of tattoos has often been addressed by interviewers. She has fourteen known tattoos, among which the Latin proverb "quod me nutrit me destruit" (what nourishes me destroys me), the Tennessee Williams quote "A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages," two sak yant designs featuring a prayer of protection and a twelve-inch-by-eight-inch tiger, and six sets of geographical coordinates indicating the origins of her children.^[131] Over time, she has covered or lasered several of her tattoos, including the name of her second husband, "Billy Bob", and the Chinese characters "死" (death) and "勇" (courage).^[131]

Today, Jolie is one of the best-known celebrities around the world. According to the Q Score, in 2000, subsequent to her Oscar win, 31% of respondents in the United States said Jolie was familiar to them; by 2006 she was familiar to 81% of Americans.^[68] In a 2006 global industry survey by ACNielsen in 42 international markets, Jolie, together with her partner Brad Pitt, was found to be the favorite celebrity endorser for brands and products worldwide.^[132] She was the face of St. John and Shiseido from 2006 to 2008, and in 2011 had an endorsement deal with Louis Vuitton reportedly worth $10 million—a record for a single advertising campaign.^[133] She was among the Time 100, a list of the most influential people in the world as assembled by Time, in 2006 and 2008.^[134][135] Forbes named her Hollywood's highest-paid actress in 2009 and 2011, with estimated annual earnings of $27 million and $30 million respectively,^[1][2] and she topped the magazine's Celebrity 100, a ranking of the world's most powerful celebrities, in 2009.^[136] People named her one of 2012 Most Beautiful at Every Age.^[137]

Filmography[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Notes from My Travels. Pocket Books. 2003. ISBN 0-7434-7023-0.
• "Justice for Darfur". The Washington Post. February 28, 2007.
• "A Year for Accountability". The Economist. November 15, 2007.
• "The 2009 TIME 100: Somaly Mam". Time. April 30, 2009.
• "The Case Against Omar al-Bashir". Time. June 5, 2009.
• "Justice Delayed Is Not Justice Denied". Newsweek. December 10, 2009

References[link]