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Fast facts - The famous actress, filmmaker, and activist was born June 4, 1975, to actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand.

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Fast facts - Sun sign: Gemini
Height: 1.69 M 
Born in: Los Angeles, California, US 
Personality type: ESTP

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Childhood - Jolie attended school in Beverly Hills and lived with her mother, as her parents separated when she was around one year old.

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Childhood - Voight cited adultery on his part for the reason behind their separation, according to The Independent. Her father’s infidelity caused Jolie to foster hostility towards him, as reported by Nicki Swift, and the two have had a tumultuous relationship her entire life.

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Interest in film - Jolie starred next to her successful father in ‘Lookin' to Get Out’ (1982) at age seven. But she has said her interest in film arose from watching movies with her mother as a child, and not because of her father’s successful career as an actor.

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Early life - Despite her brief film debut, Jolie didn’t follow through right away. She began attending Moreno High School in Beverly Hills, an alternative school where the "bad kids" went, according to Parade.

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Teenager - At 14, her mother allowed Jolie’s boyfriend to live with them at Jolie’s request. Jolie has said she "was either going to be reckless on the streets with my boyfriend or he was going to be with me in my bedroom with my mom in the next room because I was going to have a boyfriend," according to the MailOnline.

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Self-destructive years - As a teenager, she embarked on a self-destructive path in which she experimented with drugs, self-mutilation (cutting), while battling insomnia and an eating disorder, according to People. She even came close to attempting suicide, she told the magazine.

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Career goals - During those years, she considered funeral work as a career choice, going as far as taking embalming courses.

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Acting career - She began auditioning at age 16, but struggled to get parts. Four years later, she landed a lead part in 'Hackers' (1995), in which she costarred with Jonny Lee Miller, whom she married a year later. The two separated in 1999.

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Breakthrough - Her big break came in 1998 when she starred in HBO's biographical film 'Gia.' As supermodel Gia Carangi, Jolie "is a multifaceted revelation, shifting from coquettish to nasty to violent to contrite with a breathtaking believability," wrote Ray Richmond for Variety.

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Early films - After 'Gia,' Jolie moved to New York where she studied directing and screenwriting at New York University. She didn't complete her studies, as she decided to return to acting. She starred in 'Playing by Heart' (1998) (pictured) alongside Sean Connery, Gillian Anderson, and Ryan Phillippe. She received high praise for her portrayal, as evidenced by this San Francisco Chronicle review.

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1999 - This was an eventful year for Jolie. She starred in 'Pushing Tin' (where she met future husband Billy Bob Thornton), 'The Bone Collector' alongside Denzel Washington, and 'Girl, Interrupted,' which earned her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress!

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Bad girl image - Jolie continued to attract attention for her dark inclinations. She married Billy Bob Thornton in 2000 and the couple often made eyes pop with bizarre revelations, like the fact that she wore his blood in a necklace and that they'd bought grave plots together, according to Parade.

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Bad girl image - She also infamously shocked the world by kissing her brother full on the lips, first in 2000 backstage at the Golden Globes, and then two months later at the Oscars.

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'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider' (2001) - Despite being praised for her acting abilities following her award-winning performances in the late 1990s, Jolie hadn't starred in a mainstream hit yet. Enter 'Lara Croft.' The film went on to earn over US$270 million worldwide and Jolie became an international star.

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Cambodia and the United Nations - Jolie went to the war-torn country for the first time while filming 'Lara Croft.' While there, she met refugees whose stories deeply moved her. She contacted the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and offered to help.

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Maddox -

In March 2002, a 26-year-old Jolie adopted seven-month-old Maddox after visiting an orphanage in Cambodia on a trip with the UN a few months before. She separated from her then-husband Billy Bob Thornton just months after bringing Maddox home, thus raising him as a single mother.

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Maddox - Jolie has said becoming a mother turned her life around, according to People. She told USA Today: "I knew once I committed to Maddox, I would never be self-destructive again."

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Estrangement from father - Jolie’s relationship with Voight has always been tumultuous, but the two became estranged after he made public remarks accusing her of having serious mental issues, according to Entertainment Weekly.

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Estrangement from father - Voight’s interview caused Jolie to legally drop his surname, according to the MailOnline. Jolie was furious because she thought her father’s irresponsible remarks could have jeopardized her adoption of Maddox, as she states in another MailOnline article.

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UN work - After visiting Cambodia in 2001, she began visiting refugee camps around the world through the UNHCR. She visited Sierra Leone and Tanzania and met with Afghan refugees in Pakistan. She decided to donate US$1 million to the cause, which was at the time the largest individual donation the UNHCR had ever received, according to the agency.

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United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - Still in 2001, Jolie was named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador in a ceremony at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva on August 27.

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UN ambassadorship - Over the following decade, she went on some 40 field missions and chronicled her experiences in the book 'Notes from My Travels,' published in 2003. She has since been promoted to the rank of Special Envoy to High Commissioner.

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Return to box-office successes - In 2005, she starred in the hit 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' alongside Brad Pitt. They got together after, which caused an uproar since Pitt had been married to Jennifer Aniston. Jolie has denied she became involved with Pitt before he separated on multiple occasions, including during an interview with 'The Today Show.'

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Hollywood’s highest-paid actress - After starring in successful films such as 'The Good Shepherd' (2006), 'A Mighty Heart' (2007), and 'Beowulf' (2007), Jolie was named the highest-paid actress in Hollywood in 2008, earning between US$15 and US$20 million per film, as reported by The Telegraph.

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Bertrand’s death and cancer history - Jolie's mother, to whom she was very close, died of ovarian cancer in 2007. Her mother's death influenced Jolie’s decision to undergo a preventive double mastectomy in 2013. She finalized her decision after learning that she had an 87% risk of developing breast cancer, as she wrote in a powerful op-ed for The New York Times.

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Reconciliation with father - Following the death of her mother, Jolie and Voight reconnected to a certain degree, according to the Express. According to the same report, Jolie said the two were going to try to be friends in the coming years, rather than try to reestablish a father-daughter relationship.

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Separation from Brad Pitt - After being together for 12 years and married for two, Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, citing irreconcilable differences. They have six children together, including Maddox, whom Pitt officially adopted in 2006. The separation prompted an onslaught of rumors and speculation.

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Maleficent -

Jolie was praised for her role as Maleficent in the live-action twist on Sleeping Beauty. She reprised the role in the sequel, 'Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,' in 2019.

Sources: (The Famous People) (The Independent) (Nicki Swift) (Parade) (MailOnline) (People) (Variety) (San Francisco Chronicle) (USA Today) (Entertainment Weekly) (UNHCR) (The Telegraph) (The New York Times) (Express)

See also: Catch up on the best films of 2019

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