William Bradley "Brad" Pitt[1] (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He has been cited as one of the world's most attractive men, a label that entices the media to report on his off-screen life.[2][3] Pitt has received two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one.
Pitt began his acting career with television guest appearances which included a role on the CBS soap opera Dallas in 1987; later gaining recognition as the cowboy hitchhiker who seduces Geena Davis's character in the 1991 road movie Thelma & Louise. Pitt's first leading roles in big-budget productions came with A River Runs Through It (1992) and Interview with the Vampire (1994). He was cast opposite Anthony Hopkins in the 1994 drama Legends of the Fall which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination. In 1995, he gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller Seven and the science fiction film Twelve Monkeys, the latter earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Four years later in 1999, Pitt starred in the cult hit Fight Club. Subsequently in 2001, he starred in the major international hit Ocean's Eleven and its sequels Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). He has had his biggest commercial successes with Troy (2004) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). Pitt received his second Academy Award nomination for his performance in the title role in the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Following a high-profile relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston for five years. As of 2010, he lives with actress Angelina Jolie in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention.[4] He and Jolie have three adopted children, Maddox, Zahara, and Pax, and have also given birth to three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Pitt owns a production company named Plan B Entertainment, which produced the 2007 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, The Departed, among other films. Since beginning his relationship with Jolie, he has become increasingly involved in social issues both in the United States and internationally.
Early life
The son of Jane Etta (née Hillhouse), a high school counselor, and William Alvin Pitt, a truck company owner, Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma.[5] Along with his siblings Doug (born 1966) and Julie Neal (born 1969),[6] he grew up in Springfield, Missouri, where the family moved soon after his birth. He was raised as a conservative Southern Baptist throughout his childhood.[7]
Pitt attended Kickapoo High School where he was a member of the golf, tennis and swimming teams. In addition, he participated in the school's Key and Forensics clubs, school debates, and musicals.[8] Following his graduation from high school, Pitt enrolled in the University of Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism, with a focus on advertising.[8] As a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity,[5] he acted in several fraternity shows.[9] In 1985, two weeks prior to earning his degree, Pitt left the university and moved to Los Angeles in order to take acting lessons.[1] When asked why he left the university, Pitt responded with the following: "I had this sinking feeling as graduation approached. I saw my friends getting jobs. I wasn't ready to settle down. I loved films. They were a portal into different worlds for me, and Missouri wasn't where movies were made. Then it hit me: If they didn't come to me, I'd go to them."[7]
Career
Early work
While struggling in Los Angeles, Pitt began studying with acting coach Roy London.[1][8] He took on various occasional jobs ranging from chauffeur[10] to dressing up as an El Pollo Loco chicken in order to pay for acting lessons.
Pitt's onscreen career began in 1987 with uncredited parts in the films No Way Out, No Man's Land and Less Than Zero.[8] His television debut came in November of the same year with a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains.[11] He went on to appear in a total of four episodes of the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas[12] between December 1987 and February 1988. Pitt played the role of Randy, the boyfriend of Charlie Wade (in turn played by Shalane McCall),[1] a character whom Pitt described as "an idiot boyfriend who gets caught in the hay".[13] Speaking of his scenes with McCall, Pitt later said "It was real sweaty-palms time for me. It was kind of wild, because I'd never even met her before."[1] Later in 1988, Pitt went on to make a guest appearance on the Fox police drama 21 Jump Street.[14]
Later in 1988, Yugoslavian -U.S. co-production The Dark Side of the Sun brought Pitt had his first leading film role. He played the role of a young American boy taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition.[15] However, the film was shelved due to the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence and not released until 1997.[8] In 1989, Pitt appeared in a further two motion pictures. The first of which was in a supporting role in the comedy Happy Together, and the second was in a featured role in the horror film Cutting Class, the first of Pitt's film to reach theaters.[15] He also made guest appearances on television series Head of the Class, Freddy's Nightmares, Thirtysomething, and (for a second time) Growing Pains.[14]
In 1990, Pitt was cast in the NBC television movie Too Young to Die?, a story about an abused teenager sentenced to death for a murder. Pitt's role was as Billy Canton, a drug addict who takes advantage of a runaway young woman portrayed by Juliette Lewis.[15][16] Entertainment Weekly's television reviewer wrote: "Pitt is a magnificent slimeball as her hoody boyfriend; looking and sounding like a malevolent John Cougar Mellencamp, he's really scary."[16] The same year, Pitt also co-starred in the short-lived Fox dramatic series Glory Days, a stint that lasted for six episodes,[1] and appeared in a supporting role in the HBO television movie The Image.[15] His next onscreen appearance was in the 1991 film Across the Tracks; he portrayed Joe Maloney, a high school runner. The character deals with his criminal brother, played by Ricky Schroder.[17]
Broader public recognition came for Pitt with his supporting role in the 1991 road film Thelma & Louise. He portrayed J.D., a small-time criminal who befriends Thelma (Geena Davis). His love scene with Davis has been cited as the moment that defined Pitt as a sex symbol.[11][18]
Following the success of Thelma & Louise, Pitt starred opposite Catherine Keener and Nick Cave in the 1991 film Johnny Suede, a low-budget film about an aspiring rock star[15] and, in 1992, he appeared in Cool World[15] before starring as Paul Maclean in Robert Redford's 1992 biographical film A River Runs Through It.[19] His portrayal of the character has been described as a "career-making" performance,[20] though Pitt admitted that he felt a "bit of pressure" when making the film.[21] He added that it was one of his "weakest performances ... It's so weird that it ended up being the one that I got the most attention for."[21] When asked about working with Redford, Pitt compared it to playing tennis, saying that "when you play with somebody better than you, your game gets better."[20]
Pitt reunited with Juliette Lewis, co-star from Too Young to Die?, in the 1993 road film Kalifornia portraying Early Grayce, a serial killer and the boyfriend of Lewis's character.[15] In his review of the film, Peter Travers, of Rolling Stone described Pitt's performance as "outstanding, all boyish charm and then a snort that exudes pure menace".[22] Later that year, Pitt won a ShoWest Award for Male Star of Tomorrow.[23]
Critical success
The year 1994 marked a significant turning point in Pitt's career. Starring as vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the feature film Interview with the Vampire, based upon Anne Rice's 1976 novel of the same name,[15][24] Pitt was part of an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas.[15][24] Despite winning two MTV Movie Awards at the 1995 ceremony,[25] his performance was not well-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."[26]
A side view of a Caucasian male, who is facing to the left, with light brown hair. He is wearing a black suit and tie with a white shirt. Another Caucasian male, also wearing a suit, is visible in the background.
Pitt was named Sexiest Man Alive by People in 1995 and 2000.
Following the release of Interview with the Vampire, Pitt starred in Legends of the Fall in 1994,[27] a film set during the first four decades of the twentieth century. Pitt portrayed Tristan Ludlow, son of Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins), a role from which Pitt garnered his first Golden Globe Award nomination in the category for Best Actor.[28] Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas co-starred as Pitt's brothers. The film received mixed reception,[29] but many film critics complimented 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."[30] The Deseret News predicted that Legends of the Fall would "further cement [Pitt's] big-screen, romantic leading-man status".[31]
In 1995, he starred alongside Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow in the crime film Seven as the police detective David Mills who hunts a serial killer portrayed by Kevin Spacey.[32] Pitt accepted the role as he believed "it was a great movie" and would further expand his "acting horizons,"[33] though another consideration was Pitt's desire to move on from "this 'pretty boy' thing of mine [that] had gotten out of hand [...] and play someone with flaws".[34] Variety was complimentary of Pitt's role, saying that "this is screen acting at its best. Pitt turns in a determined, energetic, creditable job as the eager young detective."[35] The film received positive reviews and earned $327 million at the international box office.[36]
Following the success of Seven, Pitt played the supporting role of Jeffrey Goines in Terry Gilliam's 1995 science-fiction film Twelve Monkeys, which received predominantly positive reviews, with Pitt praised in particular. Janet Maslin of the New York Times stated that Twelve Monkeys was "fierce and disturbing" and remarked on Pitt's performance as "giving a startlingly frenzied performance", concluding that he "electrifies Jeffrey with a weird magnetism that becomes important later in the film."[37] Pitt won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film[28] and received his first Academy Award nomination.[38]
The following year, Pitt had a role in the 1996 legal drama Sleepers, based on the Lorenzo Carcaterra's novel of the same title.[39] The film received mixed reviews.[40] In the 1997 movie The Devil's Own, Pitt starred, opposite Harrison Ford, as the Irish Republican Army terrorist Rory Devany,[41] a role for which Pitt was required to learn an Irish accent.[42] In that same year, he took on the main role of Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in the Jean Jacques Annaud film Seven Years in Tibet.[43] Pitt trained for months for the role, which demanded significant mountain climbing and trekking practice, part of which included rock climbing in California and the European Alps with his co-star David Thewlis.[44]
Pitt played the leading role in Meet Joe Black in 1998. He portrayed a personification of death inhabiting the body of a young man in order to learn what it is like to be human.[15][45] The film received ambivalent reviews, and Pitt's performance was often criticized. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle concluded: "It's not just that Pitt's performance is bad. It hurts. Watching Pitt struggle, with inert face and glazed eyes, to make an audience believe that he knows all the mysteries of death and eternity is painful."[46]
1999–2003
In 1999, Pitt portrayed Tyler Durden, a straight-shooting and charismatic mastermind in Fight Club,[47][48] a film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name, directed by David Fincher.[49] In preparation for the role, Pitt took lessons in boxing, taekwondo, and grappling,[50] while, for the cosmetics of the part, Pitt voluntarily had pieces of his front teeth removed, which were restored on conclusion of filming.[51] During promotion for Fight Club, Pitt said the film "is not necessarily 'take your aggressions out on someone else.' The idea is just to get in there, have an experience, take a punch more importantly and see how you come out on the other end."[52] Fight Club premiered at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival[53] and, despite the film's polarized reception,[54] Pitt was praised by critics for his performance. According to Paul Clinton of CNN, "Pitt has proved he's not afraid of experimentation, and this time it pays off"[55] while Variety remarked upon Pitt's ability to be "cool, charismatic and more dynamically physical, perhaps than [...] his breakthrough role in Thelma and Louise".[56] In spite of the reviews and worse-than-expected box office performance, Fight Club became a cult classic after its DVD release in 2000.[57]
An image of five Caucasian men and one Caucasian woman posing in front of a blue curtain. Four of the men and the woman are wearing leather coats and jeans, while the man on the far left is wearing a trench coat and jeans.
Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts, cast of Ocean's Eleven and director Steven Soderbergh in December 2001
After Fight Club, Pitt was cast as an Irish Gypsy boxer with a barely intelligible accent in Guy Ritchie's 2000 gangster film Snatch,[58] a performance which drew both criticism and praise for Pitt.[59] 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. The picture also trades on our past associations with Pitt. For years Pitt was shackled by roles that called for brooding introspection, but recently he has found his calling in black comic outrageousness and flashy extroversion."[60]
The following year, Pitt starred opposite Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy The Mexican,[15] a film that garnered negative reception,[61] though enjoyed success at the box office.[36] Pitt's next acting role was in the 2001 Cold War thriller Spy Game, a film which grossed $143 million worldwide.[36] Pitt portrayed an operative of the CIA's Special Activities Division,[62] alongside Robert Redford, who played his mentor.[62] Salon.com enjoyed the film, though felt that neither Pitt nor Redford provided "much of an emotional connection for the audience".[63] On November 22, 2001, Pitt made a guest appearance in the eighth season of the television series Friends, in which he portrayed a man with a grudge against Jennifer Aniston's character; Pitt was, at the time, married to Aniston.[64] For this performance he was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.[65][66] In December 2001, Pitt had the role of Rusty Ryan in the heist film Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960s Rat Pack film of the same name, joining an ensemble cast which included George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, and Julia Roberts.[67] Ocean's Eleven, well-received by critics, was successful at the box office, earning $450 million worldwide.[36]
In February 2002, Pitt appeared in two episodes of MTV's reality series Jackass. In the first episode he and several cast members ran wild through the streets of Los Angeles in gorilla suits[68] and, in a later episode, took part in a staged abduction of himself.[69] In the same year, Pitt had a cameo role in George Clooney's directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.[70] He took on his first voice-acting roles in 2003, lending his voice to the titular character of the DreamWorks animated film Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas[71] and Boomhauer's brother, Patch, in an episode of the animated television series King of the Hill.[72]
2004–present
Pitt had two major film roles in 2004, starring as Achilles in Troy and, for the second time, as Rusty Ryan in Ocean's Twelve. Prior to the filming of Troy, based on the Iliad, Pitt spent six months sword training,[73] later injuring his Achilles tendon on set, which delayed production for several weeks.[74] Troy was the highest grossing film of Pitt's career to the end of 2008, earning $497 million- $364 million outside the U.S. and only $133 million domestically.[36][75] Stephen Hunter of The Washington Times wrote that "in a role that requires larger-than-life dimensions, he [Pitt] is pretty terrific."[76] The success of Ocean's Eleven in 2001 led Pitt to return for the 2004 sequel, Ocean's Twelve, which earned $362 million worldwide[36] and a role in which Pitt and Clooney were reported to "have the best male chemistry since Paul Newman and Robert Redford", according to Paul Clinton of CNN.[77]
2005 saw Pitt star in the action comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith, directed by Doug Liman, in which a bored married couple discover that each is an assassin set to kill the other, with Pitt as John Smith opposite Angelina Jolie's Jane Smith. The film, earning $478 million worldwide,[78] making it one of the biggest hits of 2005, received reasonable reviews but was generally lauded for the chemistry between the two. The Star Tribune noting that "while the story feels haphazard, the movie gets by on gregarious charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear screen chemistry."[79]
A Caucasian with light brown hair, blue eyes and a short brown beard, in front of a turquoise background. He is wearing a white shirt and white hat.
Pitt at the premiere of Burn After Reading in 2008
Pitt's next feature film, Alejandro González Iñárritu's multi-narrative drama Babel had him appearing with Cate Blanchett in 2006.[80] Pitt's performance in the film was well-received by critics, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer believed that he was "credible" and gave the film "visibility".[81] Pitt later said he regarded this as "one of the best decisions of [his] film career".[82] The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival[83] and was later featured at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.[84] Babel won the Golden Globe Award for Best Drama, and Pitt received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.[28] In total, the film garnered seven Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.
Reprising his role as Rusty Ryan for a second time, Pitt starred in 2007's Ocean's Thirteen,[85] while not as lucrative as the first two films, the sequel earned $311 million at the international box office.[36] Pitt's next film role was 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.[86] Directed by Andrew Dominik and produced by Pitt's company Plan B, the film premiered at the 2007 Venice Film Festival,[87] with Pitt playing a "scary and charismatic" role, according to Lewis Beale of Film Journal International,[88] and earning Pitt the Volpi Cup award for Best Actor in Venice.[89] Although Pitt attended the festival to promote the film, he left early after being attacked by a fan who pushed through his bodyguards.[90] He eventually collected the award one year later at the 2008 festival.[91]
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- The Guardian calling it "a tightly wound, slickly plotted spy comedy",[92] noting that Pitt's performance was one of the funniest.[92] 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 the 1921 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story follows a man who is born an octogenarian and ages in reverse,[93] with Pitt's "sensitive performance" making Benjamin Button a "timeless masterpiece," according to Michael Sragow of the The Baltimore Sun.[94] The performance earned Pitt his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination,[95] as well as a fourth Golden Globe and second Academy Award nomination,[28][96] with the film itself receiving a total of thirteen Academy Award nominations and grossing $329 million worldwide.[36]
After 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,[97] as Lieutenant Aldo Raine, an American resistance fighter battling Nazis in German-occupied France.[98] The film was a box office hit, taking $311 million worldwide,[36] and garnered generally favorable reviews.[99] In addition, Pitt is set to appear in the drama The Tree of Life directed by Terrence Malick, co-starring alongside Sean Penn[100] and has signed on to appear in the Lost City of Z, based on the book of the same name by David Grann,[101] in which he will play a British explorer searching for a mysterious Amazonian civilization.[101]
Other projects
Film and television work
Pitt, along with Jennifer Aniston and Brad Grey, CEO of Paramount Pictures, founded the film production company Plan B Entertainment in 2002,[102] though Aniston and Grey withdrew in 2005.[103][104] The company has produced several films, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp in 2005,[105][106] The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford in 2007 and A Mighty Heart, starring Angelina Jolie, also in 2007.[106] In addition, Plan B was involved in the production of The Departed, the winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Picture. Pitt was credited onscreen as a producer; however, only Graham King was ruled eligible for the Oscar win.[107] Pitt has been reluctant to discuss the production company in interviews.[104]
Pitt appeared in a Heineken commercial which aired during the 2005 Super Bowl; it was directed by David Fincher, who also directed Pitt in three feature films, Seven, Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.[108] Pitt appeared in several television commercials designed for the Asian market, which advertised such products as SoftBank and Edwin Jeans.[109][110]
Humanitarian causes
Pitt supports the ONE Campaign, an organization aimed at combating AIDS and poverty in the developing world.[111][112] He narrated the 2005 PBS public television series Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge, which discusses current global health issues[113] and, in November 2005, traveled to Pakistan with Angelina Jolie to see the impact of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.[114] 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.[115] In May 2007, Pitt and Jolie donated $1 million to three relief organizations in Chad and Darfur affected by the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region.[116] 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 genocide such as that in Darfur.[117]
A Caucasian male bent over a table signing his autograph on a movie poster. He has light brown hair with blonde highlights, and is wearing a dark-colored trench coat with a white shirt. Other people are visible in the background and foreground, some of which are also signing autographs.
Pitt signing autographs for troops during his 2001 visit to Incirlik Air Base
Pitt has a knowledgeable interest in architecture,[118] in which he was a narrator of Design e2, a PBS television series focused on worldwide efforts to build environmentally friendly structures through sustainable architecture and design.[119][120] In his interest in architecture, Pitt employed to create the Make It Right Foundation in 2006. For this project he gathered a group of housing professionals in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, with the object of financing and constructing 150 new houses in New Orleans' Ninth Ward.[121][122] The houses are being designed with an emphasis on sustainability and affordability. The environmental organization Global Green USA, as well as thirteen architectural firms, is involved in the project, with several of the firms donating their services.[123][124] Pitt and philanthropist Steve Bing have each committed $5 million in donations.[125] In October 2008, the first six homes were completed.[126] Pitt had meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in March 2009, promoting his concept of "green housing" as a national model and discussed possibilities of federal funding.[127] In September 2009, Pitt received an award from the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built and operated, in recognition of the green housing concept used for the Make It Right foundation.[128][129]
In September 2006, Pitt and Jolie established a charitable organization, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, to aid humanitarian causes around the world.[130] The foundation made initial donations of $1 million each to Global Action for Children and Doctors Without Borders.[130] The following month, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation donated $100,000 to the Daniel Pearl Foundation, an organization created in memory of late American journalist Daniel Pearl.[131] According to federal filings, in 2006, Pitt and Jolie put $8.5 million into the foundation; it gave away $2.4 million in 2006[132] and $3.4 million in 2007.[133] 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.[134][135] In January 2010, the foundation donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders for emergency medical assistance to help victims of the Haiti earthquake.[136][137]
In the media
In 1995, Pitt was chosen by Empire as one of the 25 sexiest stars in film history[8] and, in the same year, he was named the Sexiest Man Alive by People, an accolade he also won five years later in 2000.[2][138] Pitt appeared on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list of the 100 most powerful celebrities in 2006, 2007, and 2008, at No. 20, No. 5, and No. 10 respectively.[139][140][141] 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,[142] credited with using "his star power to get people to look [to where] cameras don't usually catch".[142] Pitt was again included in the Time 100 in 2009; however, he was selected in the Builders and Titans list.[143]
A Caucasian male with dyed blonde hair is being interviewed by the media. He is wearing a black suit and tie, with a white shirt, and is standing on a red carpet. People standing behind barricades are visible in the background, while microphones are visible in the foreground.
Pitt interviewed by the news media at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2007
Pitt visited the University of Missouri campus in October 2004 to encourage students to vote in the 2004 U.S. presidential election,[144] in which he supported John Kerry.[144][145] Later in October, he publicly supported funding 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.[146] In support of this, he endorsed Proposition 71, a California ballot initiative which would provide federal government funding for stem-cell research.[147]
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 them "reached the point of insanity" as Reuters described it in their story "The Brangelina fever".[4] To avoid the media attention, the couple went to Namibia for the birth of their daughter Shiloh, "the most anticipated baby since Jesus Christ".[148] Two years later, the confirmation of Jolie's second pregnancy incited media frenzy again. 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.[149]
In September 2008, Pitt donated $100,000 to the campaign against California's 2008 ballot proposition Proposition 8, an initiative that would overturn the state Supreme Court decision that had legalized same-sex marriage.[150] 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."[151]
Personal life
In the late 1980s and the 1990s, Pitt was involved in a series of relationships with several of his co-stars, including Robin Givens (Head of the Class),[152] Jill Schoelen (Cutting Class),[152] and Juliette Lewis (Too Young to Die? and Kalifornia), who, at the age of sixteen, was ten years his junior when they started dating.[20] Pitt also had a much-publicized romance and engagement to Seven co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, whom he dated from 1995 to 1997.[152]
A Caucasian man and woman in the foreground of the image, while others are visible behind them. The woman has brown hair, which is tied back, and is wearing long turquoise-green earrings. The man has dark brown hair, and a short beard and mustache with traces of grey. He is wearing a black suit and bow-tie with a white shirt.
Angelina Jolie and Pitt at the 81st Academy Awards in February 2009
Pitt met Friends actress Jennifer Aniston in 1998 and married her in a private wedding ceremony in Malibu on July 29, 2000.[1][153] For years their marriage was considered a rare Hollywood success;[1][154] however, in January 2005, Pitt and Aniston announced that they decided to formally separate after seven years together.[153] Two months later, Aniston filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.[155]
As Pitt and Aniston divorced, his involvement with actress Angelina Jolie during the filming of Mr. & Mrs. Smith turned into a well-publicized Hollywood scandal.[156] While Pitt denied any claims of adultery, he admitted that he "fell in love" with Jolie on the set[157] and said that production was still going on for Mr. & Mrs. Smith after he and Aniston had separated.[158]
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, which appeared to confirm the rumors of a relationship between Pitt and Jolie.[159] During the summer, the two were seen together with increasing frequency, and the entertainment media dubbed the couple "Brangelina".[160] Pitt and Aniston's final divorce documents were granted by the Los Angeles Superior Court on October 2, 2005, officially ending their marriage.[155] On January 11, 2006, Jolie confirmed to People that she was pregnant with Pitt's child and thereby confirmed their relationship for the first time in public.[161] In an October 2006 interview with Esquire, Pitt said that he and Jolie would marry "when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able".[84]
Despite media reports that Pitt and Aniston have an acrimonious relationship, in a February 2009 interview, Pitt said that he and Aniston "check in with each other", adding, "She was a big part of my life, and me hers."[162]
In an October 2007 interview, Pitt revealed that he is no longer a Christian nor believes in an afterlife. "There's peace in understanding that I have only one life, here and now, and I'm responsible."[7] In July 2009, he said in an interview that he did not believe in God, and that he was "probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic."[163]
Children
Brad Pitt's children[hide]
* Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt (born August 5, 2001 in Cambodia; adopted January 19, 2006)
* Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt (born November 29, 2003 in Vietnam; adopted March 15, 2007)
* Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt (born January 8, 2005 in Ethiopia; adopted January 19, 2006)
* Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt (born May 27, 2006 in Swakopmund, Namibia)
* Knox Léon Jolie-Pitt (born July 12, 2008 in Nice, France)
* Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt (born July 12, 2008 in Nice, France)
In July 2005, Pitt accompanied Jolie to Ethiopia,[164] where she adopted her second child, a six-month-old girl named Zahara[164] a decision which Jolie later stated she and Pitt made together.[165] It was confirmed, in December 2005, that Pitt was seeking to legally adopt Jolie's two children, Maddox and Zahara,[166] with a legal request was granted by a judge in California on January 19, 2006, and the children's surnames were legally changed to "Jolie-Pitt".[167]
Jolie gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, in Swakopmund, Namibia, on May 27, 2006. Pitt confirmed that their newly born daughter would have a Namibian passport.[168] The couple sold the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images and the North American rights were purchased by People for over $4.1 million, while British magazine Hello! obtained the international rights for approximately $3.5 million. The proceeds from the sale, up to $10 million worldwide,[169] were donated to an undisclosed charity by Pitt and Jolie.[170] Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh, making Shiloh the first infant to have a statue at Madame Tussauds.[171]
On March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted a three-year-old boy from Vietnam, Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt (originally Pax Thien Jolie). Since the orphanage did not allow unmarried couples to adopt, Jolie adopted Pax as a single parent, and Pitt later adopted him as his son in the United States.[172]
Following months of media speculation, Jolie, in an interview at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, confirmed she was expecting twins.[173] On July 12, 2008, Jolie gave birth to the couple's twins, a boy named Knox Léon and a girl named Vivienne Marcheline at the Lenval hospital in Nice, France.[174][175] 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.[176][177] The money went to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.[176][178]
Pitt began his acting career with television guest appearances which included a role on the CBS soap opera Dallas in 1987; later gaining recognition as the cowboy hitchhiker who seduces Geena Davis's character in the 1991 road movie Thelma & Louise. Pitt's first leading roles in big-budget productions came with A River Runs Through It (1992) and Interview with the Vampire (1994). He was cast opposite Anthony Hopkins in the 1994 drama Legends of the Fall which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination. In 1995, he gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller Seven and the science fiction film Twelve Monkeys, the latter earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Four years later in 1999, Pitt starred in the cult hit Fight Club. Subsequently in 2001, he starred in the major international hit Ocean's Eleven and its sequels Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). He has had his biggest commercial successes with Troy (2004) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). Pitt received his second Academy Award nomination for his performance in the title role in the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Following a high-profile relationship with actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston for five years. As of 2010, he lives with actress Angelina Jolie in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention.[4] He and Jolie have three adopted children, Maddox, Zahara, and Pax, and have also given birth to three biological children, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Pitt owns a production company named Plan B Entertainment, which produced the 2007 Academy Award winner for Best Picture, The Departed, among other films. Since beginning his relationship with Jolie, he has become increasingly involved in social issues both in the United States and internationally.
Early life
The son of Jane Etta (née Hillhouse), a high school counselor, and William Alvin Pitt, a truck company owner, Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma.[5] Along with his siblings Doug (born 1966) and Julie Neal (born 1969),[6] he grew up in Springfield, Missouri, where the family moved soon after his birth. He was raised as a conservative Southern Baptist throughout his childhood.[7]
Pitt attended Kickapoo High School where he was a member of the golf, tennis and swimming teams. In addition, he participated in the school's Key and Forensics clubs, school debates, and musicals.[8] Following his graduation from high school, Pitt enrolled in the University of Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism, with a focus on advertising.[8] As a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity,[5] he acted in several fraternity shows.[9] In 1985, two weeks prior to earning his degree, Pitt left the university and moved to Los Angeles in order to take acting lessons.[1] When asked why he left the university, Pitt responded with the following: "I had this sinking feeling as graduation approached. I saw my friends getting jobs. I wasn't ready to settle down. I loved films. They were a portal into different worlds for me, and Missouri wasn't where movies were made. Then it hit me: If they didn't come to me, I'd go to them."[7]
Career
Early work
While struggling in Los Angeles, Pitt began studying with acting coach Roy London.[1][8] He took on various occasional jobs ranging from chauffeur[10] to dressing up as an El Pollo Loco chicken in order to pay for acting lessons.
Pitt's onscreen career began in 1987 with uncredited parts in the films No Way Out, No Man's Land and Less Than Zero.[8] His television debut came in November of the same year with a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains.[11] He went on to appear in a total of four episodes of the CBS primetime soap opera Dallas[12] between December 1987 and February 1988. Pitt played the role of Randy, the boyfriend of Charlie Wade (in turn played by Shalane McCall),[1] a character whom Pitt described as "an idiot boyfriend who gets caught in the hay".[13] Speaking of his scenes with McCall, Pitt later said "It was real sweaty-palms time for me. It was kind of wild, because I'd never even met her before."[1] Later in 1988, Pitt went on to make a guest appearance on the Fox police drama 21 Jump Street.[14]
Later in 1988, Yugoslavian -U.S. co-production The Dark Side of the Sun brought Pitt had his first leading film role. He played the role of a young American boy taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition.[15] However, the film was shelved due to the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence and not released until 1997.[8] In 1989, Pitt appeared in a further two motion pictures. The first of which was in a supporting role in the comedy Happy Together, and the second was in a featured role in the horror film Cutting Class, the first of Pitt's film to reach theaters.[15] He also made guest appearances on television series Head of the Class, Freddy's Nightmares, Thirtysomething, and (for a second time) Growing Pains.[14]
In 1990, Pitt was cast in the NBC television movie Too Young to Die?, a story about an abused teenager sentenced to death for a murder. Pitt's role was as Billy Canton, a drug addict who takes advantage of a runaway young woman portrayed by Juliette Lewis.[15][16] Entertainment Weekly's television reviewer wrote: "Pitt is a magnificent slimeball as her hoody boyfriend; looking and sounding like a malevolent John Cougar Mellencamp, he's really scary."[16] The same year, Pitt also co-starred in the short-lived Fox dramatic series Glory Days, a stint that lasted for six episodes,[1] and appeared in a supporting role in the HBO television movie The Image.[15] His next onscreen appearance was in the 1991 film Across the Tracks; he portrayed Joe Maloney, a high school runner. The character deals with his criminal brother, played by Ricky Schroder.[17]
Broader public recognition came for Pitt with his supporting role in the 1991 road film Thelma & Louise. He portrayed J.D., a small-time criminal who befriends Thelma (Geena Davis). His love scene with Davis has been cited as the moment that defined Pitt as a sex symbol.[11][18]
Following the success of Thelma & Louise, Pitt starred opposite Catherine Keener and Nick Cave in the 1991 film Johnny Suede, a low-budget film about an aspiring rock star[15] and, in 1992, he appeared in Cool World[15] before starring as Paul Maclean in Robert Redford's 1992 biographical film A River Runs Through It.[19] His portrayal of the character has been described as a "career-making" performance,[20] though Pitt admitted that he felt a "bit of pressure" when making the film.[21] He added that it was one of his "weakest performances ... It's so weird that it ended up being the one that I got the most attention for."[21] When asked about working with Redford, Pitt compared it to playing tennis, saying that "when you play with somebody better than you, your game gets better."[20]
Pitt reunited with Juliette Lewis, co-star from Too Young to Die?, in the 1993 road film Kalifornia portraying Early Grayce, a serial killer and the boyfriend of Lewis's character.[15] In his review of the film, Peter Travers, of Rolling Stone described Pitt's performance as "outstanding, all boyish charm and then a snort that exudes pure menace".[22] Later that year, Pitt won a ShoWest Award for Male Star of Tomorrow.[23]
Critical success
The year 1994 marked a significant turning point in Pitt's career. Starring as vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the feature film Interview with the Vampire, based upon Anne Rice's 1976 novel of the same name,[15][24] Pitt was part of an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas.[15][24] Despite winning two MTV Movie Awards at the 1995 ceremony,[25] his performance was not well-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."[26]
A side view of a Caucasian male, who is facing to the left, with light brown hair. He is wearing a black suit and tie with a white shirt. Another Caucasian male, also wearing a suit, is visible in the background.
Pitt was named Sexiest Man Alive by People in 1995 and 2000.
Following the release of Interview with the Vampire, Pitt starred in Legends of the Fall in 1994,[27] a film set during the first four decades of the twentieth century. Pitt portrayed Tristan Ludlow, son of Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins), a role from which Pitt garnered his first Golden Globe Award nomination in the category for Best Actor.[28] Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas co-starred as Pitt's brothers. The film received mixed reception,[29] but many film critics complimented 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."[30] The Deseret News predicted that Legends of the Fall would "further cement [Pitt's] big-screen, romantic leading-man status".[31]
In 1995, he starred alongside Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow in the crime film Seven as the police detective David Mills who hunts a serial killer portrayed by Kevin Spacey.[32] Pitt accepted the role as he believed "it was a great movie" and would further expand his "acting horizons,"[33] though another consideration was Pitt's desire to move on from "this 'pretty boy' thing of mine [that] had gotten out of hand [...] and play someone with flaws".[34] Variety was complimentary of Pitt's role, saying that "this is screen acting at its best. Pitt turns in a determined, energetic, creditable job as the eager young detective."[35] The film received positive reviews and earned $327 million at the international box office.[36]
Following the success of Seven, Pitt played the supporting role of Jeffrey Goines in Terry Gilliam's 1995 science-fiction film Twelve Monkeys, which received predominantly positive reviews, with Pitt praised in particular. Janet Maslin of the New York Times stated that Twelve Monkeys was "fierce and disturbing" and remarked on Pitt's performance as "giving a startlingly frenzied performance", concluding that he "electrifies Jeffrey with a weird magnetism that becomes important later in the film."[37] Pitt won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film[28] and received his first Academy Award nomination.[38]
The following year, Pitt had a role in the 1996 legal drama Sleepers, based on the Lorenzo Carcaterra's novel of the same title.[39] The film received mixed reviews.[40] In the 1997 movie The Devil's Own, Pitt starred, opposite Harrison Ford, as the Irish Republican Army terrorist Rory Devany,[41] a role for which Pitt was required to learn an Irish accent.[42] In that same year, he took on the main role of Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in the Jean Jacques Annaud film Seven Years in Tibet.[43] Pitt trained for months for the role, which demanded significant mountain climbing and trekking practice, part of which included rock climbing in California and the European Alps with his co-star David Thewlis.[44]
Pitt played the leading role in Meet Joe Black in 1998. He portrayed a personification of death inhabiting the body of a young man in order to learn what it is like to be human.[15][45] The film received ambivalent reviews, and Pitt's performance was often criticized. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle concluded: "It's not just that Pitt's performance is bad. It hurts. Watching Pitt struggle, with inert face and glazed eyes, to make an audience believe that he knows all the mysteries of death and eternity is painful."[46]
1999–2003
In 1999, Pitt portrayed Tyler Durden, a straight-shooting and charismatic mastermind in Fight Club,[47][48] a film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name, directed by David Fincher.[49] In preparation for the role, Pitt took lessons in boxing, taekwondo, and grappling,[50] while, for the cosmetics of the part, Pitt voluntarily had pieces of his front teeth removed, which were restored on conclusion of filming.[51] During promotion for Fight Club, Pitt said the film "is not necessarily 'take your aggressions out on someone else.' The idea is just to get in there, have an experience, take a punch more importantly and see how you come out on the other end."[52] Fight Club premiered at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival[53] and, despite the film's polarized reception,[54] Pitt was praised by critics for his performance. According to Paul Clinton of CNN, "Pitt has proved he's not afraid of experimentation, and this time it pays off"[55] while Variety remarked upon Pitt's ability to be "cool, charismatic and more dynamically physical, perhaps than [...] his breakthrough role in Thelma and Louise".[56] In spite of the reviews and worse-than-expected box office performance, Fight Club became a cult classic after its DVD release in 2000.[57]
An image of five Caucasian men and one Caucasian woman posing in front of a blue curtain. Four of the men and the woman are wearing leather coats and jeans, while the man on the far left is wearing a trench coat and jeans.
Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts, cast of Ocean's Eleven and director Steven Soderbergh in December 2001
After Fight Club, Pitt was cast as an Irish Gypsy boxer with a barely intelligible accent in Guy Ritchie's 2000 gangster film Snatch,[58] a performance which drew both criticism and praise for Pitt.[59] 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. The picture also trades on our past associations with Pitt. For years Pitt was shackled by roles that called for brooding introspection, but recently he has found his calling in black comic outrageousness and flashy extroversion."[60]
The following year, Pitt starred opposite Julia Roberts in the romantic comedy The Mexican,[15] a film that garnered negative reception,[61] though enjoyed success at the box office.[36] Pitt's next acting role was in the 2001 Cold War thriller Spy Game, a film which grossed $143 million worldwide.[36] Pitt portrayed an operative of the CIA's Special Activities Division,[62] alongside Robert Redford, who played his mentor.[62] Salon.com enjoyed the film, though felt that neither Pitt nor Redford provided "much of an emotional connection for the audience".[63] On November 22, 2001, Pitt made a guest appearance in the eighth season of the television series Friends, in which he portrayed a man with a grudge against Jennifer Aniston's character; Pitt was, at the time, married to Aniston.[64] For this performance he was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.[65][66] In December 2001, Pitt had the role of Rusty Ryan in the heist film Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960s Rat Pack film of the same name, joining an ensemble cast which included George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, and Julia Roberts.[67] Ocean's Eleven, well-received by critics, was successful at the box office, earning $450 million worldwide.[36]
In February 2002, Pitt appeared in two episodes of MTV's reality series Jackass. In the first episode he and several cast members ran wild through the streets of Los Angeles in gorilla suits[68] and, in a later episode, took part in a staged abduction of himself.[69] In the same year, Pitt had a cameo role in George Clooney's directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.[70] He took on his first voice-acting roles in 2003, lending his voice to the titular character of the DreamWorks animated film Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas[71] and Boomhauer's brother, Patch, in an episode of the animated television series King of the Hill.[72]
2004–present
Pitt had two major film roles in 2004, starring as Achilles in Troy and, for the second time, as Rusty Ryan in Ocean's Twelve. Prior to the filming of Troy, based on the Iliad, Pitt spent six months sword training,[73] later injuring his Achilles tendon on set, which delayed production for several weeks.[74] Troy was the highest grossing film of Pitt's career to the end of 2008, earning $497 million- $364 million outside the U.S. and only $133 million domestically.[36][75] Stephen Hunter of The Washington Times wrote that "in a role that requires larger-than-life dimensions, he [Pitt] is pretty terrific."[76] The success of Ocean's Eleven in 2001 led Pitt to return for the 2004 sequel, Ocean's Twelve, which earned $362 million worldwide[36] and a role in which Pitt and Clooney were reported to "have the best male chemistry since Paul Newman and Robert Redford", according to Paul Clinton of CNN.[77]
2005 saw Pitt star in the action comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith, directed by Doug Liman, in which a bored married couple discover that each is an assassin set to kill the other, with Pitt as John Smith opposite Angelina Jolie's Jane Smith. The film, earning $478 million worldwide,[78] making it one of the biggest hits of 2005, received reasonable reviews but was generally lauded for the chemistry between the two. The Star Tribune noting that "while the story feels haphazard, the movie gets by on gregarious charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear screen chemistry."[79]
A Caucasian with light brown hair, blue eyes and a short brown beard, in front of a turquoise background. He is wearing a white shirt and white hat.
Pitt at the premiere of Burn After Reading in 2008
Pitt's next feature film, Alejandro González Iñárritu's multi-narrative drama Babel had him appearing with Cate Blanchett in 2006.[80] Pitt's performance in the film was well-received by critics, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer believed that he was "credible" and gave the film "visibility".[81] Pitt later said he regarded this as "one of the best decisions of [his] film career".[82] The film was screened at a special presentation at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival[83] and was later featured at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.[84] Babel won the Golden Globe Award for Best Drama, and Pitt received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.[28] In total, the film garnered seven Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.
Reprising his role as Rusty Ryan for a second time, Pitt starred in 2007's Ocean's Thirteen,[85] while not as lucrative as the first two films, the sequel earned $311 million at the international box office.[36] Pitt's next film role was 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.[86] Directed by Andrew Dominik and produced by Pitt's company Plan B, the film premiered at the 2007 Venice Film Festival,[87] with Pitt playing a "scary and charismatic" role, according to Lewis Beale of Film Journal International,[88] and earning Pitt the Volpi Cup award for Best Actor in Venice.[89] Although Pitt attended the festival to promote the film, he left early after being attacked by a fan who pushed through his bodyguards.[90] He eventually collected the award one year later at the 2008 festival.[91]
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- The Guardian calling it "a tightly wound, slickly plotted spy comedy",[92] noting that Pitt's performance was one of the funniest.[92] 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 the 1921 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story follows a man who is born an octogenarian and ages in reverse,[93] with Pitt's "sensitive performance" making Benjamin Button a "timeless masterpiece," according to Michael Sragow of the The Baltimore Sun.[94] The performance earned Pitt his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination,[95] as well as a fourth Golden Globe and second Academy Award nomination,[28][96] with the film itself receiving a total of thirteen Academy Award nominations and grossing $329 million worldwide.[36]
After 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,[97] as Lieutenant Aldo Raine, an American resistance fighter battling Nazis in German-occupied France.[98] The film was a box office hit, taking $311 million worldwide,[36] and garnered generally favorable reviews.[99] In addition, Pitt is set to appear in the drama The Tree of Life directed by Terrence Malick, co-starring alongside Sean Penn[100] and has signed on to appear in the Lost City of Z, based on the book of the same name by David Grann,[101] in which he will play a British explorer searching for a mysterious Amazonian civilization.[101]
Other projects
Film and television work
Pitt, along with Jennifer Aniston and Brad Grey, CEO of Paramount Pictures, founded the film production company Plan B Entertainment in 2002,[102] though Aniston and Grey withdrew in 2005.[103][104] The company has produced several films, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp in 2005,[105][106] The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford in 2007 and A Mighty Heart, starring Angelina Jolie, also in 2007.[106] In addition, Plan B was involved in the production of The Departed, the winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Picture. Pitt was credited onscreen as a producer; however, only Graham King was ruled eligible for the Oscar win.[107] Pitt has been reluctant to discuss the production company in interviews.[104]
Pitt appeared in a Heineken commercial which aired during the 2005 Super Bowl; it was directed by David Fincher, who also directed Pitt in three feature films, Seven, Fight Club and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.[108] Pitt appeared in several television commercials designed for the Asian market, which advertised such products as SoftBank and Edwin Jeans.[109][110]
Humanitarian causes
Pitt supports the ONE Campaign, an organization aimed at combating AIDS and poverty in the developing world.[111][112] He narrated the 2005 PBS public television series Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge, which discusses current global health issues[113] and, in November 2005, traveled to Pakistan with Angelina Jolie to see the impact of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.[114] 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.[115] In May 2007, Pitt and Jolie donated $1 million to three relief organizations in Chad and Darfur affected by the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region.[116] 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 genocide such as that in Darfur.[117]
A Caucasian male bent over a table signing his autograph on a movie poster. He has light brown hair with blonde highlights, and is wearing a dark-colored trench coat with a white shirt. Other people are visible in the background and foreground, some of which are also signing autographs.
Pitt signing autographs for troops during his 2001 visit to Incirlik Air Base
Pitt has a knowledgeable interest in architecture,[118] in which he was a narrator of Design e2, a PBS television series focused on worldwide efforts to build environmentally friendly structures through sustainable architecture and design.[119][120] In his interest in architecture, Pitt employed to create the Make It Right Foundation in 2006. For this project he gathered a group of housing professionals in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, with the object of financing and constructing 150 new houses in New Orleans' Ninth Ward.[121][122] The houses are being designed with an emphasis on sustainability and affordability. The environmental organization Global Green USA, as well as thirteen architectural firms, is involved in the project, with several of the firms donating their services.[123][124] Pitt and philanthropist Steve Bing have each committed $5 million in donations.[125] In October 2008, the first six homes were completed.[126] Pitt had meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in March 2009, promoting his concept of "green housing" as a national model and discussed possibilities of federal funding.[127] In September 2009, Pitt received an award from the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit trade organization that promotes sustainability in how buildings are designed, built and operated, in recognition of the green housing concept used for the Make It Right foundation.[128][129]
In September 2006, Pitt and Jolie established a charitable organization, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, to aid humanitarian causes around the world.[130] The foundation made initial donations of $1 million each to Global Action for Children and Doctors Without Borders.[130] The following month, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation donated $100,000 to the Daniel Pearl Foundation, an organization created in memory of late American journalist Daniel Pearl.[131] According to federal filings, in 2006, Pitt and Jolie put $8.5 million into the foundation; it gave away $2.4 million in 2006[132] and $3.4 million in 2007.[133] 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.[134][135] In January 2010, the foundation donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders for emergency medical assistance to help victims of the Haiti earthquake.[136][137]
In the media
In 1995, Pitt was chosen by Empire as one of the 25 sexiest stars in film history[8] and, in the same year, he was named the Sexiest Man Alive by People, an accolade he also won five years later in 2000.[2][138] Pitt appeared on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list of the 100 most powerful celebrities in 2006, 2007, and 2008, at No. 20, No. 5, and No. 10 respectively.[139][140][141] 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,[142] credited with using "his star power to get people to look [to where] cameras don't usually catch".[142] Pitt was again included in the Time 100 in 2009; however, he was selected in the Builders and Titans list.[143]
A Caucasian male with dyed blonde hair is being interviewed by the media. He is wearing a black suit and tie, with a white shirt, and is standing on a red carpet. People standing behind barricades are visible in the background, while microphones are visible in the foreground.
Pitt interviewed by the news media at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2007
Pitt visited the University of Missouri campus in October 2004 to encourage students to vote in the 2004 U.S. presidential election,[144] in which he supported John Kerry.[144][145] Later in October, he publicly supported funding 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.[146] In support of this, he endorsed Proposition 71, a California ballot initiative which would provide federal government funding for stem-cell research.[147]
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 them "reached the point of insanity" as Reuters described it in their story "The Brangelina fever".[4] To avoid the media attention, the couple went to Namibia for the birth of their daughter Shiloh, "the most anticipated baby since Jesus Christ".[148] Two years later, the confirmation of Jolie's second pregnancy incited media frenzy again. 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.[149]
In September 2008, Pitt donated $100,000 to the campaign against California's 2008 ballot proposition Proposition 8, an initiative that would overturn the state Supreme Court decision that had legalized same-sex marriage.[150] 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."[151]
Personal life
In the late 1980s and the 1990s, Pitt was involved in a series of relationships with several of his co-stars, including Robin Givens (Head of the Class),[152] Jill Schoelen (Cutting Class),[152] and Juliette Lewis (Too Young to Die? and Kalifornia), who, at the age of sixteen, was ten years his junior when they started dating.[20] Pitt also had a much-publicized romance and engagement to Seven co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, whom he dated from 1995 to 1997.[152]
A Caucasian man and woman in the foreground of the image, while others are visible behind them. The woman has brown hair, which is tied back, and is wearing long turquoise-green earrings. The man has dark brown hair, and a short beard and mustache with traces of grey. He is wearing a black suit and bow-tie with a white shirt.
Angelina Jolie and Pitt at the 81st Academy Awards in February 2009
Pitt met Friends actress Jennifer Aniston in 1998 and married her in a private wedding ceremony in Malibu on July 29, 2000.[1][153] For years their marriage was considered a rare Hollywood success;[1][154] however, in January 2005, Pitt and Aniston announced that they decided to formally separate after seven years together.[153] Two months later, Aniston filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.[155]
As Pitt and Aniston divorced, his involvement with actress Angelina Jolie during the filming of Mr. & Mrs. Smith turned into a well-publicized Hollywood scandal.[156] While Pitt denied any claims of adultery, he admitted that he "fell in love" with Jolie on the set[157] and said that production was still going on for Mr. & Mrs. Smith after he and Aniston had separated.[158]
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, which appeared to confirm the rumors of a relationship between Pitt and Jolie.[159] During the summer, the two were seen together with increasing frequency, and the entertainment media dubbed the couple "Brangelina".[160] Pitt and Aniston's final divorce documents were granted by the Los Angeles Superior Court on October 2, 2005, officially ending their marriage.[155] On January 11, 2006, Jolie confirmed to People that she was pregnant with Pitt's child and thereby confirmed their relationship for the first time in public.[161] In an October 2006 interview with Esquire, Pitt said that he and Jolie would marry "when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able".[84]
Despite media reports that Pitt and Aniston have an acrimonious relationship, in a February 2009 interview, Pitt said that he and Aniston "check in with each other", adding, "She was a big part of my life, and me hers."[162]
In an October 2007 interview, Pitt revealed that he is no longer a Christian nor believes in an afterlife. "There's peace in understanding that I have only one life, here and now, and I'm responsible."[7] In July 2009, he said in an interview that he did not believe in God, and that he was "probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic."[163]
Children
Brad Pitt's children[hide]
* Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt (born August 5, 2001 in Cambodia; adopted January 19, 2006)
* Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt (born November 29, 2003 in Vietnam; adopted March 15, 2007)
* Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt (born January 8, 2005 in Ethiopia; adopted January 19, 2006)
* Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt (born May 27, 2006 in Swakopmund, Namibia)
* Knox Léon Jolie-Pitt (born July 12, 2008 in Nice, France)
* Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt (born July 12, 2008 in Nice, France)
In July 2005, Pitt accompanied Jolie to Ethiopia,[164] where she adopted her second child, a six-month-old girl named Zahara[164] a decision which Jolie later stated she and Pitt made together.[165] It was confirmed, in December 2005, that Pitt was seeking to legally adopt Jolie's two children, Maddox and Zahara,[166] with a legal request was granted by a judge in California on January 19, 2006, and the children's surnames were legally changed to "Jolie-Pitt".[167]
Jolie gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, in Swakopmund, Namibia, on May 27, 2006. Pitt confirmed that their newly born daughter would have a Namibian passport.[168] The couple sold the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images and the North American rights were purchased by People for over $4.1 million, while British magazine Hello! obtained the international rights for approximately $3.5 million. The proceeds from the sale, up to $10 million worldwide,[169] were donated to an undisclosed charity by Pitt and Jolie.[170] Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh, making Shiloh the first infant to have a statue at Madame Tussauds.[171]
On March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted a three-year-old boy from Vietnam, Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt (originally Pax Thien Jolie). Since the orphanage did not allow unmarried couples to adopt, Jolie adopted Pax as a single parent, and Pitt later adopted him as his son in the United States.[172]
Following months of media speculation, Jolie, in an interview at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, confirmed she was expecting twins.[173] On July 12, 2008, Jolie gave birth to the couple's twins, a boy named Knox Léon and a girl named Vivienne Marcheline at the Lenval hospital in Nice, France.[174][175] 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.[176][177] The money went to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.[176][178]