NAME: Brad Pitt
OCCUPATION: Film Actor
BIRTH DATE: December 18, 1963 (Age: 47)
EDUCATION: Kickapoo High School, University of Missouri
PLACE OF BIRTH: Shawnee, Oklahoma
Born December 18, 1963, in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Pitt grew up in Springfield, Missouri, the eldest of three children in a devoutly Southern Baptist family. His father, Bill Pitt, owned a trucking company and his mother, Jane Pitt, was a family counselor. Pitt originally aspired to be an advertising art director, studying journalism at the University of Missouri. However, the young college student had other quiet aspirations, the product of a childhood love of movies, which finally seemed tangible his last semester at university when he realized, "I can leave." On a whim, Pitt dropped out of college, packed up his Datsun, and headed West to pursue an acting career in Los Angeles, just two credits shy of a college degree.
In that rarest of film moments, Pitt gained instant stardom as the hitchhiking hunk - part charmer, part thief - who seduces Geena Davis while brandishing a hairdryer and sporting a cowboy hat in the female buddy movie, "Thelma & Louise" (1991). The following year, he achieved leading man status while sporting a formidable pompadour as the fictitious, aspiring teen idol "Johnny Suede;" he maintained the hairstyle as a soft-hearted yet hard-boiled vet-turned-cartoon cop in "Cool World" - Ralph Bakshi's uneven blend of live-action and animation. Pitt gained some critical esteem playing the troubled younger brother who casts a mean fishing line in Robert Redford's "A River Runs Through It" (1992), but fared less well as a bearded psycho killer in "Kalifornia" (1993). He provided a delightful character turn as the stoner roommate of a struggling actor (Michael Rapaport) who connects his Detroit buddy (Christian Slater) with a Hollywood producer (Saul Rubinek) for a coke deal gone bad in the Quentin Tarantino-scripted "True Romance" (1993). Despite his relative minor degree of celebrity at that time, there was already considerable interest in Pitt's romantic involvements. Around the release of "True Romance," he called off a reported engagement to three-year girlfriend, actress Juliette Lewis.
Pitt subsequently played his first high profile lead in a Hollywood blockbuster as Louis, the lachrymose narrator of "Interview with the Vampire" (1994). His depressed bloodsucker seemed all the more anemic when paired with a lively Tom Cruise. Pitt's star qualities were better displayed as the wild, middle brother of a colorful Western clan in "Legends of the Fall." In a change of pace from glamour roles - and to subtly downplay his being dubbed the "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine - the actor played a scruffy, arrogant policeman tracking a serial killer with Morgan Freeman in "Seven" (1995), before earning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination as a twitching mental patient/animal rights activist in Terry Gilliam's futuristic dystopia, "12 Monkeys" (1995). It was on the set of the former film that Pitt met his onscreen wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, with whom he began the first of his high profile romances.
After a turn as a prosecutor in Barry Levinson's "Sleepers" (1996), Pitt adopted a passing Belfast accent as an IRA gunman seeking refuge in the home of a New York City cop (Harrison Ford) in "The Devil's Own" (1997). What had been a long a troubled shoot resulted in a muddled and uneven drama. Pitt caused some controversy with a Newsweek interview, in which he made disparaging remarks about the film's script. With "Seven Years in Tibet" (1997), he adopted an Austrian accent to play an egotistical man who underg s a spiritual conversion when he is befriended by the youthful Dalai Lama. That film was also the subject of debate when it was revealed that Heinrich Harrer (Pitt) had been a Nazi Party member - the resulting negative publicity and mixed reviews hurting the film's box office. Pitt followed up by reuniting with his "Legends of the Falls" co-star Anthony Hopkins in the languid "Meet J Black" (1998) - a loose remake of "Death Takes a Holiday" (1934) - with the younger actor playing the Grim Reaper in human form.
Following a decidedly busy 2001 that also included a lead role opposite Julia Roberts in the romantic crime-comedy The Mexican, Pitt was virtually absent from the big-screen over the next three years. After walking away from the ambitious and troubled Darren Aronofsky production The Fountain, he popped up for a very brief cameo in pal George Clooney's 2002 directorial debut Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and lent his voice to the animated adventure Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, but spent the majority of his time working on the historical epic Troy (2004). Directed by Wolfgang Peterson, the film employed a huge cast, crew and budget.
The media engulfed Pitt's next screen role with tabloid fervor, as it cast him opposite bombshell Angelina Jolie. While the comedic actioner Mr. and Mrs. Smith grossed dollar one at the box office, the stars' off-camera relationship that made some of 2005's biggest headlines. Before long, Pitt had split from his wife Jennifer Aniston and adopted Jolie's two children. The family expanded to five in 2006 - with the birth of the couple's first child - and six in 2007, with the adoption of a Vietnamese boy.
In addition to increasing his family in 2006, Pitt also padded his filmography as a producer on a number of projects, including Martin Scorsese's The Departed, the Best Picture Winner for 2006. He also acted opposite Cate Blanchett in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's drama Babel. Interestingly, that film hit theaters the same year as The Fountain, a film that was originally set to star the duo. Pitt also stayed busy as an actor, reteaming with many familiar on-screen pals for Ocean's Thirteen. At about the same time, Pitt teamed up with Ridley Scott to co-produce a period western, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford; Pitt also stars in the film, as James.
Meanwhile, Pitt reunited with Soderbergh, Clooney, Damon and the rest one more time for "Oceans 13" (2007), the third installment to the hipster caper series that saw the gang exacting revenge on a ruthless Las Vegas casino owner (Al Pacino) after becoming the victims of a double-cross. Hijinks and hilarity ensue. after becoming the victims of a double-cross. He then delivered a touching performance in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (2008), playing a man born in his eighties during World War I who ages backwards into the 21st century. Pitt earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor, which was soon followed by a Academy Award nomination for the same category.
Brad Pitt Awards:
2002 Emmy: Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series - Nominee
1996 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Winner
1995 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
2007 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Nominee
1995 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Nominee
2009 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
2008 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Nominee
2009 People's Choice Awards: Favorite Leading Man - Winner
2008 People's Choice Awards: Favorite On Screen Match Up - Winner
2006 People's Choice Awards: Favorite Leading Actor - Winner
2005 People's Choice Awards: Favorite Leading Actor - Winner
2008 BAFTA Awards: Best Supporting Actor - Nominee
2006 BAFTA Awards: Best Film - Nominee
2008 BAFTA Awards: Best Leading Actor - Nominee
2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture - Winner
2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture - Nominee
2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role - Nominee
2006 Screen Actors Guild Awards: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture - Nominee
College:
Attended University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
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