Brad Pitt's early years: he slept in his car and drove strippers for a living

At 55, Brad Pitt is a Hollywood icon and one of the world's most attractive men. Since he was young, his charisma and talent have opened doors for him wherever he goes and he's worked with the industry's biggest directors. Many years before, though, there was a little kid who sang in church and never dreamed what was waiting for him...

William Bradley Pitt was born December 18, 1963, in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He has two younger siblings: Doug and Judie Neil, and grew up in a close-knit family where he was always learning.

Brad and his siblings were brought up as Baptists. Brad sung in their church choir and it was there that he started to get interested in acting. And get noticed!

As a student, he was good at sports, though the theatre club at the Kickapoo High School, where he studied, took priority. He was a good-looking guy so it was easy to get leading roles. However, he actually preferred supporting roles so he could learn more about the craft of acting.

Graduating high school in 1982, Brad signed up to study journalism at the University of Missouri. He discovered his wild side there and started to turn his back on religion as a new world unfolded for him.

At university, Brad's good looks and charisma got him noticed and he joined the Sigma Chi fraternity.

Although he didn't have long to go till graduation, he decided to make a life-changing move and leave school to take up acting. He left for Hollywood with $300 in his pocket and ready for anything that came his way on the West Coast.

Once in LA, Brad lived out of his car for a while and did a bunch of odd jobs, such as wearing a chicken costume to draw customers into a restaurant or driving strippers to bachelor parties. "I’d pick them up, and at the gig I'd collect the money, play the bad Prince tapes and catch the girls’ clothes. It was not a wholesome atmosphere, and it got very depressing,” he said of the time at an Oscar round table organized by Newsweek many years later

Roy London became Brad's teacher and mentor. After six years of preparation, he got a casting call. Despite turning up looking really scruffy he was picked from among hundreds of hopefully. His career had begun!

Brad initially played several bit parts, including a supporting TV role in Dallas. But it was his now-legendary supporting role in Thelma and Louise that made Hollywood sit up and take notice. Fame had finally arrived!

Fame is a one-way street, as Brad told The New York Times. The attention he got at the height of his fame also made him feel lonely, and keen to escape the cameras and tabloids.

Eventually, Brad learned how to play the media game and was able to strike a balance between work and being a celebrity. His looks and talent made him one of the industry's best-known actors. For a time, he found stability with his partners, Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie.

Brad is one of the sexiest men alive, and his star shows no sign of fading with movies that continue to be box office smashes. His priorities in life these days, though, are his six children from his marriage to Angelina Jolie.