Brad Pitt has just turned 62 – unbelievably – but how much do you know about the Hollywood star? Here are some facts you might not be aware of.
It has been another successful year for Brad Pitt. His long-awaited F1: The Movie finally debuted in the summer and was a big hit with petrolheads and theater-goers alike.
Brad has been a fixture on cinema screens for more than 30 years, having starred in hit movies from Thelma & Louise to Se7en to Snatch and many others.
Having just turned 62 – yeah, we know, we didn’t think he was that old either – here are some facts you might not know about Brad Pitt.
Brad Pitt almost became a journalist
While Brad enjoyed acting when he was growing up, he only ever appeared in school musicals or fraternity shows. But he did love movies, seeing them as a portal into different worlds. However, when he went to university, he had a whole different career path planned. Brad attended the University of Missouri, where he majored in journalism, with a focus on advertising.
But when Brad was only two credits short of graduating from his course, he made what many would consider a surprising choice – he dropped out and decided to try his luck as an actor and moved to Los Angeles.
Before stardom, Brad worked some odd jobs
After moving to LA, Brad started taking acting lessons and looking for acting work. But while he was doing that, he also needed to support himself, so he took on a variety of jobs, including moving refrigerators, working for El Pollo Loco, which involved dressing as a giant chicken, and as a limo driver, where he often had to transport strippers.
His first leading role was shelved for years
In 1988, Brad got what he would be forgiven for thinking was a first break in movies, as he landed the lead role in Yugoslavian-US co-production The Dark Side of the Sun. he played the role of a young American man who is taken to the Adriatic by his family in the hope of finding a cure for his rare and deadly skin condition.
However, when the Croatian war of independence broke out, the movie was shelved and it didn’t see the light of day until 1997 – by which time Brad was a big star. The movie went straight to video.
He appeared in iconic TV shows – briefly
Brad auditioned for various roles and his first successes were picking up guest roles in TV shows – and he did appear in some of the biggest around at the time. For instance, he appeared in four episodes of the melodrama Dallas in 1987/8 as Randy, the boyfriend of a character. He also appeared in police drama 21 Jump Street and sitcom Growing Pains around this time.
Brad beat George Clooney to his breakthrough role
The movie that really catapulted Brad to international fame was Thelma & Louise in 1991. While his role was relatively brief – he played JD, a thief who befriends Thelma – it made an impact, especially his love scene, which established him as a sex symbol.
But what most people don’t realise is that he beat another young actor to the role – George Clooney. George was also an unknown then, looking for his big break, but Bradd pipped him. George has admitted to being sore about that for a while – he refused to watch the movie for some years – but it is all water under the bridge now and George and Brad are firm friends.
Brad has an interest in art
Brad has a long-standing passion for art, and he has learned various disciplines including pottery and sculpture. Indeed, he has exhibited some of his works – nine of his sculptures, along with works by musician Nick Cave and artist Thomas Houseago were displayed at an art museum in Finland in 2022-3.
