", VultureWilliam Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and producer. He has long been cited as one of the world's most attractive men, and his off-screen life has been widely reported. Pitt has received five Academy Award nominations (three for acting, two for producing), winning one in each category (for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and 12 Years a Slave, respectively). He has also won one Golden Globe Award out of five nominations.
Pitt began his acting career with television guest appearances, which included a role on the CBS soap opera Dallas in 1987. He gained recognition as the cowboy hitchhiker who seduces Thelma in the 1991 road movie Thelma & Louise. Pitt's first leading roles in big-budget productions came with A River Runs Through It and Interview with the Vampire. He was cast opposite Anthony Hopkins in the 1994 drama Legends of the Fall, which earned him his first Golden Globe nomination. In 1995, he gave critically acclaimed performances in the crime thriller Se7en and the science fiction film 12 Monkeys, the latter earning him a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and an Oscar nomination. Pitt then starred in the 1999 cult hit Fight Club, the 2000 gangster film Snatch. and the 2001 heist film Ocean's Eleven, a major international hit, and its sequels Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). He has had his biggest commercial successes with Troy (2004) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) (2005).
In 2008, he received his second Oscar nomination for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. His next film was Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009). In 2011, he appeared in Terrence Malick's arthouse drama The Tree of Life and Moneyball, based on the true story of baseball manager Billy Beane. He got his third Oscar nomination for his performance in the latter. In 2013, he played the lead role in the film adaptation of World War Z, which became his highest-grossing film and Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave. He also served as a co-producer for 12 Years a Slave, which won the Oscar for Best Picture. In 2014, he starred in the World War II drama Fury. In 2015, he appeared in The Big Short, a comedy-drama about the 2007–08 financial crisis. In 2019, Pitt co-starred in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as the main character's best friend/stunt double, a role which earned him his first acting Oscar.
As a producer, his credits include The Departed, A Mighty Heart, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Kick-Ass, Eat, Pray, Love, The Tree of Life, Moneyball, World War Z, 12 Years a Slave, Selma, The Big Short, Okja, If Beale Street Could Talk, Outer Range, and Paper Girls (2022).
Between 2000 and 2005, he was married to Jennifer Aniston of Friends. Since 2005, he lived with actress Angelina Jolie in a relationship that has attracted worldwide media attention. They got married in 2014 after nine years together, but Angelina filed for divorce from him in late 2016. He and Jolie have six children: Maddox, Zahara, Pax, Shiloh, Knox, and Vivienne. Since beginning his relationship with Jolie, he has become increasingly involved in social issues, both in the United States and internationally.
Brad Pitt on TV Tropes:
- Hunk (1987) — uncredited
- Dallas (1987)
- No Way Out (1987) — film debut
- Head of the Class (1989) — guest appearence
- Thelma & Louise (1991)
- Contact (1992)
- Cool World (1992)
- A River Runs Through It (1992)
- Kalifornia (1993)
- True Romance (1993)
- Interview with the Vampire (1994)
- Legends of the Fall (1994)
- Se7en (1995)
- 12 Monkeys (1995)
- Sleepers (1996)
- The Devil's Own (1997)
- Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
- Meet Joe Black (1998)
- Fight Club (1999)
- Snatch. (2000)
- The Mexican (2001)
- Ocean's Eleven (2001), Ocean's Twelve (2004), and Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
- Spy Game (2001)
- Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) (voice)
- Troy (2004)
- Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005)
- Babel (2006)
- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
- Burn After Reading (2008)
- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
- Inglourious Basterds (2009)
- Megamind (2010) (voice)
- Moneyball (2011)
- The Tree of Life (2011)
- Killing Them Softly (2012)
- The Counselor (2013)
- 12 Years a Slave (2013)
- World War Z (2013)
- Fury (2014)
- The Big Short (2015)
- Allied (2016)
- War Machine (2017)
- Deadpool 2 (2018)
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)note
- Ad Astra (2019)
- The Lost City (2022)
- Bullet Train (2022)
- Babylon (2022)
Tropes associated with this actor:
- Actor-Inspired Element: He's well-known for coming up with details for his characters, whether they be major traits or small tics that many people would never even notice. The most famous example of this is Rusty Ryan from the Ocean's trilogy eating something in just about all of his scenes, which came after he ate a lot after a long day of working without lunch and decided that it would be a fun character trait for Rusty to have.
- Big Eater: His characters are frequently shown casually eating during scenes. Taken to iconic levels in the Ocean's series, where it stemmed from his habit of squirreling away food on-set.
- Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: The comic book The Ultimates redesigned Captain America after Pitt's likeness.
- Creator Backlash: He's made zero secret of how much he disliked The Devil's Own, calling it the most irresponsible piece of filmmaking he's ever seen, not to mention his on-set clashes with Harrison Ford as well as the script changes, since he'd liked the original script and had signed on with the expectation that that was the one he'd end up filming.
- Hunk: He's been an international sex symbol for decades and a lot of his characters tend to reflect it. Just look at the page photo!
- Lantern Jaw of Justice: As Metro Man. Brad himself is also known for his square jaw.
- Middle Name Basis: His full name is William Bradley Pitt, but he likely goes by Brad since there's already two notable William Pitts.
- Mr. Fanservice: Surprisingly, few of his roles play up his looks intentionally, but Thelma & Louise and Troy exaggerate this trope.
- One of Us: He was a HUGE King of the Hill fan, listed Boomhauer as his favorite character, would often do impressions of the character on sets, and said that if they ever made a live action King of the Hill movie, he wanted to play the character. Mike Judge read this, and wrote the episode and character Patch Boomhauer just for Pitt.
- Produced by Cast Member: He owns his own production company, Plan B Entertainment, and as such has produced most of his movies since the 2000s.
- Those Two Actors: With longtime friend George Clooney. Together they've starred in the Ocean's trilogy and Burn After Reading.
- He's worked with director David Fincher three times in Se7en, Fight Club, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and would've worked with him a fourth time for the World War Z sequel had it not been abruptly cancelled shortly before production was scheduled to start.
- Uncredited Role: He has a brief uncredited cameo in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, alongside Matt Damon (as the movie is directed by their friend George Clooney).
