Today we celebrate Angelina Jolie’s birthday, her incredible achievements and successful career in Hollywood, which includes some of the most memorable films and fan-favorite characters.
And while we wish we could include all of them in our list, we rounded up the top five films of the talented actress, just in time for her 47th birthday.
Gia (1998)
There’s no doubt Angelina’s portrayal of supermodel Gia Carangi was one of the most powerful and dramatic performances of her career, earning her first Screen Actors Guild Award, second Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy nomination.
“Playing a real person you identify with and can feel makes you feel a responsibility. Then you live inside her world for a bit and you just feel so deeply sad that she never really knew love and felt she was of value other than a thing or a face. And at that time, with AIDS, I can’t even imagine how she must have felt about how she was treated,” the actress said about her experience portraying the model.
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Acting alongside Winona Ryder, Elisabeth Moss, Jared Leto, Whoopi Goldberg and Brittany Murphy, ‘Girl, Interrupted’ was the film that gave Angelina her first Oscar for her role as Lisa, and quickly became a cult classic.
“I was actually almost upset when people said I was so good at playing insane because I never thought she was insane. She was just incredibly honest, which, I guess, made her seem crazy,” Angelina said about her character.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2004)
Apart from being one of her most entertaining and action-packed movies, ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ gave Hollywood their most iconic couple and major celebrity drama, as Brad was still married to Jennifer Aniston when he became romantically involved with Angelina.
The pair were “constantly laughing and flirting with each other and acting like two school kids who had the hots for each other, and it was so cute. I caught them several times in each other’s trailers making out,” Mark Behar revealed, after working with the couple while filming the hit comedy.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
Fans may have mixed reviews about Angelina’s portrayal of Lara Croft, inspired by one of the most successful interactive video-game character in history, however it’s almost impossible not to revisit this film when we think about her filmography.
“I actually didn’t at first want to do it; I said no. But they said you can travel the world and train with the British Military and so I had three months of seeing what I could do. And I would encourage anybody to do that,” Angelina said about the character.
Maleficent (2014)
No one can do Maleficent like Angelina Jolie, with her poised, alluring and mysterious performance, the film was a success at the box office with $758.4 million globally and a sequel, starring Elle Fanning as Princess Aurora and exploring a different side of the character we all know and love.
“Since I was a little girl, Maleficent was always my favorite,” Jolie revealed in 2013,“I was terrified of her, but I was so drawn to her. I wanted to know more about her, know what she was like and who she was. She had this elegance and grace, and yet she was so cruel, Just wonderfully and deliciously cruel.”