Brad Pitt is an American actor and film producer whose acting career began in 1987 with uncredited roles in the films No Way Out and Less Than Zero. He subsequently appeared in episodes for television shows during the late 1980s, and played his first major role in the slasher film Cutting Class (1989).[1] He gained recognition in Thelma & Louise (1991) and A River Runs Through It (1992).[2][3] In 1993, Pitt was cast in the role of a serial killer in the road thriller Kalifornia, and featured in the black comedy film True Romance. He took the role of vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the horror drama Interview with the Vampire (1994) and for his performance in the epic drama Legends of the Fall (1994), he earned his first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor nomination.[4]
Pitt featured in the David Fincher-directed commercially successful thriller Seven (1995), in which he played a detective on the trail of a psychopathic serial killer.[5] The role of a mental patient in the science fiction film 12 Monkeys (1995) earned the actor the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination in the same category.[6][7] He starred opposite Jason Patric in the legal thriller Sleepers (1996), a commercial success, followed by the role of Heinrich Harrer in the biopic Seven Years in Tibet (1997).[8] His role as the eponymous lead in the fantasy film Meet Joe Black was met with negative reviews.[9] Pitt re-teamed with Fincher to star in the apocalyptic film Fight Club (1999) in a role that required him learn boxing, taekwondo, and grappling.[10] His next role was as a gypsy boxer in the crime film Snatch (2000). He portrayed Rusty Ryan in the commercially successful heist film Ocean's Eleven (2001), and reprised the role in its sequels Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007).[11] His guest appearance in an episode of the sitcom Friends in 2001 earned a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.[12]
In 2002, Pitt started a production company, Plan B Entertainment,[13] whose first release was the epic war film Troy (2004), in which he played the lead. He played an assassin in the commercially successful action comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), opposite Angelina Jolie.[14] Pitt produced the 2006 crime drama The Departed, and acted alongside Cate Blanchett in the multi-narrative drama Babel (2006). In Andrew Dominik's western drama The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), he played American outlaw Jesse James. His portrayal of the eponymous man who ages in reverse in the drama The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) earned him an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination.[15] He starred in the successful war film Inglourious Basterds (2009),[16] and produced the superhero film Kick-Ass (2010) and its sequel Kick-Ass 2 (2013). In 2011 he earned critical acclaim for producing and starring in the two films—the experimental drama The Tree of Life and the biopic sports drama Moneyball—both of which were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.[17] He also garnered the Best Actor nomination for the latter. His biggest commercial successes came with the apocalyptic film World War Z (2013) and the war film Fury (2014).[18] Pitt produced the period drama 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Picture.[19]
