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Brad Pitt Biography: From Missouri Dreamer to Oscar-Winning Star and Producer

Daniel Reed
Brad Pitt headshot

Brad Pitt biography in brief: Brad Pitt is an American actor and producer born on 18 December 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, who rose from Thelma & Louise (1991) to become one of Hollywood’s most enduring stars. He has won two Academy Awards and co-founded Plan B Entertainment.

Quick facts

  • Full name: William Bradley Pitt
  • Born: 18 December 1963, Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA
  • Nationality: American
  • Occupation: Actor, film producer
  • Known for: Fight Club, Ocean’s Eleven, Moneyball, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, F1
  • Former spouses: Jennifer Aniston (2000–2005), Angelina Jolie (2014–2024)
  • Children: Six children with Angelina Jolie
  • Partner: Ines de Ramon (reportedly dating since late 2022)

Early life

William Bradley Pitt was born on 18 December 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to William Alvin Pitt, who ran a trucking company, and Jane Etta Pitt, a school counsellor (Britannica; Wikipedia). The family soon moved to Springfield, Missouri, where Pitt grew up with younger siblings Doug and Julie in a Southern Baptist household. At Kickapoo High School he played golf, swam and played tennis.

In 1982 he enrolled at the University of Missouri, majoring in journalism with a focus on advertising. Two weeks before completing his degree, he left for Los Angeles, taking acting lessons and odd jobs. His television debut came in May 1987 with a two-episode role on Another World.

Career

Pitt’s breakthrough arrived in 1991 as the drifter J.D. in Ridley Scott’s Thelma & Louise. He carried A River Runs Through It (1992), played the vampire Louis in Interview with the Vampire (1994) opposite Tom Cruise, and headlined Legends of the Fall (1994).

The mid-1990s sealed his reputation as a serious actor. He played a detective hunting a serial killer in David Fincher’s Se7en (1995) and an eccentric patient in Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys (1995), winning a Golden Globe and his first Oscar nomination for the latter. He followed with Seven Years in Tibet (1997) and Meet Joe Black (1998), then reunited with Fincher for Fight Club (1999) as the anarchic Tyler Durden.

The 2000s mixed blockbusters with prestige work. He led Ocean’s Eleven (2001) and its two sequels, played Achilles in Troy (2004), and starred opposite Angelina Jolie in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). He earned a Best Actor nomination for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and first worked with Quentin Tarantino on Inglourious Basterds (2009).

Pitt had co-founded Plan B Entertainment in 2001, and it became a respected Hollywood prestige producer, with three Best Picture Oscar winners: The Departed (2006), 12 Years a Slave (2013) and Moonlight (2016). As an actor-producer he earned Best Actor and Best Picture nominations for Moneyball (2011), won Best Picture as a producer for 12 Years a Slave, and took a Best Picture nomination for The Big Short (2015). He also starred in World War Z (2013), Fury (2014) and Allied (2016).

His second collaboration with Tarantino brought his first acting Oscar. As stuntman Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), Pitt won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, along with BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG awards for the role. He then starred in Bullet Train (2022), reunited with George Clooney for Wolfs (2024), and led Joseph Kosinski’s Formula One drama F1 (2025) as veteran driver Sonny Hayes. F1 grossed more than $630 million worldwide, becoming his highest-grossing film, and earned a Best Picture nomination at the 2026 Academy Awards, with Pitt credited as a producer.

In David Ayer’s survival thriller Heart of the Beast, released in the United States on 25 September 2026, he plays retired Special Forces veteran James Belmont, stranded in the Alaskan wilderness with his combat dog after a seaplane crash. On 23 October 2026, Tarantino surprised the AFI Fest audience in Hollywood by screening the first 17 minutes of The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, the Netflix sequel written by Tarantino and directed by David Fincher, in which Pitt returns as Cliff Booth in 1977 Los Angeles. It opens in IMAX on 25 November 2026 and streams on Netflix from 23 December 2026.

Major achievements

  • Academy Awards: 2 wins from 8 nominations — Best Picture as a producer for 12 Years a Slave and Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood; nominations also for 12 Monkeys, Benjamin Button, Moneyball (actor and picture), The Big Short and F1.
  • Golden Globes: 2 wins, for 12 Monkeys and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
  • BAFTA and SAG awards for his supporting performance in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
  • Plan B Entertainment: three Best Picture Oscar winners (The Departed, 12 Years a Slave, Moonlight).
  • People’s Sexiest Man Alive in 1995 and 2000.

Personal life

Pitt was married to actress Jennifer Aniston from 2000 to 2005. He then began a relationship with actress Angelina Jolie, whom he married in 2014. The couple have six children together. Jolie filed for divorce in September 2016; they were declared legally single in 2019, and a Los Angeles judge approved their divorce settlement in December 2024, ending more than eight years of proceedings (Associated Press). A financial dispute over their shared French estate, Château Miraval, remains active in court.

Since late 2022, Pitt has reportedly been in a relationship with jewellery designer Ines de Ramon. The pair were first spotted together at a Bono concert in Los Angeles in November 2022, made their red-carpet debut at Venice in September 2024, and were reported in October 2025 to be fully living together (People). They were photographed together in Paris on 12 October 2026 (People).

Net worth snapshot

Brad Pitt’s net worth is estimated at $400 million as of 2026, per Celebrity Net Worth’s August 2026 estimate; with no Forbes or Bloomberg valuation available, it is the best published estimate, not an audited fortune. It rests on acting fees, his retained Plan B stake after its 2022 majority sale, and property. Read the full breakdown in Brad Pitt’s net worth.

Frequently asked questions

When was Brad Pitt born?

Brad Pitt was born on 18 December 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and raised in Springfield, Missouri. He is 62 years old as of October 2026.

How many Oscars has Brad Pitt won?

Brad Pitt has won two Academy Awards: Best Picture as a producer for 12 Years a Slave and Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He has been nominated eight times in total, most recently as a producer of F1 at the 2026 Academy Awards.

What is Brad Pitt’s latest film?

His latest released film is Heart of the Beast, a survival thriller released in the United States on 25 September 2026, in which he plays a retired Special Forces veteran surviving in Alaska with his combat dog. His next release is The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, in IMAX on 25 November 2026 and on Netflix from 23 December 2026.

Who is Brad Pitt dating?

Brad Pitt has reportedly been dating jewellery designer Ines de Ramon since late 2022. The couple were first spotted together in November 2022, made their red-carpet debut at Venice in September 2024, and were reported in October 2025 to be fully living together.

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