The Hollywood bad girl who became a goodwill ambassador
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Angelina Jolie
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From the Wolf Blitzer Reports staff in San Francisco:
SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- In "Beyond Borders," Angelina Jolie plays Sarah Jordan, a socialite turned philanthropist. She meets a charismatic relief doctor and over the course of two decades, their story of love and danger unfolds against a backdrop of humanitarian crises.
Jolie says the project opened her eyes: "I read the script five years ago, and I was really moved by it, but I knew nothing of its content. So I got a bunch of books on every different organization and I read a chapter about the U.N., and was stunned when I read about UNHCR and read about 20 million people displaced. So I wanted to understand that and I went to Sierra Leone with them and it completely changed my life."
Jolie is the daughter of actor John Voight. Her parents separated when she was just a year old -- and she was raised by her mother in New York.
She moved to Los Angeles while still in her teens. After a string of forgettable films, she began making a name for herself as an actress -- and a Hollywood bad girl.
Her career hit a new high in 2000 when she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "Girl Interrupted."
That same year she married actor Billy Bob Thornton. It was her second marriage and his fifth. The marriage lasted two years.
All the while, her interest in humanitarian work grew. In 2001 she was asked to become Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Comission for Refugees. Since then the single mother has visited hot spots around the world -- from South America to Africa to Asia -- where she adopted a Cambodian boy last year and now has a home.
