American actor (born 1963)
William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American
actor and film producer. He is the🍎 recipient of various accolades, including two
Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a
Primetime🍎 Emmy Award. As a public figure, Pitt has been cited as one of the most
powerful and influential people in🍎 the American entertainment industry.
Pitt first
gained recognition as a cowboy hitchhiker in the Ridley Scott road film Thelma & Louise
🍎 (1991). His first leading roles in big-budget productions came with the drama films A
River Runs Through It (1992) and🍎 Legends of the Fall (1994). He also starred in the
horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994), alongside Tom Cruise.🍎 He gave critically
acclaimed performances in David Fincher's crime thriller Seven (1995) and the science
fiction film 12 Monkeys (1995).🍎 The latter earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best
Supporting Actor and his first Academy Award nomination.
Pitt found greater🍎 commercial
success starring in Steven Soderbergh's heist film Ocean's Eleven (2001), and reprised
his role in its sequels. He cemented🍎 his leading man status starring in blockbusters
such as the historical epic Troy (2004), the romantic crime film Mr. &🍎 Mrs. Smith
(2005), the horror film World War Z (2013), and the action film Bullet Train (2024).
Pitt also starred🍎 in the critically acclaimed films Fight Club (1999), Babel (2006),
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford🍎 (2007), Burn After Reading
(2008), Inglourious Basterds (2009), The Tree of Life (2011), and The Big Short (2024).
Pitt received🍎 Academy Award nominations for his performances in The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button (2008) and Moneyball (2011), and he won🍎 the Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actor for playing a stuntman in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2024).
In
2001,🍎 Pitt co-founded the production company Plan B Entertainment.[3] He produced The
Departed (2006), 12 Years a Slave (2013), and Moonlight🍎 (2024), all of which won the
Academy Award for Best Picture, while others such as The Tree of Life (2011),🍎 Moneyball
(2011), Selma (2014), and The Big Short (2024) were nominated for the award.
Pitt was
named People's Sexiest Man Alive🍎 in 1995 and 2000. His personal life is the subject of
wide publicity. He is divorced from actresses Jennifer Aniston🍎 and Angelina Jolie. Pitt
has six children with Jolie, three of whom were adopted internationally.
Early
life
William Bradley Pitt was born🍎 on December 18, 1963, in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to
William Alvin Pitt, the proprietor of a trucking company, and Jane Etta🍎 (née
Hillhouse), a school counselor.[4] The family soon moved to Springfield, Missouri,
where he lived together with his younger siblings,🍎 Douglas Pitt (born 1966) and Julie
Neal (born 1969).[5] Born into a conservative Christian household,[6][7] he was raised
as Southern🍎 Baptist and later "oscillate[d] between agnosticism and atheism."[8] He
later reconciled his belief in spirituality.[9] Pitt has described Springfield as🍎 "Mark
Twain country, Jesse James country," having grown up with "a lot of hills, a lot of
lakes."[10]
Pitt attended Kickapoo🍎 High School, where he was a member of the golf,
swimming, and tennis teams.[11] He participated in the school's Key🍎 and Forensics
clubs, in school debates, and in musicals.[12] Following his graduation from high
school, Pitt enrolled in the University🍎 of Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism
with a focus on advertising.[13] As graduation approached, Pitt did not feel ready🍎 to
settle down. He loved films—"a portal into different worlds for me"—and, since films
were not made in Missouri, he🍎 decided to go to where they were made.[14][15] Two weeks
short of completing the coursework for a degree, Pitt left🍎 the university and moved to
Los Angeles, where he took acting lessons and worked odd jobs.[14] He has named Gary
🍎 Oldman, Sean Penn, and Mickey Rourke as his early acting heroes.[16]
Career
Early work
(1987–1993)
While struggling to establish himself in Los Angeles,🍎 Pitt took lessons
from acting coach Roy London.[12][17] His acting career began in 1987, with uncredited
parts in the films🍎 No Way Out (1987), No Man's Land (1987) and Less than Zero
(1987).[12][18] In May 1987, he made his television🍎 debut in a two-episode role on the
NBC soap opera Another World.[19] In November of the same year, Pitt had🍎 a guest
appearance on the CBS sitcom Trial and Error[20][21] and the ABC sitcom Growing
Pains.[22] He appeared in four🍎 episodes of the CBS primetime series Dallas between
December 1987 and February 1988 as Randy, the boyfriend of Charlie Wade🍎 (played by
Shalane McCall).[23] Later in 1988, Pitt made a guest appearance on the Fox police
drama 21 Jump Street.[24]🍎 In the same year, the Yugoslavian–U.S. co-production The Dark
Side of the Sun (1988) was his first leading film role,🍎 starring as a young American
taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition.🍎 The film was
shelved at the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence, and was not released until
1997.[12] Pitt🍎 made two motion picture appearances in 1989: the first in a supporting
role in the comedy Happy Together; the second🍎 a featured role in the horror film
Cutting Class, the first of Pitt's films to reach theaters.[22] He made guest
🍎 appearances on television series Head of the Class, Freddy's Nightmares,
Thirtysomething, and (for a second time) Growing Pains.[25]
Pitt was cast🍎 as Billy
Canton, a drug addict who takes advantage of a young runaway (played by Juliette Lewis)
in the 1990🍎 NBC television movie Too Young to Die?, the story of an abused teenager
sentenced to death for a murder. Ken🍎 Tucker of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Pitt is a
magnificent slimeball as her hoody boyfriend; looking and sounding like a malevolent
🍎 John Cougar Mellencamp, he's really scary."[26] The same year, Pitt co-starred in six
episodes of the short-lived Fox drama Glory🍎 Days and took a supporting role in the HBO
television film The Image.[27] His next appearance came in the 1991🍎 film Across the
Tracks; Pitt portrayed Joe Maloney, a high school runner with a criminal brother,
played by Rick Schroder.[28]🍎 The same year he featured in a Levi's jeans TV commercial
based around the song "20th Century Boy" which played🍎 in the background.[29] After
years of supporting roles in film and frequent television guest appearances, Pitt
attracted wider recognition in🍎 his supporting role in Ridley Scott's 1991 road film
Thelma & Louise.[27] He played J.D., a small-time criminal who befriends🍎 Thelma (Geena
Davis). His love scene with Davis has been cited as the event that defined Pitt as a
sex🍎 symbol.[22][30] After Thelma & Louise, Pitt starred in the 1991 film Johnny Suede,
a low-budget picture about an aspiring rock🍎 star,[31] and the 1992 live-action/animated
fantasy film Cool World,[22] although neither furthered his career, having poor reviews
and box office🍎 performance.[32][33]
Pitt took on the role of Paul Maclean in the 1992
biographical film A River Runs Through It, directed by🍎 Robert Redford.[34] His
portrayal of the character was described by People's Janet Mock as a career-making
performance,[35] proving that Pitt🍎 could be more than a "cowboy-hatted hunk."[36] He
has admitted to feeling under pressure when making the film[5] and thought🍎 it was one
of his "weakest performances ... It's so weird that it ended up being the one that I
🍎 got the most attention for."[5] Pitt believed that he benefited from working with such
a talented cast and crew. He🍎 compared working with Redford to playing tennis with a
superior player, saying "when you play with somebody better than you,🍎 your game gets
better."[35][36] In 1993, Pitt reunited with Juliette Lewis for the road film
Kalifornia. He played Early Grayce,🍎 a serial killer and the abusive husband of Lewis'
character, in a performance described by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone🍎 as
"outstanding, all boyish charm and then a snort that exudes pure menace."[37] Pitt also
garnered attention for a brief🍎 appearance in the cult hit True Romance as a stoner
named Floyd, providing comic relief to the action film.[38] He🍎 capped the year by
winning a ShoWest Award for Male Star of Tomorrow.[39]
Breakthrough (1994–1998)
Pitt
with Losang Thonden in Argentina on🍎 the set of Seven Years in Tibet in 1997
In 1994,
Pitt portrayed the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in🍎 the horror film Interview with the
Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, based on Anne Rice's 1976 novel of the same name.[40]
🍎 He was part of an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Christian
Slater, and Antonio Banderas.[40] Despite his🍎 winning two MTV Movie Awards at the 1995
ceremony,[41] his performance was poorly received. According to the Dallas Observer,
"Brad🍎 Pitt [...] is a large part of the problem [in the film]. When directors play up
his cocky, hunkish, folksy🍎 side [...] he's a joy to watch. But there's nothing about
him that suggests inner torment or even self-awareness, which🍎 makes him a boring
Louis."[42]
Following the release of Interview with the Vampire, Pitt starred in
Legends of the Fall (1994),[43]🍎 based on a novel by the same name by Jim Harrison, set
in the American West during the first four🍎 decades of the twentieth century. Portraying
Tristan Ludlow, son of Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins) a Cornish
immigrant,[44] Pitt received🍎 his first Golden Globe Award nomination, in the Best Actor
category.[45] Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas co-starred as Pitt's brothers.🍎 Although the
film's reception was mixed,[46] many film critics praised Pitt's performance. Janet
Maslin of The New York Times said,🍎 "Pitt's diffident mix of acting and attitude works
to such heartthrob perfection it's a shame the film's superficiality gets in🍎 his
way."[47] The Deseret News predicted that Legends of the Fall would solidify Pitt's
reputation as a lead actor.[48]
In 1995,🍎 Pitt starred alongside Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth
Paltrow, and Kevin Spacey in the crime thriller Seven, playing a detective on the🍎 trail
of a serial killer who preys on people he considers guilty of the Seven Deadly
Sins.[49] Pitt called it🍎 a great movie and declared the part would expand his acting
horizons.[50] He expressed his intent to move on from🍎 "this 'pretty boy' thing [...]
and play someone with flaws."[51] His performance was critically well received, with
Variety saying that🍎 it was screen acting at its best, further remarking on Pitt's
ability to turn in a "determined, energetic, creditable job"🍎 as the detective.[52]
Seven earnedR$327 million at the international box office.[32]
Following the success of
Seven, Pitt played psychotic anarchist Jeffrey🍎 Goines in Terry Gilliam's 1995 science
fiction film 12 Monkeys. The movie received predominantly positive reviews, with Pitt
praised in🍎 particular. Janet Maslin of The New York Times called Twelve Monkeys "fierce
and disturbing" and remarked on Pitt's "startlingly frenzied🍎 performance", concluding
that he "electrifies Jeffrey with a weird magnetism that becomes important later in the
film."[53] He won a🍎 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film[45] and
received his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting🍎 Actor.[54]
The
following year, he appeared in the legal drama Sleepers (1996), based on Lorenzo
Carcaterra's novel of the same name.[55]🍎 The film received mixed reviews.[56] In the
1997 film The Devil's Own Pitt starred, opposite Harrison Ford, as Irish Republican
🍎 Army terrorist Rory Devany,[57] a role for which he was required to learn an Irish
accent.[58] Critical opinion was divided🍎 on his accent; "Pitt finds the right tone of
moral ambiguity, but at times his Irish brogue is too convincing🍎 – it's hard to
understand what he's saying", wrote the San Francisco Chronicle.[59] The Charleston
Gazette opined that it had🍎 favored Pitt's accent over the movie.[60] The Devil's Own
grossedR$140 million worldwide,[32] but was a critical failure.
Later that year, he🍎 led
as Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer in the Jean-Jacques Annaud film Seven Years in
Tibet.[61] Pitt trained for months for🍎 the role, which demanded significant mountain
climbing and trekking practice, including rock climbing in California and the European
Alps with🍎 his co-star David Thewlis.[62] Pitt had the lead role in 1998's fantasy
romance film Meet Joe Black. He portrayed a🍎 personification of death inhabiting the
body of a young man to learn what it is like to be human.[63] The🍎 film received mixed
reviews, and many were critical of Pitt's performance. According to Mick LaSalle of the
San Francisco Chronicle,🍎 Pitt was unable to "make an audience believe that he knows all
the mysteries of death and eternity."[64] Roger Ebert🍎 remarked, "Pitt is a fine actor,
but this performance is a miscalculation."[65]
Rise to prominence (1999–2003)
In 1999,
Pitt portrayed Tyler Durden🍎 in Fight Club,[66][67] a film adaptation of Chuck
Palahniuk's novel of the same name, directed by David Fincher.[68] Pitt prepared🍎 for
the part with lessons in boxing, taekwondo, and grappling.[69] To look the part, Pitt
consented to the removal of🍎 pieces of his front teeth which were restored when filming
ended.[70] While promoting Fight Club, Pitt said that the film🍎 explored not taking
one's aggressions out on someone else but to "have an experience, take a punch more and
see🍎 how you come out on the other end."[71] Fight Club premiered at the 1999 Venice
International Film Festival.[72] Despite divided🍎 critical opinion on the film as a
whole,[73][74] Pitt's performance was widely praised. Paul Clinton of CNN noted the
risky🍎 yet successful nature of the film,[75] while Variety remarked upon Pitt's ability
to be "cool, charismatic and more dynamically physical,🍎 perhaps than [...] his
breakthrough role in Thelma and Louise".[76] In spite of a worse-than-expected box
office performance, Fight Club🍎 became a cult classic after its DVD release in
2000.[77]
Pitt in 2001
Pitt was cast as an Irish Traveller boxer with🍎 a barely
intelligible accent in Guy Ritchie's 2000 gangster film Snatch.[78] Several reviewers
were critical of Snatch; however, most praised🍎 Pitt.[79] Mick LaSalle of the San
Francisco Chronicle said Pitt was "ideally cast as an Irishman whose accent is so🍎 thick
even Brits can't understand him", going on to say that, before Snatch, Pitt had been
"shackled by roles that🍎 called for brooding introspection, but recently he has found
his calling in black comic outrageousness and flashy extroversion;"[80] while Amy
🍎 Taubin of The Village Voice claimed that "Pitt gets maximum comic mileage out of a
one-joke role".[81]
The following year Pitt🍎 starred opposite Julia Roberts in the
romantic comedy The Mexican,[82] a film that garnered a range of reviews[83] but
enjoyed🍎 box office success.[32] Pitt's next role, in 2001'sR$143 million-grossing Cold
War thriller Spy Game,[32] was as Tom Bishop, an operative🍎 of the CIA's Special
Activities Division, mentored by Robert Redford's character.[84] Mark Holcomb of Salon
enjoyed the film, although he🍎 noted that neither Pitt nor Redford provided "much of an
emotional connection for the audience".[85]
On November 22, 2001, Pitt made🍎 a guest
appearance in the eighth season of the television series Friends, playing a man with a
grudge against Rachel🍎 Green, played by Jennifer Aniston, to whom Pitt was married at
the time.[86] For this performance he was nominated for🍎 an Emmy Award in the category
of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.[87] In December 2001, Pitt played Rusty
🍎 Ryan in the heist film Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack original. He
joined an ensemble cast🍎 including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy García, and Julia
Roberts.[88] Well received by critics, Ocean's Eleven was highly successful at🍎 the box
office, earningR$450 million worldwide.[32]
Pitt appeared in two episodes of MTV's
reality series Jackass in February 2002, first running🍎 through the streets of Los
Angeles with several cast members in gorilla suits,[89] and in a subsequent episode
participating in🍎 his own staged abduction.[90] In the same year, Pitt had a cameo role
in George Clooney's directorial debut Confessions of🍎 a Dangerous Mind.[91] He took on
his first voice-acting roles in 2003, speaking as the titular character of the
DreamWorks🍎 animated film Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas[92] and playing Boomhauer's
brother, Patch, in an episode of the animated television🍎 series King of the
Hill.[93]
Worldwide recognition (2004–2008)
Pitt had two major film roles in 2004,
starring as Achilles in Troy, and🍎 reprising his role, Rusty Ryan, in the sequel Ocean's
Twelve. He spent six months sword training before the filming of🍎 Troy, based on the
Iliad.[94] An on-set injury to his Achilles tendon delayed production on the picture
for several weeks.[95]🍎 Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post stated that Pitt excelled
at such a demanding role.[96] Troy was the first film🍎 produced by Plan B Entertainment,
a film production company he had founded two years earlier with Jennifer Aniston and
Brad🍎 Grey, CEO of Paramount Pictures.[97] Ocean's Twelve earnedR$362 million
worldwide,[32] and Pitt and Clooney's dynamic was described by CNN's Paul🍎 Clinton as
"the best male chemistry since Paul Newman and Robert Redford."[98] In 2005, Pitt
starred as John Smith in🍎 the Doug Liman-directed action comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith, in
which a bored married couple discover that each is an🍎 assassin sent to kill the other.
The feature received reasonable reviews but was generally lauded for the chemistry
between Pitt🍎 and Angelina Jolie, who played his character's wife Jane Smith. The Star
Tribune noted that "while the story feels haphazard,🍎 the movie gets by on gregarious
charm, galloping energy and the stars' thermonuclear screen chemistry".[99] Mr. & Mrs.
Smith earnedR$478🍎 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest hits of
2005.[100]
Pitt at the premiere of Burn After Reading in 2008
For🍎 his next film, Pitt
starred opposite Cate Blanchett in Alejandro González Iñárritu's multi-narrative drama
Babel (2006).[101] Pitt's performance was critically🍎 well-received, and the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer said that he was credible and gave the film visibility.[102] Pitt
later said he regarded🍎 taking the part as one of the best decisions of his career.[103]
The film was screened at a special presentation🍎 at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival[104]
and was later featured at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.[105] Babel
received seven🍎 Academy and Golden Globe award nominations, winning the Best Drama
Golden Globe, and earned Pitt a nomination for the Best🍎 Supporting Actor Golden
Globe.[45] That same year, Pitt's company Plan B Entertainment produced The Departed,
which won the Academy Award🍎 for Best Picture. Pitt was credited on-screen as a
producer; however, only Graham King was ruled eligible for the Oscar
🍎 win.[106]
Reprising his role as Rusty Ryan in a third picture, Pitt starred in 2007's
Ocean's Thirteen.[107] While less lucrative than🍎 the first two films, this sequel
earnedR$311 million at the international box office.[32] Pitt's next film role was as
American🍎 outlaw Jesse James in the 2007 Western drama The Assassination of Jesse James
by the Coward Robert Ford, adapted from🍎 Ron Hansen's 1983 novel of the same name.[108]
Directed by Andrew Dominik and produced by Pitt's company Plan B Entertainment,🍎 the
film premiered at the 2007 Venice Film Festival,[109] with Pitt playing a "scary and
charismatic" role, according to Lewis🍎 Beale of Film Journal International,[110] and
earning Pitt the Volpi Cup award for Best Actor at the 64th Venice International🍎 Film
Festival.[111] He eventually collected the award one year later at the 2008
festival.[112] As of January 2024, it was🍎 his own favorite of his films.[113]
Pitt's
next appearance was in the 2008 black comedy Burn After Reading, his first
collaboration🍎 with the Coen brothers. The film received a positive reception from
critics, with The Guardian calling it "a tightly wound,🍎 slickly plotted spy
comedy",[114] noting that Pitt's performance was one of the funniest.[114] He was later
cast as Benjamin Button,🍎 the lead in David Fincher's 2008 film The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button, a loosely adapted version of a 1921🍎 short story by F. Scott
Fitzgerald. The story follows a man who is born an octogenarian and ages in
reverse,[115]🍎 with Pitt's "sensitive" performance making Benjamin Button a "timeless
masterpiece", according to Michael Sragow of The Baltimore Sun.[116] The performance
🍎 earned Pitt his first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination,[117] as well as a fourth
Golden Globe and second Academy Award🍎 nomination,[45][118] all in the category for Best
Actor. The film received thirteen Academy Award nominations, and grossedR$329 million
at the🍎 box office worldwide.[32]
Established actor (2009–present)
Pitt at the 2012
Cannes Film Festival
Pitt's next leading role came in 2009 with the Quentin
🍎 Tarantino-directed war film Inglourious Basterds, which premiered at the 2009 Cannes
Film Festival.[119] Pitt played Lieutenant Aldo Raine, an American🍎 resistance fighter
battling Nazis in German-occupied France.[120] The film was a box office hit,
takingR$311 million worldwide,[32] and garnered generally🍎 favorable reviews.[121] The
film received multiple awards and nominations, including eight Academy Award
nominations and seven MTV Movie Award nominations,🍎 including Best Male Performance for
Pitt.[122][123] He next voiced the superhero character Metro Man in the 2010 animated
feature Megamind.[124]🍎 Pitt produced and appeared in Terrence Malick's experimental
drama The Tree of Life, co-starring Sean Penn, which won the Palme🍎 d'Or at the 2011
Cannes Film Festival.[125] In a performance that attracted strong praise, he portrayed
the Oakland Athletics general🍎 manager Billy Beane in the drama Moneyball, which is
based on the 2003 book of the same name written by🍎 Michael Lewis.[126] Moneyball
received six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor for
Pitt.[127]
His next role was as🍎 mob hitman Jackie Cogan in Andrew Dominik's 2012
Killing Them Softly, based on the novel Cogan's Trade by George V.🍎 Higgins.[128] In
2013, Pitt starred in World War Z, a thriller about a zombie apocalypse, based on Max
Brooks's novel🍎 of the same name. Pitt also produced the film.[129] World War Z
grossedR$540 million at the box office worldwide,[32] becoming🍎 Pitt's highest grossing
picture.[130] Next in 2013, he produced, and played a small role in, 12 Years a Slave,
a🍎 historical drama based on the autobiography of Solomon Northup.[131] The film
received critical acclaim[132] and was nominated for nine Academy🍎 Awards, winning
three, including Best Picture.[133] Also in 2013, Pitt had a supporting role in Ridley
Scott's The Counselor.[134] Plan🍎 B Entertainment landed its first television series on
the 2013–2014 schedule, as their joint venture with ABC Studios, the sci-fi/fantasy
🍎 drama Resurrection, was picked up by ABC.[135]
Pitt at the Japan premiere of War
Machine in 2024
Pitt starred in Fury, a🍎 World War II film directed and written by David
Ayer, and co-starring Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Michael Peña,🍎 and Jason
Isaacs.[136][137][138] The film was released on October 17, 2014.[136] By the end of
its run, Fury proved to🍎 be a commercial and critical success; it grossed more thanR$211
million worldwide[32] and received highly positive reviews from critics.[139] In🍎 2024,
Pitt starred opposite his wife, Jolie, in her third directorial effort, By the Sea, a
romantic drama about a🍎 marriage in crisis, based on her screenplay. The film was their
first collaboration since 2005's Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Pitt's🍎 next role came with the
biographical comedy-drama The Big Short, which he also produced and also co-starred
alongside Christian Bale,🍎 Steve Carell, and Ryan Gosling. The film was a commercial and
critical success. It went on to gross overR$102 million🍎 worldwide[140] and received
positive reviews from critics.[141][142] The film was nominated for five Academy
Awards, including Best Picture, earning Pitt🍎 his third Academy Award nomination as
producer. In 2024, Pitt starred in Robert Zemeckis's romantic thriller Allied, in which
he🍎 plays an assassin who falls in love with a French spy (played by Marion Cotillard)
during a mission to kill🍎 a German official in World War II.[143][144] In 2024, he
starred in the Netflix satirical war comedy War Machine,[145] which🍎 he also
produced.[146] Pitt played a recurring role as a weatherman on the late-night talk show
The Jim Jefferies Show🍎 throughout 2024.[147]
A 2024 sequel to World War Z was in
announced in 2024,[148] before the film was briefly delayed, then🍎 confirmed to be
directed by David Fincher, and then ultimately shelved due to budget issues.[149][150]
Pitt starred as Cliff Booth,🍎 a stunt double, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, in Quentin
Tarantino's 2024 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, reuniting with DiCaprio🍎 after The
Departed, which Pitt produced and DiCaprio starred in.[151] For his performance in the
film, he received awards for🍎 Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards, Golden Globe
Awards, BAFTA Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Critics' Choice Movie
🍎 Awards.[152] This is the second Academy Award for Brad Pitt, his first that he received
for acting.[153] In 2024, he🍎 also starred in James Gray's deep space epic Ad Astra, in
which he played Roy McBride, a space engineer searching🍎 the galaxy for his father.[154]
Pitt's performance was praised as one of his career-best turn,[155][156] delivering a
performance "that weaponizes🍎 passivity into a lethal form of self-defense".[157] On
April 25, 2024 Pitt portrayed Dr. Anthony Fauci in the cold open🍎 on Saturday Night Live
earning a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series
nomination.
In 2024, Pitt🍎 entered the recording business by creating a company with
French record producer Damien Quintard. Set in Pitt's Chateau Miraval in🍎 South of
France, Miraval Studios will re-open in 2024 after two decades of inactivity. The
previous version of the studio🍎 was one of the most iconic studios in the world,
producing the records for Pink Floyd, the Cranberries, AC/DC, Sade🍎 and Muse, among
others.[158]
In 2024, Pitt starred in Bullet Train, directed by David Leitch,[159] and
reunited with his Once Upon🍎 a Time in Hollywood co-star Margot Robbie in Babylon,
directed by Damien Chazelle.[160] In September 2024, it was revealed that🍎 he will
reteam with George Clooney in a thriller film written and directed by Jon Watts.[161]
On January 5, 2024,🍎 he signed on to star in and produce a racing film on Formula One,
directed by Joseph Kosinski,[162] for which🍎 he will earnR$30 million.[163]
Philanthropy
and activism
Pitt visited the University of Missouri campus in October 2004 to
encourage students to vote🍎 in the 2004 U.S. presidential election,[164] in which he
supported John Kerry.[164][165] Later in October, he publicly supported the principle
🍎 of public funding for embryonic stem-cell research. "We have to make sure that we open
up these avenues so that🍎 our best and our brightest can go find these cures that they
believe they will find", he said.[166] In support🍎 of this he endorsed Proposition 71, a
California ballot initiative intended to provide state government funding for stem-cell
research.[167]
Pitt at🍎 the "Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict" in
2014
Pitt supports One Campaign, an organization aimed at combating AIDS🍎 and poverty in
the developing world.[168][169] He narrated the 2005 PBS public television series Rx
for Survival: A Global Health🍎 Challenge, which discusses current global health
issues.[170] The following year Pitt and Jolie flew to Haiti, where they visited a
🍎 school supported by Yéle Haïti, a charity founded by Haitian-born hip hop musician
Wyclef Jean.[171] In May 2007, Pitt and🍎 Jolie donatedR$1 million to three organizations
in Chad and Sudan dedicated to those affected by the crisis in the Darfur🍎 region.[172]
Along with Clooney, Damon, Don Cheadle, David Pressman, and Jerry Weintraub, Pitt is
one of the founders of Not🍎 On Our Watch, an organization that focuses global attention
on stopping "mass atrocities".[173]
Pitt has a sustained interest in architecture,[174]
even🍎 taking time away from film to study computer-aided design at the Los Angeles
offices of renowned architect Frank Gehry.[175] He🍎 narrated e2 design, a PBS television
series focused on worldwide efforts to build environmentally friendly structures
through sustainable architecture and🍎 design.[176] In 2000, he co-authored an
architectural book on the Blacker House with the architects Thomas A. Heinz and Randell
🍎 Makinson.[177] In 2006, he founded the Make It Right Foundation, organizing housing
professionals in New Orleans to finance and construct🍎 150 sustainable, affordable new
houses in New Orleans's Ninth Ward following the devastation caused by Hurricane
Katrina.[178][179]
The project involves 13🍎 architectural firms and the environmental
organization Global Green USA, with several of the firms donating their
services.[180][181] Pitt and philanthropist🍎 Steve Bing have each committedR$5 million
in donations.[182] The first six homes were completed in October 2008,[183] and in
September🍎 2009 Pitt received an award in recognition of the project from the U.S. Green
Building Council, a non-profit trade organization🍎 that promotes sustainability in how
buildings are designed, built and operated.[184][185] Pitt met with U.S. President
Barack Obama and Speaker🍎 of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi in March 2009 to
promote his concept of green housing as a national🍎 model and to discuss federal funding
possibilities.[186]
In September 2006, Pitt and Jolie established a charitable
organization, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, to🍎 aid humanitarian causes around the
world.[187] The foundation made initial donations ofR$1 million each to Global Action
for Children and🍎 Doctors Without Borders,[188] followed by an October 2006 donation
ofR$100,000 to the Daniel Pearl Foundation, an organization created in memory🍎 of the
late American journalist Daniel Pearl.[189] According to federal filings, Pitt and
Jolie investedR$8.5 million into the foundation in🍎 2006; it gave awayR$2.4 million in
2006[190] andR$3.4 million in 2007.[191] In June 2009, the Jolie-Pitt Foundation
donatedR$1 million to🍎 a U.N. refugee agency to help Pakistanis displaced by fighting
between troops and Taliban militants.[192] In January 2010, the foundation🍎 donatedR$1
million to Doctors Without Borders for emergency medical assistance to help victims of
the Haiti earthquake.[193][194]
Pitt is a supporter🍎 of same-sex marriage.[195] In an
October 2006 interview with Esquire, Pitt said that he would marry Jolie when everyone
in🍎 America is legally able to marry.[196] In September 2008, he donatedR$100,000 to the
campaign against California's 2008 ballot proposition Proposition🍎 8, an initiative to
overturn the state Supreme Court decision that had legalized same-sex marriage.[197] In
March 2012, Pitt was🍎 featured in a performance of Dustin Lance Black's play, 8 – a
staged reenactment of the federal trial that overturned🍎 California's Prop 8 ban on
same-sex marriage – as Judge Vaughn Walker.[198]
In September 2012, Pitt reaffirmed his
support for Obama,🍎 saying, "I am an Obama supporter and I'm backing his U.S. election
campaign."[199] In October 2024, he narrated an advertisement🍎 for Joe Biden's 2024
presidential campaign.[200]
Personal life
Relationships
From the late 1980s to early
1990s, Pitt was romantically involved with several of🍎 his co-stars, including Robin
Givens (Head of the Class),[201] Jill Schoelen (Cutting Class),[201] and Juliette Lewis
(Too Young to Die?🍎 and Kalifornia).[35] Subsequently, Pitt had a much-publicized
romance and engagement to his Seven co-star, Gwyneth Paltrow, whom he dated from🍎 1994
to 1997.[201]
Pitt met actress Jennifer Aniston in 1998; they married in a private
wedding ceremony in Malibu on July🍎 29, 2000.[202] In January 2005, Pitt and Aniston
announced they had decided to separate. Two months later, Aniston filed for🍎 divorce,
citing irreconcilable differences.[203] Pitt and Aniston's divorce was finalized by the
Los Angeles Superior Court on October 2, 2005.[203]🍎 Despite media reports that Pitt and
Aniston had an acrimonious relationship, Pitt said in a February 2009 interview that he
🍎 and Aniston "check in with each other", adding that they were both big parts of each
other's lives.[204]
During Pitt's divorce🍎 proceedings, his involvement with his Mr. &
Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie attracted media attention. Jolie and Pitt stated that
🍎 they fell in love on the set[205][206] and that there was no infidelity.[205] In April
2005, one month after Aniston🍎 filed for divorce, a set of paparazzi photographs emerged
showing Pitt, Jolie, and her son Maddox at a beach in🍎 Kenya; the press interpreted the
pictures as evidence of a relationship between Pitt and Jolie. Throughout 2005, the two
were🍎 seen together with increasing frequency, and the entertainment media dubbed the
couple "Brangelina".[207] On January 11, 2006, Jolie confirmed to🍎 People that she was
pregnant with Pitt's child, thereby publicly acknowledging their relationship for the
first time.[208] Pitt and Jolie🍎 announced their engagement in April 2012 after seven
years together.[209] They were legally married on August 14, 2014, in Los🍎 Angeles. They
had their wedding in a private ceremony in Château Miraval, France on August 23,
2014.[210] On September 19,🍎 2024, Jolie filed for divorce from Pitt, citing
irreconcilable differences.[211] On April 12, 2024, the court declared Jolie and Pitt
🍎 legally single.[212]
In 2024, Pitt began dating Ines de Ramon, a jewelry designer who
is 29 years younger than he.[213]
Children
In July🍎 2005, Pitt accompanied Jolie to
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she adopted her second child, Zahara Marley.[214][215] On
December 3, 2005,🍎 Pitt was in the process of becoming the adoptive father of Zahara,
and Jolie's first adopted child, Maddox Chivan.[216] On🍎 January 19, 2006, a California
judge granted Jolie's request to change the children's surnames from "Jolie" to
"Jolie-Pitt".[217] The adoptions🍎 were finalized soon after.[218]
Jolie gave birth to
daughter Shiloh Nouvel in Swakopmund, Namibia, on May 27, 2006. Pitt confirmed that
🍎 their newborn daughter would qualify for a Namibian passport.[219] The couple sold the
first pictures of Shiloh through the distributor🍎 Getty Images; the North American
rights were purchased by People for overR$4.1 million, while Hello! obtained the
British rights for🍎 approximatelyR$3.5 million. The proceeds from the sale were donated
to charities serving African children.[220] Madame Tussauds in New York unveiled🍎 a wax
figure of two-month-old Shiloh; it marked the first time an infant had been honoured
with a statue in🍎 the museum.[221]
On March 15, 2007, Jolie adopted three-year-old Pax
Thien from an orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.[222] Pitt🍎 adopted Pax in the
United States on February 21, 2008.[223]
At the Cannes Film Festival in May 2008, Jolie
confirmed that🍎 she was expecting twins.[224] She gave birth to son Knox Léon and
daughter Vivienne Marcheline on July 12, 2008 in🍎 Nice, France.[225] The rights for the
first
of Knox and Vivienne were jointly sold to People and Hello! forR$14
🍎 million—the most expensive celebrity pictures ever taken.[226][227] The couple donated
the proceeds to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.[226][228]
In September 2024, the FBI🍎 and the
Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services investigated Pitt for child
abuse following an incident on a🍎 plane, where Pitt was accused by an anonymous person
of being "verbally abusive" and "physical" towards one of his children.[229]🍎 In its
final report on the investigation, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and
Family Services ruled that Pitt🍎 did not physically abuse any of his children. Pitt was
also cleared by the FBI of any wrongdoing.[230]
Since Jolie filed🍎 for divorce from Pitt
on September 19, 2024, they have been embroiled in a custody battle over their
children. Jolie🍎 had full custody until May 2024 when Pitt was granted joint custody,
over four and a half years after proceedings🍎 began.[231] However, in July, Los Angeles
superior court judge John W. Ouderkirk was removed from the case due to concerns🍎 over
his impartiality as he did not sufficiently disclose business relationships with Pitt's
lawyers. This resulted in the custody arrangement🍎 reverting to a previous November 2024
agreement where Jolie has primary physical custody while Pitt has "custodial time" with
their🍎 minor children.[232][233]
Alcoholism
In September 2024, Pitt got sober and began
attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.[234] In December 2024, he wrote an article🍎 for
Interview in which he talked with his Legends of the Fall and Meet Joe Black costar and
fellow recovering🍎 alcoholic Anthony Hopkins about their experiences with addiction and
recovery.[235]
Cannabis use
Pitt has admitted to using cannabis in the late '90s🍎 as a
way to deal with his increasing fame.[236][237] According to Pitt: "I was hiding out
from the celebrity thing;🍎 I was smoking way too much dope; I was sitting on the couch
and just turning into a doughnut."[236][237][238] He🍎 reduced his cannabis use and
focused on his work after a trip to Morocco, where he witnessed extreme poverty and
🍎 suffering.[236][237]
Prosopagnosia
In 2024, Pitt said that he had struggled for years
to recognize people's faces due to prosopagnosia (face blindness).[239] In🍎 a 2013
interview, he said that his inability to recognize people's faces had become so severe
that he often wanted🍎 to stay home.[240] Formally, however, Pitt has not been diagnosed
with prosopagnosia.[239][241]
Artworks
Pitt has an interest in art, learned
pottery,[242] and🍎 has created sculptures. Nine of his sculptures were exhibited
together with works by musician Nick Cave and artist Thomas Houseago🍎 at the Sara Hildén
Art Museum in Tampere, Finland in 2024–2024.[243][244]
Public image
Pitt has been
described as a sex symbol by🍎 many sources, including Empire, who named him one of the
25 sexiest stars in film history in 1995.[12][245][246] The same🍎 year, he was named
People's Sexiest Man Alive, an accolade he received again in 2000.[245][247] Pitt
appeared on Forbes' annual🍎 Celebrity 100 list of the 100 most powerful celebrities from
2006 to 2008 placing at numbers 20, 5 and 10,🍎 respectively.[248][249][250] In 2007, he
appeared on the Time 100 list, a compilation of the 100 most influential people in the
🍎 world, as selected annually by Time magazine.[251] The magazine credited Pitt for using
"his star power to get people to🍎 look [to where] cameras don't usually catch".[251] He
was again included on the Time 100 in 2009, this time in🍎 the "Builders and Titans"
list.[252]
Beginning in 2005, Pitt's relationship with Angelina Jolie became one of the
world's most reported celebrity🍎 stories. After Jolie was confirmed to be pregnant in
early 2006, the intense media hype surrounding the couple reached what🍎 Reuters, in a
story titled "The Brangelina fever," called "the point of insanity".[253] To avoid
media attention, the couple flew🍎 to Namibia for the birth of their daughter Shiloh,
which was described by a paparazzi blog as "the most anticipated🍎 baby since Jesus
Christ."[254] Similarly, intense media interest greeted the announcement of Jolie's
second pregnancy two years later; for the🍎 two weeks Jolie spent in a seaside hospital
in Nice, reporters and photographers camped outside on the promenade to report🍎 on the
birth.[255]
In a 2006 global industry survey by ACNielsen in 42 international markets,
Pitt, together with Jolie, were found🍎 to be the favorite celebrity endorsers for brands
and products worldwide.[256] Pitt has appeared in several television commercials. For
the🍎 U.S. market, he starred in a Heineken commercial aired during the 2005 Super Bowl;
it was directed by David Fincher,🍎 who had directed Pitt in Seven, Fight Club, and The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button.[257] Other commercial appearances came in🍎 television
spots including Acura Integra, in which he was featured opposite Russian model Tatiana
Sorokko,[258] as well as SoftBank, and🍎 Edwin Jeans.[259] On June 2, 2024, the minor
planet 29132 Bradpitt was named in his honor.[260]
