I was first introduced to Angelina Jolie on one sunny day in 2001 when I walked into my local cinema with my friend, my sister and my friend's sister. I'd never heard of Angelina Jolie or
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider before that day, but I was happy to go and see it regardless because I've always loved seeing movies. Needless to say I was impressed when the movie began and the first thing I saw was this beautiful English woman destroying a robot with a combination of her bare hands and gunfire. When the movie ended two awesome hours later and I was told by my sister that she actually wasn't English at all, she only stood to grow in my estimation. I didn't hear about her again for a while until finally I heard that she had signed on to do a
Tomb Raider sequel, which I excitedly went to see in 2003.
It wasn't until after I'd seen
Mr and Mrs Smith in 2005 (and consequently saw her acting as an American for the first time - something didn't seem quite right about that but whatever) and the tabloid circus surrounding her, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston grew... and I found myself taking
her side rather than Jennifer's, that I began to see just how much of a fan I was of hers as an actress.
I loved her as Fox in 2008's
Wanted and 2010's
Salt playing two different yet equally awesome ass-kicking heroines, but it was her work in 2008's
Changeling that allowed me to see that there is so much more to her than an action star. Her portrayal of a mother who lost her child was beyond heartbreaking, and although she was robbed blind of her rightful Oscar by Kate Winslet that year, it made me go and look back at her previous work. Her Oscar-winning performance in
Girl, Interrupted and her Emmy-winning title role in
Gia did not disappoint. It was at this point that she became one of my core actresses and has earned a life of me going to see everything she ever does. I bet she feels so lucky!