PITT, Brad 1963–

PERSONAL

Full name, William Bradley Pitt; born December 18, 1963, in Shawnee, OK; raised in Springfield, MO; son of William (a manager at a trucking firm) and Jane (a high school counselor) Pitt; married Jennifer Aniston (an actress), July 29, 2000. Education: Attended University of Missouri at Columbia, 1982–86 (some sources cite 1983–87); studied acting with Roy London. Avocational Interests: Architecture.

Addresses: Agent— Kevin Huvane, Creative Artists Agency, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Manager— Cynthia Pett–Dante, Brillstein–Grey Entertainment, 9150 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 350, Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Publicist— Cindy Guagenti, Baker Winokur Ryder, 9100 Wilshire Blvd., Sixth Floor West, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.

Career: Actor. Plan B Productions, Beverly Hills, CA, owner (with Jennifer Aniston). Appeared in magazine advertisements for Levi's and in other advertisements, primarily outside the United States; with others, participant in Los Angeles city planning sessions, Los Angeles, 2004; affiliated with charities. Worked as a limousine driver, delivered refrigerators, and dressed as a giant chicken for a restaurant.

Member: Sigma Chi (Xi Xi chapter).

Awards, Honors: Named one of the "promising new actors of 1991," John Willis' Screen World, 1991; ShoWest Award, National Association of Theatre Owners, male star of tomorrow, 1993; Bronze Wrangler Award (with others), Western Heritage Awards, outstanding theatrical motion picture, and Golden Globe Award nomination, best performance by an actor in a motion picture—drama, both 1995, for Legends of the Fall; MTV Movie awards, best male performance and most desirable male, and MTV Movie Award nomination (with Tom Cruise), best on–screen duo, all 1995, for Interview with the Vampire; MTV Movie Award, most desirable male, and MTV Movie Award nomination (with Morgan Freeman), best on–screen duo, both 1996, for Se7en; Golden Globe Award, best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture, Saturn Award, Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, best supporting actor, Universe Reader's Choice Award, Sci–Fi Universe, best supporting actor in a genre motion picture, Academy Award nomination, best supporting actor, and MTV Movie Award nomination, best male performance, all 1996, and Blockbuster Entertainment Award, favorite supporting actor—science fiction film, 1997, all for Twelve Monkeys; named one of "the top 100 movie stars of all time," Empire, 1997; Audience Award, Rembrandt Awards, best actor, 1998, for Seven Years in Tibet; Blockbuster Entertainment Award nomination (with Edward Norton), favorite action team, 2000, for Fight Club; Golden Satellite Award nomination, International Press Academy, best performance by an actor in a supporting role, comedy or musical, 2001, for Snatch; Emmy Award nomination, outstanding guest actor in a comedy series, 2002, for "The One with the Rumor," Friends; MTV Movie Award nomination (with others), best on–screen team, 2002, and DVD Premiere Award nomination (with others), DVD Exclusive Awards, best audio commentary on a new release, 2003, both for Ocean's Eleven; National Achievement Award, American College Theatre Festival, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC.

CREDITS

Film Appearances:

(Uncredited) Partygoer, Less Than Zero, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1987.

(Uncredited) Waiter, No Man's Land, 1987.

Brian, Happy Together, Borde Releasing, 1989.

Dwight Ingalls, Cutting Class, Gower Street, 1989.

Joe Maloney, Across the Tracks (also known as Nowhere to Run ), Rosenbloom Entertainment, 1990.

J. D., Thelma & Louise, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer/Pathe, 1991.

Title role, Johnny Suede, Miramax, 1991.

Detective Frank Harris, Cool World (live action and animated), Paramount, 1992.

Paul Maclean, A River Runs through It, Columbia, 1992.

Early Grayce, Kalifornia, Gramercy, 1993.

Floyd, True Romance, Warner Bros., 1993.

Elliott Fowler, The Favor (also known as The Favour and The Indecent Favour ), Orion, 1994.

Louis de Pointe du Lac, Interview with the Vampire (also known as Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles ), Warner Bros., 1994.

Tristan Ludlow, Legends of the Fall, TriStar, 1994.

Detective David Mills, Se7en (also known as Seven ), New Line Cinema, 1995.

Jeffrey Goines, Twelve Monkeys, Universal, 1995.

Michael Sullivan, Sleepers, Warner Bros., 1996.

Heinrich Harrer, Seven Years in Tibet, TriStar/Mandalay Entertainment, 1997.

Rick, The Dark Side of the Sun (also known as Mracna strana sunca and Tamna strana sunca ), 1997.

Rory Devaney/Francis "Frankie" McGuire, The Devil's Own (also known as Ennemis rapproches ), Columbia, 1997.

Joe Black (Death), Meet Joe Black, Universal, 1998.

Himself, Being John Malkovich, USA Films, 1999.

Tyler Durden, Fight Club, Twentieth Century–Fox, 1999.

Mickey "One Punch" O'Neil, Snatch (also known as Snatch: Pigs and Diamonds ), Screen Gems, 2000.

Jerry Welbach, The Mexican, DreamWorks, 2001.

Rusty Ryan, Ocean's Eleven (also known as 11 and 011 ), Warner Bros., 2001.

Tom Bishop, Spy Game, MCA/Universal, 2001.

Bachelor Brad, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Miramax/Artisan Entertainment, 2002.

(Uncredited) Brad and himself, Full Frontal, Miramax, 2002.

Himself, Abby Singer, Wembly Hall Theatre Company, 2003.

Voice of Sinbad, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (animated), DreamWorks, 2003.

Achilles, Troy, Warner Bros., 2004.

Rusty Ryan, Ocean's Twelve, Warner Bros., 2004.

John Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Twentieth Century–Fox, 2005.

Television Appearances; Series:

Chris, Another World, NBC, 1987.

Randy, a recurring role, Dallas, CBS, 1987–1988.

Walker Lovejoy, Glory Days (also known as The Kids Are All Right ), Fox, 1990.

Television Appearances; Movies:

Theodore "Teddy" Johnson, A Stoning in Fulham County, 1988.

Billy Canton, Too Young to Die?, NBC, 1990.

Steve Black, The Image, HBO, 1990.

Cox, "Contact," Showtime 30–Minute Movie, Show-time, 1993.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Himself, The Siskel & Ebert Interviews, CBS, 1996.

Himself, Town Meeting with Diane Sawyer: Celebrities vs. the Press, 1997.

Himself, America: A Tribute to Heroes, multiple networks, 2001.

Himself, The Barbara Walters Special, ABC, 2001.

Host and narrator, Growing Up Grizzly, Animal Planet, 2001.

Himself, Jeff Buckley: Everybody Here Wants You, 2002.

Himself, Robert Redford, Bravo, 2002.

(In archive footage) Himself, Shirtless: Hollywood's Sexiest Men, American Movie Classics, 2002.

Himself, The Stars' First Time … on Entertainment Tonight with Mary Hart, CBS, 2003.

(In archive footage) Himself, 101 Biggest Celebrity Oops, E! Entertainment Television, 2004.

Television Appearances; Awards Presentations:

Presenter, VH1 Honors, VH1, 1994.

Himself, 1995 MTV Movie Awards, MTV, 1995.

Presenter, The 72nd Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 2000.

The American Film Institute Salute to Harrison Ford, CBS, 2000.

Himself, The 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, NBC, 2002.

Presenter, The 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards, NBC, 2003.

Presenter, Nickelodeon's 16th Annual Kids' Choice Awards, Nickelodeon, 2003.

The Second Annual TRL Awards, MTV, 2004.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

Jeffrey, "Who's Zoomin' Who?," Growing Pains, ABC, 1987.

Peter, "Best Years of Your Life," 21 Jump Street, Fox, 1988.

Bernard, "Love and Sex," thirtysomething, ABC, 1989.

Chuck, "Partners," Head of the Class, ABC, 1989.

Jonathan Keith, "Feet of Clay," Growing Pains, ABC, 1989.

Rick, "Black Tickets," Freddy's Nightmares, syndicated, 1989.

William H. "Billy" Drake, "King of the Road," Tales from the Crypt (also known as HBO's Tales from the Crypt ), HBO, 1992, broadcast as the pilot for Two–Fisted Tales, Fox, 1992.

Himself, The Oprah Winfrey Show, syndicated, 1998.

Saturday Night Live (also known as NBC's Saturday Night, Saturday Night, and SNL ), NBC, 1998, 2002.

Himself, Intimate Portrait: Melissa Etheridge, Lifetime, 1999.

Will Colbert, "The One with the Rumor," Friends, NBC, 2001.

Himself, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC, 2001.

"Los Angeles," Travel Sick, Comedy Central, 2001.

Himself, Jackass (multiple episodes), MTV, 2002.

"25 Toughest Stars," Rank, E! Entertainment Television, 2002.

(In archive footage) Himself, "It's Good to Be Brad and Jen," It's Good to Be, VH1, 2003.

Judge, "A Pet Star Halloween," Pet Star, Animal Planet, 2003.

Voice of Patch Boomhauer, "Patch Boomhauer," King of the Hill (animated), Fox, 2003.

Himself, Entertainment Tonight (also known as ET ), syndicated, 2003.

Himself, Extra, syndicated, 2003.

(In archive footage) Celebrities Uncensored, E! Entertainment Television, multiple episodes, 2003, 2004.

Himself, "Anthony Hopkins," Hollywood Greats, BBC, 2004.

"Hollywoodin kierraetysbuumi," 4Pop, [Finland], 2004.

Himself, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, NBC, 2004.

Television Appearances; Pilots:

William H. "Billy" Drake, "King of the Road," Two–Fisted Tales, Fox, 1992, broadcast as an episode of Tales from the Crypt (also known as HBO's Tales from the Crypt ), HBO, 1992.

Radio Appearances; Series:

Narrator, Lost Boy—In Search of Nick Drake, BBC Radio 2, 2004.

RECORDINGS

Videos:

(Uncredited) Himself, The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys, 1996.

Himself, On Location: Fight Club, Twentieth Century–Fox, 2000.

(In archive footage) Ultimate Fights from the Movies, Flixmix, 2002.

Himself, Thelma & Louise: The Last Journey, Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer Home Entertainment, 2003.

Music Videos:

"Don't Turn Around," by Ace of Base, 1994.

"David Duchovny," by Bree Sharp, 1999.

Audiobooks:

Narrator, All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy, Random House, 1994.

WRITINGS

Nonfiction:

(Contributor of photo essay) Randell L. Makinson, Greene & Greene: The Blacker House, Gibbs Smith, 2000.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

Catalano, Grace, Brad Pitt: Hot and Sexy, Bantam Books, 1995.

Dempsey, Amy, Brad Pitt, Chelsea House, 1997.

George–Warren, Holly, Mark Seliger, and Chris Mundy, Brad Pitt, Little, Brown, 1997.

Guzzetti, Paula, Brad Pitt, Silver Burdett Press, 1998.

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 3: Actors and Actresses, St. James Press, 1996.

Newsmakers, Gale, 1995.

Nickson, Chris, Brad Pitt, St. Martin's, 1995.

Robb, Brian J., Brad Pitt: The Rise to Stardom, Plexus Publishing, 1996.

Seitz, Matt Zoller, Brad Pitt, House of Collectibles, 1996.

Shay, Regan, Brad Pitt, Bantam Books, 1992.

Westbrook, Caroline, Brad Pitt: The Illustrated Story, Music Book Services, 1996.

Periodicals:

Detour, April, 1997, pp. 97–102.

Empire, October, 1997, pp. 91, 193; February, 1999, pp. 70–74.

Entertainment Weekly, November 6, 1992, pp. 30–35; June 21, 2002, p. 90.

Esquire (Great Britain), September, 2000, pp. 26–27, 29–30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 239.

Flicks, January, 1999, pp. 10, 11.

Heat, January 26, 2002, pp. 6–7, 18–19.

Hello!, November 20, 2001, pp. 70–74.

Interview, November, 1997.

Ladies' Home Journal, July, 2002, pp. 90–93, 158–59.

Newsweek, February 3, 1997, pp. 50–51.

People Weekly, July 20, 2000; November 13, 2000, pp. 76–81; December 10, 2001, pp. 108–11, 113, 115; March 29, 2004, p. 26.

Premiere, November, 1997, pp. 86–94, 135; August, 1999, pp. 68–73, 100; March, 2001, p. 113.

Premiere (Great Britain), December, 1997, pp. 36–41, 43–45.

Rolling Stone, October 28, 1999, pp. 66–74, 116.

Sky, October, 1992.

TV Guide, February 21, 2004, p. 33.

US Weekly, August 14, 2000, p. 3.

Vogue, November, 1997, pp. 320–30.

PITT, Brad

Nationality : American. Born : William Bradley Pitt in Shawnee, Oklahoma, 18 December 1963. Education : Attended public school in Springfield, Missouri; majored in journalism with a focus on advertising at the University of Missouri but left in 1986 very shortly before graduating; studied acting with Roy London. Career : 1987—film debut, Less than Zero; TV debut in as guest on series Dallas; 1987–89, worked extensively on TV: guest starred in Another World, Dallas, Growing Pains, Head of the Class, 21 Jump Street, thirtysomething, Tales from the Crypt ("King of the Road," 1989); 1990—starred in the TV series Glory Days (as Walker Lovejoy); has done advertisements for Levi's jeans and Mountain Dew soda; 1991—breakthrough film role in Thelma & Louise; 1992—starred in the Oscar-nominated short, Contact; 1994—read for the audio-book of Cormac McCarthy's novel, All The Pretty Horses. Awards: Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, for 12 Monkeys, 1995. Agent: c/o Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, 9150 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 350, Beverly Hills, CA 90212–3427, U.S.A.

Films as Actor:

1987

Less than Zero (Kanievska) (extra)

1988

A Stoning in Fulham County (Elikann—for TV)

1989

Cutting Class (Pallenberg) (as Dwight Ingalls); Happy Together (Damski) (as Brian); The Image (Werner—for TV)

1990

Too Young to Die? (Markowitz—for TV) (as Billy Canton)

1991

Across the Tracks (Tung) (as Joe Maloney); Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott) (as J. D.)

1992

Contact (short); Cool World (Bakshi) (as Frank Harris);Johnny Suede (DiCillo) (title role); A River Runs through It(Redford) (as Paul Maclean)

1993

Kalifornia (Sena) (as Early Grayce); True Romance (Tony Scott) (as Floyd)

1994

The Favor (Petrie—produced in 1991) (as Elliott); Interview with the Vampire (Neil Jordan) (as Louis); Legends of the Fall (Zwick) (as Tristan Ludlow)

1995

Seven (Fincher) (as David Mills); 12 Monkeys (Gilliam) (as Jeffrey Goines)

1996

Devil's Own (Pakula); Seven Years in Tibet (Annaud); Sleepers (Levinson); David

1997

The Dark Side of the Sun (Nikolic) (as Rick)

1998

Meet Joe Black (Brest, Smithee) (as Joe Black)

1999

Fight Club (Fincher) (as Tyler Durden); Being John Malkovich(Jonze) (as himself)

2000

Snatch (Ritchie) (as One Punch Mickey)

Publications

By PITT: articles—

Interview with Alison Powell, in Interview (New York), February 1992.

"Hot Actor," interview with Jay Martel, in Rolling Stone (New York), 14 May 1992.

"Slippin' Around on the Road with Brad Pitt," interview with Chris Mundy, in Rolling Stone (New York), 1 December 1994.

"Brad Attitude," interview with Johanna Schneller, in Vanity Fair (New York), February 1995.

"Pitt and the Pendulum," interview with Tony Earnshaw, in Scarlet Street, Summer 1995.

"Brad Company: Co-star Quality," interview with Dan McLeod and Tom Charity, in Time Out (London), 13 December 1995.

"Cool. Excellent. Thanks.," interview with J. Giles, in Newsweek, 3 February 1997.

On PITT: books—

Shay, Regan, Brad Pitt, New York, 1992.

Catalano, Grace, Brad Pitt: Hot and Sexy, New York, 1995.

Nickson, Chris, Brad Pitt, New York, 1995.

Seitz, Matt Zoller, Brad Pitt, New York, 1996.

Westbrook, Caroline, Brad Pitt: the Illustrated Story, London, 1996.

Brad Pitt, Boston, 1997.

Dempsey, Amy. Brad Pitt, Philadelphia, 1997.

Guzzetti, Paula, Brad Pitt, Parsippany, 1998.

Robb, Brian J. Brad Pitt: The Rise to Stardom, London, 1999.

On PITT: articles—

McKenna, Kristine, "The Bad Boy Makes Good," in New York Times, 7 July 1991.

Snowden, Lynn, "Brad Pitt Is Afraid of Sharks," in Premiere (New York), October 1994.

Mooney, Josh, "Brad Pitt: Thief of Hearts," in Cosmopolitan, November 1995.

Current Biography 1996, New York, 1996.

Giles, J., "A Star's Trek," in Newsweek, 3 February 1997.

With seven leading feature film roles, four of them in blockbusters, over the four years 1992–95, Brad Pitt has proved himself a movie star for the "alternative" generation. That is, like the "alternative" rock bands who achieved mainstream success in the 1990s by revisiting rock traditions with a vaguely troubled nonchalance—rather than either a knowing distance or a fully immersed sincerity—Pitt walks in the footsteps of James Dean and all the screen's subsequent good-looking rebel males, but with a certain low-key looseness to his torment, an extravagance to his toughness, a calculation to both his blankness and his brains. If Dean and Marlon Brando are filled with angst, Steve McQueen and Paul Newman's personas seem emptier, both more entrenched in their out-of-step positions and more lost in them. Robert Redford's image appears emptier still, but preoccupied with a lack of concern about it, personifying anomie or perhaps protesting it by embracing its extreme. Pitt's characters typically accept a core of emptiness as a given, too, but they do not let it get in the way of their good times. Often they or those they care most about wind up dead or otherwise destroyed, but their movies are all about the queasy fun they have on the way.

Across a prolific string of guest appearances on television soap operas, sitcoms, drama series, and movies of the week, Pitt found his type—confused but charming all-American boy—and worked two sides of it as the size of his roles quickly increased. In four key pre-stardom performances he divided his time equally between playing good boys trying to get up in the world (the short-lived television series Glory Days, the low-budget feature Across the Tracks), and bad boys trying to get back at it (the episode of the anthology horror series Tales from the Crypt called "King of the Road," the television film Too Young to Die?).

It was a character from the latter category—J. D., an outlaw who steals the bankroll in Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise—which opened the doors to stardom for Pitt. But the pattern of his career as a leading man suggests that, in the 1990s, the lines separating conventionally striving young man, rebel, psychopath, and victim are hardly clear-cut. Not only does Pitt play all four types in separate instances, he usually combines elements of all four at once. J. D. himself gets a free ride with the film's heroines by pretending to be an earnest collegian—and by feigning nonaggression, giving up his plea for their help as soon as one expresses disapproval. Later, the freewheeling vigor of the exploitative sexuality and criminality J. D. unleashes for (and against) Geena Davis's Thelma is situated by the film as just a cover for his weakness and guilt, when the cop played by Harvey Keitel takes out his anger at the women's impossible situation by blaming and humiliating J. D.

In each of the four big-budget (and big box-office) vehicles that Pitt has carried after Thelma—A River Runs through It, Interview with the Vampire, Legends of the Fall, and Seven—his character similarly rides a crosscurrent of mutually canceling traits: iconoclastic but family-centered, wounded but destructive, unstable but brave. Pitt's choice of projects has shaped his overall persona along similar lines: for every ambivalent leading character there is both a tame supporting role (a too-comfortable boyfriend in The Favor) and a wild one (a drug-dazed roommate in True Romance). The supporting character whose portrayal earned Pitt his first Academy Award nomination, Jeffrey Goines in 12 Monkeys, is another perfect encapsulation of the incongruity gathered around Pitt as his generation's angry young man. Jeffrey seems insane at the beginning of the film, in his obsessive, evidently terroristic rebellion against his father—but by the end, Jeffrey's good reasons and intentions are revealed, albeit along with his powerlessness.

Pitt has demonstrated his interest in art as well as commerce with several offbeat leading roles, all of which ask him to delve even more deeply than his mainstream hits into the essences of strongly desiring but perversely flawed men. He plays a never-will-be rock star/criminal/worthy lover in the low-budget Johnny Suede; a detective stranded across lines of being from his true love as the only human in the cartoon Cool World; and a committed lover and friend but casual killer in Kalifornia. The last film saw a lot of weight and facial hair added to the form which won him People magazine's acclamation as the "sexiest man alive" in January 1995. Clearly Brad Pitt has become something of a flashpoint for his social moment's ideas about, and conflicts over, masculinity. The impressively wide-ranging devotion to his craft he has shown thus far should keep him at the on-screen epicenter of such conflicts for a long time to come.

—Susan Knobloch