This article is about the American actor. For the Australian boxer, see
Brad Pitt (boxer).
William Bradley "Brad" Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and producer. He has received multiple awards and nominations including an Academy Award as producer under his own company Plan B Entertainment.
Pitt first gained recognition as a cowboy hitchhiker in the road movie Thelma & Louise(1991). His first leading roles in big-budget productions came with the dramas A River Runs Through It (1992) and Legends of the Fall (1994), and Interview with the Vampire(1994). He gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller Seven and the science fiction film 12 Monkeys (both 1995), the latter earning him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Pitt starred in the cult film Fight Club (1999) and the major international hit Ocean's Eleven (2001) and its sequels, Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). His greatest commercial successes have been Troy (2004), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), and World War Z (2013). Pitt received his second and third Academy Award nominations for his leading performances inThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Moneyball (2011). He produced The Departed (2006) and 12 Years a Slave (2013), both of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and also The Tree of Life, Moneyball, and The Big Short (2015), all of which garnered Best Picture nominations.
As a public figure, Pitt has been cited as one of the most influential and powerful people in the American entertainment industry, as well as the world's most attractive man, by various media outlets. His personal life is also the subject of wide publicity. Divorced from actressJennifer Aniston, to whom he was married for five years, he has been married to actressAngelina Jolie since 2014. They have six children together, three of whom were adopted internationally. In September 2016, Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt.[1]
Early life
William Bradley Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to William Alvin Pitt, who ran a trucking company, and Jane Etta (née Hillhouse), a school counsellor.[2][3] The family soon moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he lived together with his younger siblings, Douglas(born 1966) and Julie Neal (born 1969).[4] Born into a conservative household,[5] he was raised as Southern Baptist, but has since stated that he does not "have a great relationship with religion" and that he "oscillate[s] between agnosticism and atheism."[6] Pitt has described Springfield as "Mark Twain country, Jesse James country", having grown up with "a lot of hills, a lot of lakes".[7]
Pitt attended Kickapoo High School, where he was a member of the golf, swimming and tennis teams.[8] He participated in the school's Key and Forensics clubs, in school debates, and in musicals.[9] Following his graduation from high school, Pitt enrolled in the University of Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism with a focus on advertising.[9] As graduation approached, Pitt did not feel ready to settle down. He loved films—"a portal into different worlds for me"—and, since films were not made in Missouri, he decided to go to where they were made.[10][11] Two weeks before earning his degree, Pitt left the university and moved to Los Angeles, where he took acting lessons and worked odd jobs.[10]
Personal life
Relationships
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pitt was involved in successive relationships with several of his co-stars, including Robin Givens (Head of the Class),[173] Jill Schoelen (Cutting Class),[173] and Juliette Lewis (Too Young to Die? and Kalifornia).[27] In addition, Pitt had a much-publicized romance and engagement to his Sevenco-star Gwyneth Paltrow, whom he dated from 1994 to 1997.[173]
Pitt met Friends actress Jennifer Aniston in 1998 and married her in a private wedding ceremony in Malibu on July 29, 2000. For years their marriage was considered a rare Hollywood success;[174] however, in January 2005, Pitt and Aniston announced they had decided to separate. Two months later, Aniston filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.[175] Pitt and Aniston's divorce was finalized by theLos Angeles Superior Court on October 2, 2005.[175] Despite media reports that Pitt and Aniston had an acrimonious relationship, Pitt said in a February 2009 interview that he and Aniston "check in with each other", adding that they were both big parts of each other's lives.[176]
During Pitt's divorce proceedings, his involvement with his Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-starAngelina Jolie attracted media attention. While Pitt stated that there was no infidelity, he also stated that he "fell in love" with Jolie on the set.[177] In April 2005, one month after Aniston filed for divorce, a set of paparazzi photographs emerged showing Pitt, Jolie and her son Maddox at a beach in Kenya; the press interpreted the pictures as evidence of a relationship between Pitt and Jolie. During 2005, the two were seen together with increasing frequency, and the entertainment media dubbed the couple "Brangelina".[178] On January 11, 2006, Jolie confirmed to People that she was pregnant with Pitt's child, thereby publicly acknowledging their relationship for the first time. Pitt and Jolie announced their engagement in April 2012 after seven years together.[179] They were married on August 23, 2014, in a private ceremony in Château Miraval, France.[180]
On September 19, 2016, Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt, citing irreconcilable differences.[1]
Children
| Children |
- Maddox Chivan Jolie-Pitt
- born in Cambodia;
adopted March 10, 2002 by Jolie;
adopted early 2006 by Pitt
- Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt
- born in Awassa, Ethiopia;
adopted July 6, 2005 by Jolie;
adopted early 2006 by Pitt
- Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt
- born in Swakopmund, Namibia
- Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt
- born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam;
adopted March 15, 2007 by Jolie;
adopted February 21, 2008 by Pitt
- Knox Léon Jolie-Pitt
- born in Nice, France
- Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt
- born in Nice, France
|
In July 2005, Pitt accompanied Jolie to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she adopted her second child, Zahara Marley.[181][182] On December 3, 2005, Pitt was in the process of becoming the adoptive father of both children;[183] on January 19, 2006, a California judge granted Jolie's request to change the children's surnames from "Jolie" to "Jolie-Pitt".[184] The adoptions were finalized soon after.[185]
Jolie gave birth to daughter Shiloh Nouvel inSwakopmund, Namibia, on May 27, 2006. Pitt confirmed that their newborn daughter would have a Namibian passport.[186] The couple sold the first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor Getty Images; the North American rights were purchased by People for over $4.1 million, while Hello! obtained the British rights for approximately $3.5 million. The proceeds from the sale were donated to charities serving African children.[187] Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled a wax figure of two-month-old Shiloh; it marked the first time an infant was recreated in wax by Madame Tussauds.[188]
On March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted three-year-old Pax Thien from an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.[189] Pitt adopted Pax in the United States on February 21, 2008.[190]
At the Cannes Film Festival in May 2008, Jolie confirmed that she was expecting twins.[191]She gave birth to son Knox Léon and daughter Vivienne Marcheline on July 12, 2008 inNice, France.[192] The rights for the first images of Knox and Vivienne were jointly sold toPeople and Hello! for $14 million—the most expensive celebrity pictures ever taken.[193][194]The couple donated the proceeds to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.[193][195]
In the media
Pitt's perceived sex appeal has been picked up by many sources, including Empire, who named him one of the 25 sexiest stars in film history in 1995.[9][196][197] The same year, Pitt won People's Sexiest Man Alive, an accolade he won again in 2000.[196][198] Pitt appeared on Forbes's annual Celebrity 100 list of the 100 most powerful celebrities in 2006, 2007, and 2008, at No. 20, No. 5, and No. 10 respectively.[199][200][201] In 2007, he was listed among the Time 100, a compilation of the 100 most influential people in the world, as selected annually byTIME.[202] The magazine credited Pitt with using "his star power to get people to look [to where] cameras don't usually catch".[202] Pitt was again included in the Time 100 in 2009, this time in the Builders and Titans list.[203]
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 significant media hype surrounding the couple reached what Reuters, in a story titled "TheBrangelina fever," called "the point of insanity".[204] To avoid media attention, the couple flew to Namibia for the birth of their daughter Shiloh, which was described by a paparazzi blog as "the most anticipated baby since Jesus Christ."[205] Similarly, intense media interest greeted the announcement two years later of Jolie's second pregnancy; for the two weeks Jolie spent in a seaside hospital in Nice, reporters and photographers camped outside on the promenade to report on the birth.[206]
In a 2006 global industry survey by ACNielsen in 42 international markets, Pitt, together with Jolie, was found to be the favorite celebrity endorser for brands and products worldwide.[207] Pitt has appeared in several television commercials. For the U.S. market, he starred in a Heineken commercial aired during the 2005 Super Bowl; it was directed byDavid Fincher, who had directed Pitt in Seven, Fight Club, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.[208] Other commercial appearances came in television spots includingAcura Integra, in which he was featured opposite Russian model Tatiana Sorokko,[209] as well as SoftBank, and Edwin Jeans.[210] On June 2, 2015, the minor planet 29132 Bradpitt was named in his honor.[211]
Awards and nominations
Filmography (selected)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Pitt
