For the boxer, see Bradley Michael Pitt.
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt[1] (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He became famous during the mid-1990s after starring in several major Hollywood films.[2] Pitt received a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination for his role in the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys.[2]
Pitt is consistently cited by popular media as one of the most attractive men alive[2][3][4][5] and is regarded as a Hollywood A-lister.[6] His former marriage to actress Jennifer Aniston and current relationship with Angelina Jolie have been widely covered in the world media.[2] He is the father of four children with Jolie, one biological, all of whom have also received media coverage. Since his relationship with Jolie, who is known for humanitarianism, he has become increasingly involved in social issues, both domestically and internationally.
Early life
Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, the son of Jane Etta (née Hillhouse), a high school counselor, and William Alvin Pitt, a truck company owner.[7] Along with his brother Doug and sister Julie Neal, he grew up in Springfield, Missouri, where the family moved soon after his birth. Pitt was raised a Baptist.[8][9] He attended Kickapoo High School, where he was involved in sports, debating, student government, and acting. He attended the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri. He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.[1]
Career
1988-1993: Moderate success
In 1988, Pitt had his first starring role, in The Dark Side of the Sun, where he played a young American taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition. The movie was shot in Yugoslavia in the summer of 1988. However, with editing nearly complete, war broke out and much of the footage was lost; the film was released years later.[10] Pitt was then cast in the television movie Too Young to Die?, about an abused teenager given the death penalty for murder. Pitt played the part of a drug addict, Billy Canton, who took advantage of a runaway played by Juliette Lewis.[10]
In 1991, Pitt starred, along with Vera Martins, as Joe Maloney in Across the Tracks, in which he portrayed a high school runner with a difficult criminal brother played by Ricky Schroder.[10] Pitt attracted broader public attention from a supporting role in Thelma & Louise, where he played a small-time criminal drifter who befriends Thelma (Geena Davis). His love scene with Davis, which showed Pitt topless and wearing a cowboy hat, has been referred to as "iconic", often cited as the moment that defined Pitt as a "sex symbol".[1][10]
After Thelma & Louise, Pitt starred alongside Catherine Keener and Nick Cave in the low budget, Tom DiCillo-directed 1991 film Johnny Suede, as an awkward dreamer who aspired to be a big-haired rock star.[10] After appearing in Cool World,[10] Pitt starred in Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It in 1992, for which Pitt learned fly fishing by casting off of Hollywood buildings.[10] In 1993 came Kalifornia, a road movie in which he played a scruffy serial killer alongside Juliette Lewis and X-Files actor David Duchovny.[10]
1994-2000: Mainstream success and acclaim
In 1994, Pitt played vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the movie adaptation of Anne Rice's novel Interview with the Vampire.[10] The role of the eighteenth-century vampire required Pitt to endure several hours of make-up being applied every day to achieve the characteristic white skin; Pitt wore a pair of green contact lenses and vampire fangs to complete the appearance. Pitt's co-stars included the eleven-year-old Kirsten Dunst, Tom Cruise, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas.[10] He then starred in Legends of the Fall and Se7en.[10] In Se7en, Pitt starred alongside Morgan Freeman as the police detective David Mills who hunts a serial killer played by Kevin Spacey.[10] Pitt was then nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Jeffrey Goines in the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys.[11]
In 1997, Pitt starred alongside Harrison Ford as the IRA terrorist Rory Devany in The Devil's Own, the first of several films where Pitt used an Irish accent in his performance.[12] That same year he played the main role of Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in the Jean Jacques Annaud film Seven Years in Tibet.[10] Pitt trained for months for the role, which demanded a great deal of trekking and mountain climbing, by rock climbing in California and the Alps with his co-star, David Thewlis. Due to the themes of Tibetan nationalism in the film, the Chinese government banned Pitt and Thewlis from entering China for life.[13][14]
In 1998, Pitt starred as the main character in the film Meet Joe Black, where he played a personification of Death inhabiting the body of a young man in order to learn what it is like to be human.[10] The film gave Pitt another chance to work alongside Welsh actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, with whom he had previously worked on Legends of the Fall.[10] In 1999, Pitt starred in Fight Club, an adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel. Directed by Se7en's David Fincher, Pitt portrayed the highly complex and colorful character of Tyler Durden.[10]
In 2000, Pitt played the role of Mickey, an Irish Gypsy boxer in the gangster movie Snatch, alongside Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones and Benicio del Toro. The film was a wild caper involving a diamond heist, the Russian and American mafia and the shady underground world, that saw Pitt brought in as a ringer by two failing promoters. The movie saw him moving on from the Northern Irish accent he attempted in The Devil's Own; Pitt created a just-barely-intelligible accent suggesting the Irish Gypsies, referred to as Pikeys in the movie. Pitt continued to train for the role, and honed his boxing skills at Ricky English's gym in Watford.[15]
2000s: Ascension to the A-list
In 2000, Pitt filmed the Cold War thriller Spy Game in which he starred alongside veteran actor Robert Redford, who played the role of his mentor.[16] In 2001, Pitt worked with long-time friend Julia Roberts in the comical road movie The Mexican.[17] At the end of the year, Pitt finished filming Ocean's Eleven with George Clooney and Matt Damon, a remake of the 1960s version which starred Frank Sinatra.[18]
Since then, he has starred in numerous films, including Ocean's Twelve[18] and the epic Troy, based on the Iliad, in which he portrayed the legendary hero Achilles. During film production of Troy, Pitt injured his Achilles tendon, delaying production for several weeks.[19] In 2005, Pitt starred in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, in which he and Angelina Jolie played husband and wife assassins.[20]
In March 2006, it was announced that Paramount had purchased the rights to The Sparrow for Pitt's production company, Plan B, and that Pitt would be playing the lead role of Sandoz.[21] In June 2006 it was announced that Paramount and Plan B will be working on a new zombie film called World War Z, based on the book of the same name by Max Brooks.[22]
Pitt made his return to Hollywood in late 2006 with Alejandro González Iñárritu's critically acclaimed Babel, starring alongside Cate Blanchett.[23] The movie garnered a total of seven Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, one of which was a Golden Globe nomination for Pitt as Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture.[24] That same year, he also produced the eventual Best Picture winner, The Departed.[25] In 2005, he produced and starred in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, directed by Andrew Dominik, but the film was not released until late 2007.[26]
Other projects
Brad Pitt signing autographs for troops during his
December 7,
2001 visit to Incirlik Air Base, Turkey
Pitt has appeared in television commercials designed for the Asian market, advertising such products as Edwin Jeans.[27] He also appeared in a Heineken commercial which aired during the 2005 Super Bowl; it was directed by David Fincher, who directed Pitt in the feature films Se7en and Fight Club.[28]
Together with Jennifer Aniston and Paramount Pictures head Brad Grey, Pitt founded the production company Plan B.[29] Aniston is no longer a partner in the company, although she is still attached to many projects that were set up before her divorce from Pitt.[30] The company produced the blockbuster Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp, as well as The Departed and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.[31]
Pitt made a guest appearance in an eighth-season episode of Friends, as a man who has a grudge against Aniston's character Rachel Green,[32] lent his voice on an episode of King of the Hill, where he played Boomhauer's brother, Patch Boomhauer,[33] and appeared on an episode of MTV's Jackass, in which he took part in a staged abduction of himself. In a later Jackass episode, he and several cast members ran wild through the streets of Los Angeles in gorilla suits.[34]
Pitt has been an active supporter of research into diseases such as AIDS. He is the narrator of the acclaimed Public Television series Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge,[35] which discusses current important global health issues.[35] Pitt is behind Not On Our Watch, an organization that focuses global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities such as in Darfur, along with George Clooney, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub.[36]
Pitt is also a knowledgeable fan of architecture, particularly that of Frank Lloyd Wright, and has helped the National Trust for Historic Preservation raise money.[37]
Personal life
In the late 1980s and 1990s, Pitt dated several of his co-stars, including Robin Givens (Head Of The Class),[38][39][40] Jill Schoelen (Cutting Class),[40] Juliette Lewis (Too Young to Die? and Kalifornia), who at sixteen was ten years his junior when they started dating,[38][41][40] and Gwyneth Paltrow (Se7en),[38][40] with whom he had a much-publicized engagement. Pitt also dated actresses Sinitta and Thandie Newton.[40]
Marriage to Jennifer Aniston
Pitt met Friends actress Jennifer Aniston in 1998 and married her during an enclosed wedding ceremony in Malibu on July 29, 2000.[1][42] The couple ensured that the ceremony would be a private affair by hiring hundreds of guards to block any attempts of invasion by the paparazzi; just one wedding picture was released to the media.[43] Not long after the wedding, Pitt sued Damiani International, the company which had made the wedding ring he gave Aniston, for selling replica "Brad and Jennifer" rings. According to Pitt, the ring was his design and was to be exclusive. Under the settlement reached in January 2002, Pitt would design jewelry for Damiani that Aniston would model in ads, and the company would stop selling the copies.[44][45]
Though their marriage was for years considered the rare Hollywood success, rumors of marital problems began circulating, and the Pitts announced their separation on January 7, 2005.[42] As Pitt's marriage to Aniston drew to a close, he and actress Angelina Jolie were involved in a well-publicized Hollywood scandal in which Jolie was often painted as the "other woman", largely due to their chemistry during the filming of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. While Jolie and Pitt both denied any claims of adultery, speculations continued to mount throughout 2004 and early 2005. In an interview with Ann Curry in June 2005, Jolie explained, "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."[46]
In early 2005, the concept of a "troubled marriage" - and arguably his own - inspired Pitt to cooperate with photographer Steven Klein for a photoshoot entitled "Domestic Bliss" for W magazine.[47] The spread showed Pitt and Jolie as a 1963 married couple with children. Pitt expressed the desire to tell a darker, truer tale, one that explored the "unidentifiable malaise" that often haunts a seemingly happy couple. "You don't know what's wrong", he remarked, "because the marriage is everything you signed up for."[47] For her part, Aniston later cited the shoot as evidence that Pitt has "a sensitivity chip that's missing."[48]
Aniston filed for divorce on March 25, 2005;[49] the divorce was finalized on October 2, 2005.[50]
Relationship with Angelina Jolie
One month after Aniston filed for divorce, in April 2005, a set of paparazzi photos emerged that seemed to confirm the rumors of a relationship between Pitt and actress Angelina Jolie. The photos, which were reportedly sold for $500,000, showed Pitt, Jolie and her son Maddox at a beach in Kenya.[51] During the summer, the pair were seen together with increasing frequency, and the entertainment media dubbed the couple "Brangelina". Two months later, the highly anticipated July 2005 issue of W magazine hit newsstands, featuring Pitt and Jolie posed as a couple.[47]
In July 2005, Pitt accompanied Jolie to Ethiopia,[52] where Jolie adopted her second child, a six-month-old girl named Zahara;[52] later Jolie indicated that she and Pitt made the decision to adopt the child together.[53] In December 2005, it was confirmed that Pitt was seeking to legally adopt Jolie's two (adopted) children as his own; per the legal requirements, classified advertisements in the Los Angeles paper Daily Commerce announced the name change request.[54] On January 19, 2006, a judge in California approved this request, and the children's legal surnames were formally changed to "Jolie-Pitt".[55]
On January 11, 2006, Jolie confirmed to People magazine that she was pregnant with Pitt's child.[56] On May 27, 2006, Jolie gave birth to a daughter, Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt, in Swakopmund, Namibia by a scheduled caesarean section. Pitt confirmed that their newly-born daughter will have a Namibian passport, and Jolie decided to offer the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images herself, rather than allowing paparazzi to make these extremely valuable snapshots. People paid more than $4.1 million for the North American rights, while British magazine Hello! obtained the international rights for roughly $3.5 million; the total rights sale earned up to $10 million worldwide – the most expensive celebrity image of all time.[57][58] All profits were donated to an undisclosed charity by Jolie and Pitt. Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh; it was the first infant re-created in wax by Madame Tussauds.[59]
On March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted a three-year-old boy from Vietnam, Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt, (originally Pax Thien Jolie). Since the orphanage does not allow unmarried couples to adopt, Jolie adopted Pax as a single parent, with Pitt later adopting him as his son domestically.[60][61]
Following media reports suggesting Jolie might be pregnant again, she attended the Independent Spirit Awards 2008 in a close-fitting dress, indirectly confirming those rumors. People quoted a source who confirmed her pregnancy.[62] In May 2008, Jolie confirmed on the Today show that they were expecting twins.[63]
On July 12, 2008, Jolie gave birth to the couple's twins, a boy named Knox Leon Jolie-Pitt and a girl named Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt. On that afternoon, Jolie's lawyers, Lavely-Singer registered the domain names KnoxLeon.com and VivienneMarcheline.com, confirming the reports and verifying the twin's names. [64] The next morning, Jolie's Dr. Michel Sussmann confirmed the birth details, Knox weighing 5.03 pounds, and Vivienne 5 pounds, both delivered via an early caesarean section.[65]
Life in New Orleans
The family divides its time between Los Angeles, California and New Orleans, Louisiana.[66] In an interview with the Times-Picayune, while filming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Pitt said:
| “ |
I can't describe why we're allowed to live a more normal life (in New Orleans). Living in the French Quarter is a thrill for us. We have some semblance of real family life. People have been very, very gracious with us. If we're on the front deck, people go by and say, 'Hi.' Then they go on their way, very friendly.[67] |
” |
In December 2006, Pitt gathered a group of housing professionals together in the Hurricane Katrina-stricken New Orleans to begin planning a project that Pitt calls Make It Right, with the goal of financing and constructing 150 new houses in New Orleans' Ninth Ward.[68] The houses are being designed with an emphasis on sustainability and affordability, with the hope that the project can and will be replicated throughout
