Angelina Jolie has lived about ten different lives in one career. She started as an actress in smaller roles. Then ‘Lara Croft’ made her an action star. Then ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ changed everything. She won an Academy Award for ‘Girl, Interrupted’. She’s done ‘Maleficent’. She’s been a director. She’s been a humanitarian. She’s been one of the most famous people in the world. She’s been in the tabloids. She’s basically done everything in entertainment and then some. Her career doesn’t follow a straight line. It’s messy and complicated and constantly shifting. And looking back at it all, she understands something that only comes from living through that kind of unpredictable journey. Thus, she once said, “I think you have to make all the mistakes you have to go through everything you have to just cuz everything somehow leads to something else.”
Quote of the day by Angelina Jolie
“I think you have to make all the mistakes you have to go through everything you have to just cuz everything somehow leads to something else.”When Angelina Jolie sat down with Extra’s Renee Bargh to talk about returning to ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ alongside Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning, she was asked “what advice she would give her younger self knowing what she knows now”. Three iconic actresses from different generations, talking about their roles and their lives. And when it came time to answer, Angelina Jolie got honest. She said, “I wish I had just been a little more relaxed about it. I think you have to make all the mistakes you have to go through everything you have to just cuz everything somehow leads to something else and it’s you so I would just like hang on I suppose and hang yourself just just hang on.“It wasn’t polished. It wasn’t rehearsed. It was raw and real. The kind of thing you say when you’re not trying to sound wise, when you’re just speaking from a place of having lived through enough to actually know what you’re talking about. She wasn’t telling her younger self to be perfect. She was telling her to relax. To stop being so hard on herself. To understand that mistakes aren’t failures. They’re part of the process.
What does it actually mean?
Angelina Jolie is saying something that contradicts everything we’re taught about success. We’re told to have a plan. To know where you’re going. To avoid mistakes at all costs. To be strategic. But Angelina Jolie spent decades in this industry making choices that seemed wrong to other people. Taking roles that confused critics. Reinventing herself repeatedly. Going through public struggles and private battles. And looking back, she realizes that all of it mattered. All of it led somewhere.When she talks about making all the mistakes you have to make, she’s not being cavalier. She’s not saying go ahead and be reckless. She’s saying that mistakes are inevitable. And they’re necessary. Because every mistake teaches you something. Every wrong turn teaches you what you don’t want. Every role that doesn’t work teaches you something about your craft. Every personal struggle teaches you about resilience and survival.The key part is “everything somehow leads to something else.” Angelina Jolie is saying that you can’t see the connection while you’re living it. When you’re in the middle of a failed film, when you’re going through a difficult time in your personal life, when you’re making choices that nobody else understands, it feels like you’re lost. It feels like you’re making mistakes that will define you negatively forever. But then years pass. And you realize that the mistake led you somewhere important. That struggle taught you something essential; that choice that everyone questioned actually opened a door you didn’t know existed.In the entertainment industry, this is especially true. Look at any great actor’s career. There are films that didn’t work. There are roles that seemed like detours. But those detours often taught them something that made them better at their craft. Angelina Jolie’s early roles that nobody remembers taught her how to move. Her failed relationships taught her about vulnerability. Her struggles with identity and purpose taught her what actually matters.And then she says, “Hang on.” Just hang on. Don’t give up. Don’t let the mistakes convince you that you’re on the wrong path. Don’t let the difficulty of it all make you quit. Just keep going. Everything is moving towards something and therefore is connected. You simply need to take faith in that and continue.
Who is Angelina Jolie?
Born Angelina Jolie Voight in 1975, Angelina Jolie emerged as one of Hollywood’s most dynamic and versatile actors through consistently choosing bold, challenging roles that pushed her as an artist. She says that ‘Hackers’ and ‘Cyborg 2’ were her breakthrough films in the early ’90s, before ‘Girl, Interrupted’ (1999), where she starred as the unforgettable Lisa Rowe, which won her the Academy Award. She made her name as an international action star in the ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ films, where she has proven her ability to be a superstar in large blockbuster productions. Her dramatic range was proven in such movies as ‘Beyond Borders’, ‘Changeling’ (Clint Eastwood), and ‘A Mighty Heart’. Her chemistry with Brad Pitt in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ was iconic, and she has also been seen in movies like ‘Salt’, ‘In the Land of Blood and Honey,’ and the ‘Maleficent’ series, in which she reprised her role as the eponymous villain.She has also managed to reunite with Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning again in ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’, resulting in a strong cast of women from various eras of films. She has also been cast in ‘The Eternals’, ‘First They Killed My Father’, and many other productions. In addition to her acting career, Angelina Jolie has also made a name for herself as a filmmaker and director, directing projects that have explored complex themes and difficult stories. During her career, she has won numerous Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and other major awards. Her willingness to take chances, to grow as an artist, and to change roles and genres, from mass entertainment giant to intimate film to behind-the-scenes job, has propelled her to become one of the most respected and influential in modern-day cinema. Her candid talk in interviews is the result of her having lived through enough to know that success is seldom a straight path, and that’s the whole idea.