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Angelina Jolie Voight, daughter of Oscar winning actor Jon Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand, used her middle name as her last name (French translation of beautiful), probably in order to succeed independently of her father's success as an actor. At age 11, Jolie began studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, six years after making her film debut in Lookin' to Get Out, starring her father.
Although her dream as a child was actually to become a funeral director, a 16 year-old Jolie worked as a professional model in London, New York and Los Angeles. Musical groups such as the Rolling Stones, Lemonheads, Meatloaf, Lenny Kravitz had her cast in their music videos, and even brother James Haven Voight directed Jolie in his student films for USC School of Cinema. Wanting to become closer to pursuing an acting career, Jolie studied at the Met Theatre Group in LA, whose alumni include Ed Harris and Holly Hunter.
Jolie's first foray into films were more of a sci-fi nature, with a supporting role in the 1993 Cyborg II: Glass Shadows, which didn't even make it to the big screen, and a lead role in Hackers, where she met her future husband, the British actor Jonny Lee Miller of Trainspotting fame. It should be noted that Jolie's performance was the only redeeming factor of the movie. Jolie and Miller's morbid wedding reception, where Jolie wore black and had Jonny's name written across the back of her shirt in blood, could have foreshadowed that their marriage would not live too long - they were separated within the year and filed for divorce in 1999.
She received critical acclaim in Without Evidence (1995) where she portrayed a drug-addicted teen; Foxfire, a 1996 Joyce Carol Oates adaptation, for her portrayal of a rebellious teen called "Legs"; as well as in Love is All There Is, for her role as an Italian girl with the son of her family's rival.
In 1997 she joined the ranks of more known cast members with a supporting role in the box-office bomb Playing God, starring The X-Files' David Duchovny and Timothy Hutton.
Jolie's television roles were what gained her ultimate respect among critics. She was honored with a 1997 Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination for her role as Cornelia Wallace in the TV movie George Wallace, co-starring Gary Sinise. The best was only yet to come for Jolie. She won her second Golden Globe for her role as model Gia Carangi in HBO's biopic Gia. Her intense role as the drug-addicted model that was diagnosed with AIDS was highly deserving of the Best Actress Golden Globe, Emmy nomination and critical acclaim it received.
In 1999 Angelina Jolie joined her father as one of Hollywood's Elite by winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in Girl, Interrupted.
She wed actor Billy Bob Thorton soon after, but the marriage resulted in divorce only two years later. They share custody of an adopted child. Angelina's Hollywood career continues to rise as her recent title role in the blockbuster movie, Tombraider, has established her as one of the biggest stars in the world.
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