Brad Pitt is in news for his divorce with his wife .From a screen debut as a bare-chested pretty boy to the Hollywood top table, with a name that can carry an indie flick or a blockbuster, Brad Pitt has come a long way.
Pitt came into the public eye 25 years ago with a much-talked-about debut as eye-candy in the hit movie “Thelma and Louise” — and went on to become a household name.
Pitt’s position as a Hollywood golden boy was now assured, and his commercial clout was only strengthened by his 2000 marriage to “Friends” star Jennifer Aniston, which made them one of the hottest couples in the world.
If the symbolism of his playing the unstoppable Achilles in Wolfgang Petersen’s “Troy” (2004) was not clear enough, he starred in another box office smash that year (“Ocean’s Twelve”) before 2005’s “Mr and Mrs Smith.”
A three-time Oscar nominee for his acting — also twice named the “sexiest man alive” by People magazine — Pitt took home a golden statuette for best picture in 2014 as a producer of “12 Years A Slave.”
And as half of one of the world’s most famous celebrity couples — known to fans simply as “Brangelina” — he was never far from the gossip pages, up until Tuesday when it emerged that Angelina Jolie had filed for divorce.
The Hollywood glory is all a far cry from Pitt’s early days.
Born 52 years ago in a middle-class family in Oklahoma, William Bradley Pitt studied journalism and advertising at the University of Missouri before following thousands of young Americans and heading to Hollywood.
Pitt supported himself with a series of part-time jobs, including as a chauffeur, removal man and even dressing up in a chicken suit to advertise a fast-food chain.
But from 1987 the work started to trickle in, with bit parts in television series “Dallas” and “21 Jump Street” and a few low-budget movies.
It was in “Thelma and Louise” (1991) that Pitt got his break, displaying his talent — and swoon-worthy body — as the two-bit thief who seduces Geena Davis.
Secondary roles followed in “Kalifornia” (1993) and “True Romance” (1994) and he finally made it as a headliner later that year alongside Tom Cruise in “Interview with a Vampire,” and Anthony Hopkins in “Legends of the Fall.”
If Pitt needed any further affirmation of his talent, he got it with “Seven,” the acclaimed 1995 thriller in which he played a policemen spun along by a serial killer.
The success continued the following year as Terry Gilliam’s “Twelve Monkeys” saw Pitt nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actor.
The high from that accolade did not last long, however, being followed by two commercial flops in 1997, “Seven Years in Tibet” and “The Devil’s Own” with Harrison Ford. The critics were also less than impressed with his pairing with Julia Roberts in “The Mexican” and Robert Redford in “Spy Game,” both in 2001.
But the actor won a new legion of fans alongside Edward Norton in “Fight Club” (1999), and hit the commercial big time two years later as part of a star-studded cast led by George Clooney with the remake of “Ocean’s Eleven.”
