William Bradley “Brad” Pitt (born on December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer, labeled as one of the world’s most attractive men, receiving two Academy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one of them.
Pitt started his acting career with television appearances, including a role in the soap opera Dallas in 1987. He achieved his biggest commercial success with the films Troy (2004) and Mr. & Mrs Smith (2005). Pitt received his first Academy Award nomination for his role in the sci-fi film Twelve Monkeys (1995) and the second one for his performance in the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008).
Brad Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma and grew up in Springfield, Missouri, being raised as a conservative Southern Baptist. He attended Kickapoo High School and University of Missouri. He was the member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and performed in several fraternity shows. In 1985, just two weeks before earning his degree, Pitt left the university, moving to Los Angeles to take acting lessons.
In Los Angeles, Pitt started studying acting with coach Roy London and started his onscreen acting career in 1987 with roles in the film No Way Out, No Man’s Land and Less Than Zero. Pitt debuted on television guest starring in the sitcom Growing Pains. During 1987 and 1988 he had four guest appearances in the soap opera Dallas, while later in 1988 appearing in the police drama 21 Jump Street. He got his first lead role in the same year, in the film The Dark Side of the Sun, but it was released only in 1997.
Pitt brought a larger public attention with the road film Thelma & Louise in 1991. The year 1994 was a major turning point in Pitt’s career as he was cast in the film Interview with the Vampire. His performance earned him two MTV Movie Awards at the 1995 ceremony, but it was not well-received by critics. Pitt next starred in Legends of the Fall with mixed reception, although several critics praised his performance. The role earned Pitt his first Golden Globe Award nomination in the Best Actor category.
In 1995, Pitt had a supporting role in the science-fiction film Twelve Monkeys, receiving positive reviews, winning a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor and his first Academy Award nomination.
In 1999 he performed the role of Tyler Durden in the film Fight Club that was premiered at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival. Although the film was not a box office success, his performance was positively reviewed by critics.
In November, 2001 Pitt guest starred in the TV series Friends, performance that earned him an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. In the same year, Pitt starred in the film Ocean’s Eleven, along with George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia and Julia. The film was a huge commercial success and was very well-received by critics.
In 2003, Pitt lent his voice to the titular character of the animated film Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and to Patch in an episode of the animated series King of the Hill. A year later, in 2004, Pitt starred in two films, Troy and Ocean’s Twelve. Troy is Pitt’s highest grossing films of his career up to the end of 2008.
In 2005, Pitt starred along with Angelina Jolie in the action comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith, receiving reasonable reviews by the critics and being one of the biggest commercial hits of the year. His role in the feature film Babel (2006) earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor, while the film itself collected seven Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations. In 2007, Pitt reprised his role of Rusty Ryan in Ocean’s Thirteen, that earned $311 million worldwide. He was cast in the leading role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) that earned Pitt his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, his fourth Golden Globe and second Academy Award nomination.
Pitt founded in 2002 the film production company Plan B Entertainment, along with Jennifer Aniston and Brad Grey, but from 2005 Aniston and Grey are no longer partners in the company.
Pitt appeared in a Heineken commercial and in various television commercials targeting the Asian market, promoting products as SoftBank or Edwin Jeans.
Pitt is involved in several charity campaigns; he supports the ONE campaign that fights AIDS and poverty. In 2007, Pitt and Jolie donated $1 million to relief organizations in Chad and Darfur. In 2006, Pitt created the Make It Right Foundation to finance and construct 150 new houses in New Orleans, for which in September 2009 he received an award from the U.S. Green Building Council, as recognition of the green housing concept used for the foundation. In 2006, Pitt and Jolie founded a charitable organization to aid humanitarian causes worldwide.
Pitt was named twice the Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine in 1995 and 2000, and appeared on the annual Celebrity 100 list by Forbes in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
In the late 1980s and the 1990s Pitt had relationships with some of his co-stars, such as Robin Givens, Kill Schoelen or Juliette Lewis. From 1995 to 1997 Pitt had a widely publicized relationship and engagement with actress Gwyneth Paltrow. He met actress Jennifer Aniston in 1998 and married her in July 2000, divorcing in 2005.
As from 2005, Pitt has a relationship with Angelina Jolie that is well publicized by the media worldwide. The couple was named by the media “Brangelina”. They have a daughter Shiloh, born in May 2006, and twins a boy – Knox Leon and a girl Vivienne Marcheline born in July 2008.
In 2007, in an interview Pitt stated that he is no longer a Christian, while in July 2009 he said that he doesn’t love in God and that he is “probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic.
Filmography
Moneyball (2011) (in production) …. Billy Beane
The Odyssey (2012) (announced) (rumored)
The Sparrow (2010) (announced) (rumored)
The Lost City of Z (2010) (pre-production) …. Col. Percy Fawcett
Megamind (2010) (post-production) (voice) …. Metro Man
The Tree of Life (2010) (post-production) …. Mr. O’Brien
Beyond All Boundaries (2009) (voice) …. Sgt. Bill Mauldin – Editorial Cartoonist Stars and Stripes
Inglourious Basterds (2009) …. Lt. Aldo Raine
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) …. Benjamin Button
Burn After Reading (2008) …. Chad Feldheimer
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) …. Jesse James
Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) …. Rusty Ryan
Babel (2006) …. Richard Jones
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) …. John Smith
Ocean’s Twelve (2004) …. Rusty Ryan
Troy (2004) …. Achilles
“King of the Hill” …. Patch Boomhauer (1 episode, 2003)
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) (voice) …. Sinbad
“Freedom: A History of Us” …. Albigence Waldo / … (5 episodes, 2003)
Full Frontal (2002) …. Brad / Himself
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) …. Brad, Bachelor 1
Ocean’s Eleven (2001) …. Rusty Ryan
“Friends” …. Will Colbert (1 episode, 2001)
Spy Game (2001) …. Tom Bishop
The Mexican (2001) …. Jerry Welbach
Snatch. (2000) …. Mickey O’Neil
Fight Club (1999) …. Tyler Durden
Meet Joe Black (1998) …. Joe Black / Young Man in Coffee Shop
The Dark Side of the Sun (1997) …. Rick
Seven Years in Tibet (1997) …. Heinrich Harrer
The Devil’s Own (1997) …. Rory Devaney / Francis Austin McGuire
Sleepers (1996) …. Michael Sullivan
Twelve Monkeys (1995) …. Jeffrey Goines
Se7en (1995) …. Detective David Mills
Legends of the Fall (1994) …. Tristan Ludlow
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994) …. Louis de Pointe du Lac
The Favor (1994) …. Elliott Fowler
True Romance (1993) …. Floyd – Dick’s Roommate
Kalifornia (1993) …. Early Grayce
A River Runs Through It (1992) …. Paul Maclean
“Tales from the Crypt” …. Billy (1 episode, 1992)
Cool World (1992) …. Detective Frank Harris
Two-Fisted Tales (1992) (TV) …. Billy (segment “King of the Road”)
Contact (1992) …. Cox
Johnny Suede (1991) …. Johnny Suede
Thelma & Louise (1991) …. J.D.
Across the Tracks (1991) …. Joe Maloney
“Glory Days” …. Walker Lovejoy (6 episodes, 1990)
Too Young to Die? (1990) (TV) …. Billy Canton
The Image (1990) (TV) …. Steve Black
“thirtysomething” …. Bernard (1 episode, 1989)
Cutting Class (1989) …. Dwight Ingalls
Happy Together (1989/I) …. Brian
“Growing Pains” …. Jeff / … (2 episodes, 1987-1989)
“Freddy’s Nightmares” …. Rick Austin (1 episode, 1989)
“Head of the Class” …. Chuck (1 episode, 1989)
A Stoning in Fulham County (1988) (TV) …. Theodore ‘Teddy’ Johnson
“21 Jump Street” …. Peter (1 episode, 1988)
“Dallas” …. Randy (4 episodes, 1987-1988)
“Another World” (1964) TV series …. Chris (unknown episodes, 1987)
Less Than Zero (1987) (uncredited) …. Partygoer/Preppie Kid At Fight
No Man’s Land (1987) (uncredited) …. Waiter
No Way Out (1987) (uncredited) (unconfirmed) …. Airport Co
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Tags: Biography, Brad Pitt, Filmography, Pictures
June 16th, 2010 at 9:31 am
We’ve our my movie favorites, and while going over my list, I happened to realize that Mr brad pitt was in a handful of of them. No matter what critics say, I thought he did an remarkable job in Interview with a Vampire, however I’ve got to go along with them on Meet Joe Black. His performance there did nothing for me. Seven was inspiring, and so was 12 Monkeys. And I thought he was enchanting in every three Oceans movies. Troy was wonderful, and he brought the renowned hero to life along with his cocky swagger. These days, I’ve got to see Basterds. I’ve been out of the country for a couple of years, and not always convenient to a movie theater, but whenever I’m able to, I’m checking it out.