Brad Pitt and His Accomplishments

William Bradley Pitt or Brad Pitt was born on December 18, 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma to parents William Alvin Pitt, a truck company owner, and Jane Etta Pitt, a high school guidance counselor. He has two younger siblings, Doug and Julie Neal. Despite being born in Oklahoma, the Pitts grew up in Springfield, Missouri, and were raised as conservative Southern Baptists. He attended and excelled in high school at the Kickapoo High School, where he was very active in extra-curricular activities and sports such as swimming, tennis, golf, debates, and in high school musicals. He went on to study at the University of Missouri where he majored in journalism and advertising. During his last semester at the university, Brad realized that he had stronger aspirations in the world of acting, dropped out, and headed to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.

Pitt had a string of odd jobs in Los Angeles, from being a stripper’s chauffeur to delivering refrigerators. All these he did while enrolling himself in acting classes. After seven months of hard work, Brad Pitt was able to get his own agent as well as acting jobs. He first started in television in shows such as Dallas, Growing Pains, and Another World. During these years, he also met his then-girlfriend Juliette Lewis during the filming of a TV movie Too Young to Die. In 1989, Pitt had his big screen debut in Cutting Class, but it was his role in Ridley Scott’s Thelma and Louis that caught Hollywood’s attention. Unfortunately, his next few films The Favor, Johnny Suede, and Cool World were not enough to boost his credibility as an actor and just garnered him the title of a Hollywood pretty boy. Only when he starred in A River Runs through It later that same year did he deliver such a great performance that Hollywood took notice of Pitt as more than just a pretty face. His next major role which again garnered much critical attention was in the movie Interview with the Vampire with Tom Cruise. His following films Legends of the Fall and Seven only secured his place in Hollywood. During the filming of Seven, he met and fell in love at first sight with then quite unknown actress Gwyneth Paltrow and eventually got engaged after two and a half years together. Sadly, the couple split for unknown reasons seven months after their engagement.

Pitt went on to star in critically acclaimed films such as Devil’s Own, Seven Years in Tibet, Meet Joe Black, and Twelve Monkeys for which he won a Golden Globe as best supporting actor. He later reteamed with David Fincher, director of Seven, to shoot the film Fight Club which soon became a cult film. Soon after, Pitt worked on more critically acclaimed films such as Snatch, Troy, and the Ocean’s Eleven franchise. In 2005, he worked on the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Angelina Jolie, whom he would later end up with three adopted children and three biological children. Brad Pitt earlier had gotten married to Friends star Jennifer Aniston in 2000, but had a divorce in 2005. Pitt’s films during those years included Babel, Burn After Reading, and Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen. His latest film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button received many nominations at the Academy Award including Pitt’s first Best Actor nomination. Pitt is set to star in the upcoming film Inglorious Basterds, and The Tree of Life with Sean Penn.