Brad Pitt (Actor)

"He's a humble guy," says Wolfgang Petersen. "He gives everybody the feeling that he's honored to work with them, and that creates a wonderful atmosphere." - Wolfgang Petersen, who directed Pitt in "Troy" (2004) quoted in Vanity Fair Magazine, June 2004

"He's not like 'Look at me, don't I look good?' He morphs himself so easily. He's the perfect muse." - Steven Klein on photographing Pitt on the set of "Troy" (2004) to People Magazine, May 10, 2004

"I don’t think he gets credit for being as good as he is," says Soderbergh. "In terms of movie-star performances, I thought he was as good in "Snatch" (2000) as McQueen ever was. It was a really star performance in the best sense of the word, absolutely riveting and charismatic, funny. If another actor had given that performance who didn’t look like Brad, it would have been talked about much more. I found him in "Ocean's Eleven" (2001) to be a really terrific actor, with really good instincts, a really good sense of timing, and an ease that I don’t think you can fake. He’s a very secure person," Soderbergh adds. "He would be exactly the same person whether stardom had happened to him or not. He just is who he is, just one of the coolest people on the planet." - Soderbergh to Vanity Fair Magazine, December 2001

"I went and hid for a time, but realised I can't always do that. It means a lot to me if people say that I have just given a great performance on screen or they've seen something that has moved them. I like that. I can't pretend that I don't. As for the paparazzi and intrusions, I just have to grit my teeth and do the best I can to avoid them." - Pitt on his initial success in films to Empire magazine, December 1997

"I'll tell you about Brad's laugh. I don't know how to explain it except it sounds like a 12-year old boy who just threw a water balloon down on somebody." - Jennifer Aniston to US Weekly, Sep. 30, 2002

"I've gotten to the point in my life where I don't even care if the papers make up stuff about me anymore. It can't touch me. I'm at peace with myself." - Brad Pitt quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times, Oct. 10, 1999

"If I live to an old age and look back and weigh my decisions, I'm curious what they will add up to. I'm starting to see what kind of shape it's taking and where I'd like to add to that shape." - Pitt to Interview magazine, March 2007

"It's all up and down. You're talking to a guy who's always had this kind of congenital sadness. I don't know where it comes from. I don't know what it is - the state of the world, the state of yourself. I don't know. I had a very easy childhood, deprived of nothing per se." - Pitt to Rolling Stones Magazine, Oct. 28, 1999

"It's talked about like it failed, I guess because it wasn't flawless. Me, I embrace the messiness of life. I find it so beautiful, actually." - Pitt, speaking about his marriage to Jennifer Aniston in GQ Magazine, June 2005

"The way I grew up, you don't talk about yourself. You just DO. Your actions define everything for you." - Pitt to Steven Klein in Interview magazine, November 1997

"The wedding was one of the coolest things I've ever been to. We've made a pact. Jen and I call it the adventure. We'll see where it takes us." - Pitt, on his marriage to Aniston, in People Magazine, July 29, 2000

"We think that success will patch up some kind of hole in our lives and the truth is that it doesn't. But I can say that until I'm blue in the face and no one is going to hear it." - Pitt on achieving a certain level of stardom in The New York Times, Nov. 20, 1997

"You shouldn't speak until you know what you're talking about. That's why I get uncomfortable with interviews. Reporters ask me what I feel China should do about Tibet. Who cares what I think China should do? I'm a f*cking actor! They hand me a script. I act. I'm here for entertainment, basically, when you whittle everything away. I'm a grown man who puts on makeup." - Pitt quoted in Time Magazine, Oct. 13, 1997

Before becoming an actor, Pitt worked many odd jobs including as a chauffeur to Strip-O-Gram strippers and dressing up in a chicken costume outside the El Pollo Loco restaurant.

Brad Pitt and his siblings gave $1 million to St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Mo., to help the Missouri hospital open a new pediatric cancer center that will be named the Jane Pitt Pediatric Cancer Center, for their mother.

Due to the themes of Tibetan nationalism in "Seven Years in Tibet" (1997) the Chinese government banned Pitt and his co-star, Thewlis from entering China for life.

In 1997, Pitt successfully sued Playgirl magazine to stop distribution after it published unauthorized nude photographs of Pitt and then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow.

In 2007, Pitt was listed among artists and entertainers as one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World.

In 2009, Jolie and Pitt, donated $1 million to the U.N. refugee agency providing aid to hundreds of thousands uprooted by violence in Pakistan.

In December 2006, Pitt gathered a group of housing professionals together in the Hurricane Katrina-stricken New Orleans to begin planning a project that Pitt calls Make It Right, with the goal of financing and constructing 150 new houses in New Orleans' Ninth Ward.

Pitt has the dubious distinction of being named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" (1995 and 2000) on two separate occasions.

Pitt made People magazine's 50 most beautiful people for 2004.

Pitt on what he sees as his proudest achievement: "You can write a book, you can make a movie, you can paint a painting," he says. "But having kids is really the most extraordinary thing I've ever taken on." - from People Magazine, Nov. 15, 2006