Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt was born William Bradley Pitt on December 18, 1963, in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and grew up in Springfield, Missouri. He studied journalism and advertising at the University of Missouri but left shortly before graduating to pursue acting in Los Angeles. His early screen appearances included the television series “Dallas” and supporting roles in films such as “No Way Out” and “The Dark Side of the Sun.” Pitt became widely recognized after playing J.D., a charming drifter in Ridley Scott’s 1991 film “Thelma & Louise.” He followed that breakthrough with “A River Runs Through It,” “Legends of the Fall,” and “Interview with the Vampire,” establishing himself as a leading actor who could combine conventional movie-star appeal with darker, more unusual material. In 1995, he appeared in David Fincher’s “Se7en” and earned an Academy Award nomination for supporting actor for “12 Monkeys.” His collaboration with Fincher continued in “Fight Club” (1999), in which Pitt played the enigmatic Tyler Durden, and later in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (2008), which brought him a Best Actor Oscar nomination. Other notable performances include the criminal underworld figure Jackie in “Snatch,” the stuntman Cliff Booth in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” and the weary astronaut Roy McBride in “Ad Astra.” Pitt has also been a producer. Through Plan B Entertainment, which he co-founded with Jennifer Aniston and Brad Grey in 2001, he helped produce films including “The Departed,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Moonlight,” and “Minari.” “12 Years a Slave” won the Academy Award for Best Picture, giving Pitt his first competitive Oscar as a producer. He won an acting Oscar for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” in 2020. His other major films include “Ocean’s Eleven,” “Troy,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “Moneyball,” and “World War Z.” Pitt has worked with directors such as Steven Soderbergh, Bennett Miller, Terrence Malick, and Alejandro González Iñárritu. In addition to acting and producing, he has supported humanitarian initiatives, including rebuilding projects in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina through the Make It Right Foundation. His career is marked by a willingness to alternate between commercial productions, ensemble films, and demanding character-driven roles, while maintaining a significant influence behind the camera as well as in front of it.