29 Jaw-Dropping Throwback Photos of Angelina Jolie, a Hollywood Stalwart Since Birth
Most Hollywood stars make their red-carpet debuts in their late teens or early 20s, usually without much fanfare and at relatively small-scale events. Not so for Angelina Jolie, who, at the tender age of 10, arrived at the 1986 Academy Awards in a froth of Madonna-esque white lace and strings of pearls. “Are you nervous for your dad tonight?” she’s asked by a red carpet reporter, who nods to her father, Jon Voight, the Oscar-winning star of Midnight Cowboy and Coming Home, who that year was in the running for the best-actor prize for Runaway Train. “Sort of,” she replies tentatively, giggling and revealing an adorable gap in her teeth.
Remarkably, it wasn’t even her first public appearance: the Los Angeles-born industry fixture has been in the public eye since birth, initially alongside her family, and then in her own right. After appearing on the big screen for the first time as a precocious seven year old, opposite Voight in Hal Ashby’s 1982 comedy Lookin’ to Get Out, she was a captivating presence in a string of music videos; won a part in Hackers with Jonny Lee Miller, whom Jolie later married at 20; secured a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy for the ’50s-set George Wallace; and then broke out in a big way with 1998’s Gia. Cue yet another Golden Globe, a SAG Award, and a scene-stealing supporting role in Girl, Interrupted that would bring her an Oscar and establish her as a bonafide A-lister.
She’s only gone from strength to strength since then, kicking ass as Lara Croft, setting pulses racing in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, landing her second Oscar nod for the tear-jerking Changeling, and winning plaudits most recently for her ravishing turn in Pablo Larraín’s sumptuous Maria.
As she celebrates her 50th birthday, we present 29 incredible throwback photos of the actor from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, and early aughts, from Jolie at a Hollywood party as a two-year-old, to her making the case for skinny brows and a pixie crop as a teenager.
Photo: Getty Images1/291975
Hollywood royalty from birth, Angelina Jolie is pictured at just four hours old, in the arms of her father, actor Jon Voight.
Photo: Getty Images2/291978
At two, a camera-shy Jolie attends a party in Los Angeles with her father.
Photo: Getty Images3/291986
In pearls and frothy white lace, a 10-year-old Jolie makes her debut on the Oscars red carpet with her father (who was nominated that year for best actor for Runaway Train) and brother, James Haven—and looks right at home. She appeared in her first film, the Hal Ashby-directed comedy Lookin’ to Get Out, some four years prior, also alongside her father.
Photo: Getty Images4/291988
Back at the Academy Awards two years later with her father and brother, this time with braces and a silky black dress with diamanté detailing.
Photo: Getty Images5/291991
A 15-year-old Jolie poses for a portrait session with a big smile and a bowler hat, her star power already evident.
