William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. In a film career spanning more than thirty-five years, Pitt has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and one Volpi Cup. His films as a leading actor have grossed over $7.5 billion worldwide.
Pitt first gained recognition as a cowboy hitchhiker in the Ridley Scott road film Thelma & Louise (1991). Pitt emerged as a star taking on leading roles in films such as the drama A River Runs Through It (1992), the western Legends of the Fall (1994), the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994), the crime thriller Seven (1995), the cult film Fight Club (1999), and the crime comedy Snatch (2000).
He cemented his leading man status by starring in blockbusters, such as the Ocean's film trilogy (2001–2007), Troy (2004) and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). His other major successes include Inglourious Basterds (2009), World War Z (2013), Bullet Train (2022) and F1 (2025).
Pitt earned Academy Award nominations for his performances in the science fiction drama 12 Monkeys (1995), the fantasy romance The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and the sports drama Moneyball (2011). For his portrayal of a stuntman in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also starred in acclaimed films such as Babel (2006), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Burn After Reading (2008), The Tree of Life (2011), Fury (2014), The Big Short (2015), Ad Astra (2019) and Babylon (2022).
In 2001, Pitt co-founded the production company Plan B Entertainment. As a producer, he won the Academy Award for Best Picture for 12 Years a Slave (2013) and was nominated for Moneyball (2011) and The Big Short (2015). An influential figure in popular culture, Pitt appeared on Forbes' annual Celebrity 100 list from 2006 to 2008, and the Time 100 list in 2007. Regarded as a sex symbol, Pitt was named People's Sexiest Man Alive in 1995 and 2000. Pitt's relationships have been subject to widespread media attention, particularly his marriages to actresses Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie.
William Bradley Pitt was born on December 18, 1963, in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to William Alvin Pitt, the proprietor of a trucking company, and Jane Etta (née Hillhouse; 1940–2025), a school counselor. The family soon moved to Springfield, Missouri, where Pitt lived with his younger siblings, Doug Pitt (born 1966) and Julie Neal (née Pitt; born 1969). Born into a conservative Christian household, he was raised as Southern Baptist and later "oscillate[d] between agnosticism and atheism". He later returned to a belief "that we're all connected".
Pitt attended Kickapoo High School, where he was a member of the golf, swimming, and tennis teams. He participated in the school's Key and Forensics clubs, in school debates, and in musicals. Pitt enrolled at the University of Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism with a focus on advertising. As graduation approached, Pitt did not feel ready to settle down. He loved films, and since films were not made in Missouri, he decided to go to where they were made. Two weeks before completing the coursework for a degree, Pitt left the university and moved to Los Angeles, where he took acting lessons and worked odd jobs. He has named Gary Oldman, Sean Penn, and Mickey Rourke as his early acting heroes.
While struggling to establish himself in Los Angeles, Pitt took lessons from acting coach Roy London. His acting career began in 1987, with uncredited roles in the films No Way Out, No Man's Land and Less than Zero. In May of the same year, he made his television debut in a two-episode role on the NBC soap opera Another World. That November, he had guest appearances on the CBS sitcom Trial and Error and the ABC sitcom Growing Pains. He appeared in four episodes of the CBS primetime series Dallas between December 1987 and February 1988 as Randy, the boyfriend of Charlotte (played by Shalane McCall). Later in 1988, Pitt made a guest appearance on the Fox police drama 21 Jump Street and appeared in a Pringles commercial directed by Lawrence Bridges. The same year, he had his first leading film role in the Yugoslavian–American co-production The Dark Side of the Sun, as a young American taken by his family to the Adriatic to find a remedy for a skin condition. The film was shelved at the outbreak of the Croatian War of Independence, and was not released until 1997. Pitt made two film appearances in 1989: the first in a supporting role in the comedy Happy Together, and the second in a major role in the horror film Cutting Class, which was the first of Pitt's films to reach theaters. That year, he made guest appearances on the television series Head of the Class, Freddy's Nightmares, Thirtysomething, and Growing Pains.
Pitt appeared as Billy Canton, a drug addict who takes advantage of a young runaway (played by Juliette Lewis) in the 1990 NBC television film Too Young to Die?, the story of an abused teenager sentenced to death for a murder. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly described Pitt as a "magnificent slimeball" in his role as the "hoody" and "really scary" boyfriend of Lewis' character. The same year, Pitt co-starred in six episodes of the short-lived Fox drama Glory Days and had a supporting role in the HBO television film The Image. His next appearance came in the 1991 film Across the Tracks, in which he portrays Joe Maloney, a high school runner. The same year he featured in a Levi's jeans commercial.
Pitt attracted wider recognition in his supporting role in Ridley Scott's 1991 film Thelma & Louise. He plays J.D., a small-time criminal who befriends Thelma (Geena Davis). His love scene with Davis has been cited as the event that defined Pitt as a sex symbol. Pitt subsequently starred in Johnny Suede (1991) a low-budget film about an aspiring rock star, and the live-action/animated fantasy film Cool World (1992), both of which fared poorly at the box office and with critics.
Pitt appeared as Paul Maclean in the 1992 biographical film A River Runs Through It, directed by Robert Redford. Although Pitt thought his portrayal of Maclean was one of his weakest performances, the Los Angeles Times described it as a career-making performance. Jeff Giles of Rotten Tomatoes said Pitt's portrayal proved he could be more than a "cowboy-hatted hunk." In 1993, Pitt reunited with Juliette Lewis for the road film Kalifornia, playing the serial killer husband of her character. His performance was described by Peter Travers of Rolling Stone as "outstanding, all boyish charm and then a snort that exudes pure menace." Pitt also garnered attention for a brief appearance in the cult hit True Romance as a stoner named Floyd. He finished the year by winning a ShoWest Award for Male Star of Tomorrow.
In 1994, Pitt portrayed the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the horror film Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, based on Anne Rice's 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire. Pitt was part of an ensemble cast that included Tom Cruise, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Slater, and Antonio Banderas. Despite winning two MTV Movie Awards at the 1995 ceremony, his performance was poorly received by critics. Matt Zoller Seitz of the Dallas Observer felt Pitt was dull in the role because he failed to display the self-awareness and inner torment necessary for the character.
Pitt next starred in Legends of the Fall (1994), based on the novel Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison and set in the American West during the first four decades of the twentieth century. He portrays Tristan Ludlow, son of Colonel William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins). For his performance, Pitt received his first Golden Globe Award nomination, in the Best Actor category. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, "Pitt's diffident mix of acting and attitude works to such heartthrob perfection it's a shame the film's superficiality gets in his way." Although the film received mixed reviews, the Deseret News predicted that Legends of the Fall would solidify Pitt's reputation as a lead actor.