TORONTO — Hollywood hunk Brad Pitt celebrates a milestone Wednesday — his 50th birthday.
William Bradley Pitt was born on this day in 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. His family soon moved to Springfield, Missouri, where the future movie star was raised in a conservative Baptist household and took part in musicals at Kickapoo High School.
Pitt studied journalism at the University of Missouri before moving to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams.
His first acting gig was on the daytime drama Another World and he landed small parts on TV series like Dallas, Growing Pains, thirtysomething and the made-in-Vancouver show 21 Jump Street (starring another future movie star, Johnny Depp).
The world started to pay attention to Pitt in 1991 when he stripped down for Geena Davis in the hit road trip movie Thelma and Louise.
Starring roles in A River Runs Through It, Kalifornia and Interview with the Vampire followed. Pitt dated Hollywood starlets like Juliette Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow. He was a Hollywood A-lister by the time he was 30.
Pitt married Jennifer Aniston in 2000 but separated in 2005 amidst reports he fell for his Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-star Angelina Jolie.
He and Jolie have been together ever since and are parents to six children.
Over the last two decades, Pitt has added an eclectic variety of movies — including Twelve Monkeys, Troy, Inglorious Basterds, Moneyball and 12 Years a Slave — to his resume. He had his biggest box office hit this year with World War Z.
Pitt is no stranger to Canada. In addition to several red carpet appearances at the Toronto International Film Festival — starting with 1997’s Seven Years in Tibet — he shot 2007’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford in Alberta and Manitoba and scenes for 2008’s Benjamin Button in Montreal.
Today’s birthday boy was named one of the 25 sexiest stars in film history in 1995 and is a two-time winner of People‘s Sexiest Man Alive title (in 1995 and 2000). He is frequently included on lists of the most powerful and influential celebrities in the business.
In honour of Pitt’s 50th, here’s a recap of some of his looks over the years:
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