STORIES
Lifesaver
DONATE

Angelina Jolie

by Nicole Williams


Angelina Jolie was born Angelina Jolie Voight on June 4th, 1975 in Los Angeles, Calfornia. Her parents, Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand seperated when she was only a year old. She was raised in Palisades, New York with her brother James Haven. Her first marriage to actor Jonny Lee Miller in 1996 ended in divorce in 1999 after two years of seperation. In 2000 her and Billy Bob Thornton had a small Las Vegas wedding, but divorced after the adoption of her son, Maddox, in 2002. Her movie credits include "Hackers", "The Bone Collector", "Tomb Raider", and "Girl, Interrupted".

Angelina is very generous with her work as a Goodwill Ambassador since becoming one in August 2001 for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Within a year she had visited refugee camps and met with the refugees, officals and aid workers in countrys such as Leona, Namibia, Tanzania, Pakistan, Cambodia and Thailand. In March 2002 she visited Osire Refugee Camp in Namibia bringing hundreds of of volleyballs, basketballs, footballs and nets for the refugee's sport teams of all ages. In addition to the personal contribution to the camp, the film she was working on ("Beyond Borders") production team donated 13.5 tons of food supplies, bedding and tents to the camp.


Angelina Jolie is very charidable, donating $5 million dollars for community-based work over the next five years in remote areas in northwestern Cambodia. She has also donated 300,000 dollars in March 2003 to refugee for vocation and educational training programs to benefit refugees and community members living along the Thai-Myanmar border-predominately Karen refugees who have taken Asylan from Myahmar's ruling military regime.

The Oscar winning actress of 'Girl, Interrupted' is also very caring, she is a mother of a two year old Cambodian orphan Maddox whom she adopted after a two week filming in his home land for the first 'Tomb Raider'. Jolie has built a house in Cambodia for herself and Maddox, she says she chose Cambodia because she wants Maddox to know his homeland, and would give up on acting to care for her son there. She also goes on to say she's terrified her son will step on a landmine so she has securty checking areas around where they live.

Angelina Jolie is a hero to me because she has money and power, but uses it to take care of refugees and her son. Her work with the UNHCR is imspiring to anyone who wants to percuse a career in helping victims of war. In 2002 she ditched the Oscars to play with giraffes in Africa. I like reading about archicals of her work for the UNHCR, and hope to hear more about it in the future.

Page created on 8/28/2011 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 8/28/2011 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.

Extra Info

http://www.abstracts.net/angelina-jolie/ http://www.angelina-jolie.us/ http://www.who2.com/angelinajolie.html http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0618_030618_angelinajolie.html http://www.churchworldservice.org/news/archives/2002/08/51.html http://www.un.org/esa/africa/UNNews_Africa/goodwill_amb_tours_kenya.htm http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/24/1050777356350.html http://www.allmovieportal.com/c/angelinajolie.html