William Bradley "Brad" Pitt (born December
18, 1963) is an American film actor.
He was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma,
to Southern Baptist parents of mainly English and
Irish descent and was raised in Springfield, Missouri.
His father Bill Pitt and mother Jane Pitt. He has
one brother and one sister. Brother, Doug Pitt and
sister, Julie Pitt. In high school, Pitt was involved
in sports, debating, student government, and school
musicals. He attended the Missouri School of Journalism
at the University of Missouri - Columbia where he
became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He was
two credits shy of graduating with a journalism degree
before trying his luck in Hollywood.
Career
Before he became successful at acting, Pitt supported
himself as a chauffeur, a furniture mover, and a costumed
mascot for the restaurant chain El Pollo Loco. In
the late 1980s, Pitt started landing acting gigs on
primetime series such as Dallas, thirtysomething,
21 Jump Street, Freddy's Nightmares, Another World,
Growing Pains, and Head of the Class. In 1988, he
finally landed his first starring role in The Dark
Side of the Sun. However, as the film was being edited,
civil war tore apart Yugoslavia, where location shooting
was taking place. Most of the footage remained lost
until 1998, when the film was finally released.
In 1991, Pitt finally got his big
break in one of that year's biggest hits: Thelma &
Louise as J.D., Thelma (Geena Davis)'s one-night stand
who gives her tips on robbing 7-11 stores. He followed
up that success with A River Runs Through It, Legends
of the Fall and Se7en. He was nominated for an Academy
Award as Best Supporting Actor for his performance
in the 1995 film Twelve Monkeys.
In 1995, he was chosen by Empire magazine
as one of the 25 sexiest stars in film history. Pitt
has also twice been named the Sexiest Man Alive by
People magazine, the only person to ever receive this
honor more than once. He is consistently rated among
the world's sexiest men in womens' polls worldwide.
Also in 1997, the film Seven Years
in Tibet was released. This film, which chronicled
China's invasion of Tibet, was hailed by Tibetan nationalists
and resulted in Brad Pitt, along with his co-star
David Thewlis, being banned from entering China for
life.
And in 1999 he starred in one of his
most recognizable roles in the cult classic, based
on a novel by Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club.
Since then he has done numerous films
including Mr. & Mrs. Smith which some believe
to be the cause of his and Aniston's splitting.
Personal life
Pitt was involved in a long-term relationship with
actress Gwyneth Paltrow. They became engaged in December
1996, but the couple split in June 1997. Extensive
tabloid coverage surrounded the relationship. Nude
photographs of the couple, taken by paparazzi without
permission, controversially appeared in magazines.
Pitt married actress Jennifer Aniston
on July 29, 2000. Their separation was announced on
January 7, 2005, and Aniston filed for a divorce on
March 25 the same year. There has been speculation
that the marriage ended due to Aniston's refusal to
have children with Pitt, which he greatly desired.
Aniston has denied this. She claims their personal
reasons for entering the marriage were not completely
honest and they could not sustain the deceit, both
in their private and public lives. Further speculation
surrounded Pitt's relationship with his then co-star
Angelina Jolie, while filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith
The couple were quickly dubbed "Brangelina"
by the media. Both Pitt and Jolie denied such relationship
during his marriage to Aniston. Aniston, however,
is also believed to have desired freedom from Pitt,
wanting to divorce as she felt held back from him
also, also feeling kept in his shadow, despite the
fact that by that point she had already made a name
for herself with the long running TV series Friends.
After separation from Aniston, Pitt
began dating Jolie, though initially the two insisted
they were just friends. Pitt accompanied the actress
to Ethiopia in July 2005 to pick up her adopted daughter
Zahara from an orphanage in that country. In late
2005, Pitt and Jolie visited Pakistan twice as ambassadors
of Unicef to support earth quake victims in that country.It
was announced on December 2, 2005, that Pitt was seeking
to legally adopt Angelina Jolie's two children, Maddox
and Zahara, and to have the childrens' surnames legally
changed to Jolie-Pitt. On January 19, 2006, a judge
in California approved this request.
It was confirmed by Pitt and Jolie's
representatives on January 11, 2006 that Jolie is
pregnant with Pitt's child.
After returning from Africa, Pitt
was diagnosed with a mild case of viral meningitis.
He checked himself into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
in Los Angeles but was released a few days later.
Though reluctant to embrace celebrity status, the
philanthropic Pitt has been an active supporter of
research into diseases such as AIDS. Unlike many Hollywood
celebrities, he has remained largely nonpartisan,
working with members of both parties to help fight
poverty, disease, and improve global environmental
conditions. Along with U2 frontman Bono and TV evangelist
Pat Robertson, Pitt has used his celebrity to campaign
for assistance to Africa, and he is the marquee spokesman
for the ONE Campaign. Brad Pitt has also traveled
overseas to visit and entertain U.S. and allied troops.
Trivia
Like many A-list stars, Pitt does not normally perform
in American television commercials, instead opting
to do commercials that are seen in Asia only, most
notably for Edwin Jeans, the Toyota Altis, and Japanese
canned coffee, ROOTS. A notable exception to this
is a Heineken commercial which aired during the 2005
Super Bowl. It was directed by David Fincher, who
directed Pitt in the feature films Seven and Fight
Club.
Pitt was previously engaged to Gwyneth Paltrow (she
co-starred with him in Se7en) and dated actresses
Juliette Lewis, Robin Givens, Geena Davis and Alice
Wilkinson. Paltrow confessed in an interview that
she regretted breaking up with him.
In an odd and mysterious event, he tore his Achilles
tendon during the production of Troy, in which he
plays, coincidentally, Achilles.
He sued Damiani International, the company which made
the wedding ring he gave Jennifer 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
will design jewelry for Damiani that Aniston will
model in ads, and the company will stop selling the
copies.
While doing promotional work for Mr and Mrs Smith
in June 2005, he told Entertainment Tonight's Jann
Carl that his favourite food is steak. He was taught
to ride a horse by John Scott, a rancher/stunt co-ordinator
from Alberta who also taught numerous other Hollywood
stars the same skill.
At the time Brad was a student at the University of
Missouri, Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Sheryl
Crow and ABC-TV news anchor Elizabeth Vargas were
also students there. However, it is unknown whether
or not any of the three future celebrities actually
knew each other while they were students at the University.
Together with Paramount Pictures head Brad Grey and
Jennifer Aniston, Pitt is the co-founder of the production
company Plan B. Aniston is no longer a partner in
the company, although she is still attached to many
projects that were set up before her divorce. The
company produced the blockbuster Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory starring Johnny Depp.
Has appeared on an episode of MTV's Jackass. He has
been awarded a Blue Peter badge. He does not like
showing his bare feet in public. Despite being one
of the most popular actors, Pitt hasn't been a consistent
box office draw. 2004's Troy was considered a disappointment
by many because of its budget and most of his movies
before it were not blockbusters. The 2005 film Mr.
and Mrs. Smith, however, defied expectations and took
in over $450 million (approx $190 in USA)in the worldwide
box office. Many believe that the success of the Smith
movie was due to the curiosity of the relationship
between Brad and co-star Angelina Jolie.
He owns a house in the picturesque town of Carmel-by-the-Sea,
California.
He is known to be a soccer fan and supports Manchester
United.
He is very good friends with George Clooney and Matt
Damon.
His nickname in high school was "Brad the pitt-bull".[citation
needed]
During the making of Fight Club, Pitt and Edward Norton
learned how to make soap
Filmography
No Man's Land (1987)
Less Than Zero (1987)
Happy Together (1989)
Cutting Class (1989)
Across the Tracks (1991)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Johnny Suede (1991)
Contact (1992) (short subject)
Cool World (1992)
A River Runs Through It (1992)
Kalifornia (1993)
True Romance (1993)
The Favor (1994)
Interview with the Vampire (1994)
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Se7en (1995)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Sleepers (1996)
The Devil's Own (1997)
Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
The Dark Side of the Sun (1997; filmed in 1988)
Meet Joe Black (1998)
Being John Malkovich (1999) (cameo)
Fight Club (1999)
Snatch (2000)
The Mexican (2001)
Spy Game (2001)
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Full Frontal (2002) (cameo)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) (cameo)
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) (voice)
Abby Singer (2003) (cameo)
Troy (2004)
Ocean's Twelve (2004)
Special Thanks to Roy London (2005) (documentary)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert
Ford (post-production) (2006)
Chad Schmidt (announced) (2006)
Babel (filming) (2006)
Benjamin Button (announced) (2007)
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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