Angelina Jolie

She is a respected artist and has received three Golden Globes, as well as an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Lisa Rowe in the film Girl, Interrupted. Additionally Jolie has starred in five student films, all of which were directed by her brother James Haven.

Jolie, the daughter of actor Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, was born in Los Angeles, California. She is of Czech, French-Canadian, and Iroquois descents. As a child she dreamed of becoming a funeral director. She attended the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute from the age of 11 and later completed a degree in film at New York University.

Jolie has been long estranged from her father, actor Jon Voight, though a reconciliation was attempted by his appearing with her in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. In the October 2004 issue of Premiere Magazine, Jolie indicated that she was no longer interested in pursuing a relationship with her father. Soon after he exploited a claim that she has "serious emotional problems" on Access Hollywood, she legally dropped Voight as her last name.

Jolie has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees since 2001, and frequently travels to far-flung countries to draw attention to the plight of people in Third World nations. In 2003, she published Notes from My Travels, a collection of journal entries chronicling her early work with the U.N.. In a January 2005 interview (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/01/29/davos.jolie.reut/index.html) with Reuters, Jolie criticized fellow actors for not being committed enough in helping others, and stated at she gives one-third of her income to charitable organizations.

Jolie was also one of the first celebrities to accept an invitation to be one of the bearers of the Olympic Torch during the 2004 Olympic Games, though she was ultimately unable to participate due to filming commitments.