Angelina Jolie: Skin Deep

Angelina Jolie has already lived a life that few could rival. She is the third actress in history to earn 20 million US dollars for a single film. But winning accolades or positive publicity does not fuel her true mission in life. She is driven by a genuine commitment to help those less fortunate. This quest runs skin deep in this remarkably loving individual. Angelina became personally aware of worldwide humanitarian crises whilst filming Tomb Raider, in poverty stricken Cambodia. Deeply affected by what she saw, Jolie then turned to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for more information. Angelina became a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNHCR in 2002, and has continued her good work in more than 20 countries around the world, highlighting the plight of millions of uprooted people and advocating for their protection. At this time she also adopted her first child, a seven-month-old Cambodian orphan. In 2005, she made her third visit to Pakistan, to help victims of the Kashmir earthquake. The Goodwill Ambassador saw first-hand the impact of the natural disaster that had killed 86,000 people, and left over three million homeless. Tragically about 11,000 children were left orphaned. The devastation had a profound effect on Jolie. Along with partner Brad Pitt, who had accompanied her to Pakistan, the couple donated 40 of the needed beds, valued at over 100 thousand US dollars. Since that trip, Angelina and Brad have used their global profiles to generate support for causes that genuinely don't appear in the mainstream media. They set up the Jolie-Pitt foundation, and in 2009 it donated one million US dollars to help displaced families in Pakistan, and another one million US dollars to the Global Action for Children Organization. Together they have visited countries such as Sudan, Chad, Haiti, and Darfur. They have also cleverly used the publicʼs increasing interest in their lives to help the causes they feel most strongly about – selling the birth photos of their first child together in 2005 for over seven and a half million US dollars, and the 2008 photos of their newborn twins for an unprecedented 14 million US dollars – with all the funds being donated to charity. Another main priority for her and partner Brad Pitt is finding a balance between career and family – apart from starring in such award winning films as Tomb Raider, Changling, Mr & Mrs Smith, Beyond Borders, and Alexander, she is a devoted mother to her ever increasing family – her three adopted children: Maddox Chivan, Zahara Marley, and Pax Thien; and her 3 children with Brad Pitt: Shiloh Nouvel, Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline.