Childhood

William Bradley Pitt was born December 18, 1963, in Shawnee, Oklahoma.

The oldest of three children his mother was a school counselor and his father worked as an executive at a trucking firm. The family moved to Springfield, Missouri, where Brad Pitt spent his childhood together with his brother Doug Pitt.

Pitt attended Kickapoo High School, where he was actively  involved in sports, debating, student government and school musicals.

Pitt enrolled at the  University of Missouri, where he majored in journalism.

Apparently, his love for film kicked in and Pitt decided to head for the land of aspiring actors -- L.A. -- two credits shy of graduating. His parents Bill and Jane were under the impression that he was heading to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena for fear that they would not let him go.

Career

After dropping his studies at the University of Missouri, Brad Pitt packed his bags and headed to L.A. to pursue his dreams of becoming a movie superstar. In his early days in L.A., Pitt made a living being a limousine driver and distributing refrigerators. Brad Pitt, who later would be included in People's Best-Dressed Lists, also had to wear a huge chicken costume for his work at the fast-food restaurant El Pollo Loco.

Brad also worked as a swimming pool attendant and bus boy. The income from these odd-jobs helped to pay for Community Theater and acting lessons. Slowly, he began to find his way into television and later to the big screen world.

Starting his acting work on TV, Pitt made several appearances in shows like Dallas, Another World (1987), Growing Pains and in Fox's Glory Days (1990). He was also cast as Billy Canton in NBC's Too Young to Die (1990), together with longtime sweetheart Juliette Lewis.

In 1991 Brad got the role of 'J.D.' a lanky cowboy in the movie 'Thelma and Louise.' His fourteen minutes of memorable screen presence paved the way for a long, high-profile film career. He followed up that success with a good turn in 'A River Runs Through It'.

the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994, costarring Tom Cruise). His next characters would be seen in Legends of The Fall (1994), in which he played Tristan, and in David Fincher's thriller Se7en (1995) as Detective David Mills. In 1995, Pitt was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in Terry Gilliam's thriller Twelve Monkeys.

He then appeared as a lawyer in the 1996 drama, Sleepers, and put on an Irish accent to portray an I.R.A. terrorist in The Devil's Own, co-starring Harrison Ford.

Brad Pitt received critical acclaim when he played the role of Heinrich Harrer in the movie Seven Years in Tibet (1997) which is said to be his best performance to date.

After starring in the title role in the film Meet Joe Black in 1998, Pitt rejoined Se7en's director in Fight Club (1999) by playing Tyler Durden alongside Edward Norton. In 2001, he costarred in Snatch, and then starred opposite Julia Roberts in The Mexican. Pitt went on to star opposite Robert Redford in Spy Game, and joined George Clooney and Matt Damon in Steven Soderbergh's remake film Ocean's Eleven.