50 Fun Facts About Brad Pitt

Brad Pitt was born in Shawnee, in which US state?

His father ran a trucking company and his mother was a school counselor; the family soon moved north to Missouri.

Pitt grew up in which Missouri city, which he calls 'Mark Twain country'?

He attended Kickapoo High School there, playing golf, swimming and tennis and appearing in school musicals.

What did Pitt major in at the University of Missouri before leaving for Los Angeles?

He focused on advertising and quit two weeks short of finishing the coursework because films, a 'portal into different worlds', were not made in Missouri.

Pitt's first leading film role, shot in 1988, was in which shelved Yugoslav–American co-production?

He played a young American taken to the Adriatic for a skin-condition cure. The Croatian War of Independence delayed its release until 1997.

On which primetime soap did Pitt play Randy, boyfriend of Jenna Wade's daughter, in 1987–88?

Four episodes. He dated co-star Shalane McCall, who played the daughter, and also turned up twice on Growing Pains.

In 1988 Pitt appeared in a TV commercial for which snack brand?

Lawrence Bridges directed it. Three years later he sold Levi's jeans in a spot built around T. Rex's '20th Century Boy'.

Pitt played Billy Canton, a drug addict exploiting a runaway, in which 1990 NBC TV movie?

The runaway was Juliette Lewis, whom he dated and later reunited with in Kalifornia. Entertainment Weekly called him 'a magnificent slimeball'.

What were the initials of the hitchhiking thief Pitt played in Thelma & Louise?

His love scene with Geena Davis is usually cited as the moment he became a sex symbol. He dated Davis too.

Who directed Pitt as Paul Maclean in A River Runs Through It (1992)?

Pitt thinks it one of his weakest performances and finds it odd it got him the most attention; he likened working with the director to playing tennis against a better player.

What was the name of the stoner Pitt played in True Romance (1993)?

A brief comic-relief cameo in the Tony Scott film. The same year he was a serial killer in Kalifornia and won ShoWest's Male Star of Tomorrow.

Which vampire did Pitt play in Interview with the Vampire (1994)?

He won two MTV Movie Awards for it but critics were harsh; the Dallas Observer found him 'a boring Louis' with no inner torment.

Which character earned Pitt his first Golden Globe nomination in Legends of the Fall?

Anthony Hopkins played his father, a Cornish immigrant colonel; Aidan Quinn and Henry Thomas were the brothers. The novel is by Jim Harrison.

Pitt was engaged to which co-star from the 1995 thriller Seven?

They dated from 1994 to 1997. The film grossed $327 million and he declared it would move him past 'this pretty boy thing'.

Who directed 12 Monkeys, which brought Pitt his first Oscar nomination?

As the 'psychotic anarchist' Jeffrey Goines he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor; Janet Maslin called the performance 'startlingly frenzied'.

In The Devil's Own (1997) Pitt played an IRA man opposite which actor?

Critics split on his Irish brogue; the San Francisco Chronicle found it so convincing it was hard to understand him.

Which Austrian mountaineer did Pitt play in Seven Years in Tibet?

He trained for months, rock climbing in California and the Alps with co-star David Thewlis. The film put him on a religion-themed Time cover.

In Meet Joe Black (1998), Pitt plays the personification of what?

Roger Ebert judged the performance 'a miscalculation'; Mick LaSalle said he could not convince anyone he knew the mysteries of eternity.

To look right as Tyler Durden, Pitt had pieces of what removed for Fight Club?

They were restored after filming. He also trained in boxing, taekwondo and grappling for the part.

Fight Club premiered at which film festival in 1999?

It underperformed in cinemas and only became a cult classic after the 2000 DVD release.

Who directed Snatch, in which Pitt plays a near-unintelligible Irish Traveller boxer?

Mick LaSalle said he was 'ideally cast as an Irishman whose accent is so thick even Brits can't understand him'.

Pitt starred opposite which actress in the 2001 romantic comedy The Mexican?

Reviews were mixed but it made money; the two were back together months later in Ocean's Eleven.

Pitt's Emmy-nominated Friends guest role was a man holding a grudge against which character?

The episode aired November 22, 2001, while he was married to Jennifer Aniston, who played her.

What is the name of Pitt's character in the Ocean's trilogy?

Ocean's Eleven remade the 1960 Rat Pack film and took $450 million; CNN later called his chemistry with Clooney the best since Newman and Redford.

In 2002 Pitt ran through Los Angeles in a gorilla suit for which MTV reality series?

In a second episode he took part in his own staged abduction. The same year he cameoed in Clooney's directorial debut.

Pitt's first voice-acting role was the title character of which 2003 DreamWorks film?

That year he also voiced Boomhauer's brother Patch on King of the Hill.

Filming on Troy was delayed for weeks when Pitt injured which part of his body?

A fitting injury for the man playing Achilles; he had spent six months in sword training first.

Pitt founded Plan B Entertainment with Jennifer Aniston and which studio boss?

Grey was CEO of Paramount. Troy was the company's first production; it went on to win Best Picture for 12 Years a Slave.

Who directed Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)?

The Star Tribune said the film got by on its stars' 'thermonuclear screen chemistry'; it earned $478 million.

Who directed Babel (2006), the film Pitt calls one of the best decisions of his career?

He starred opposite Cate Blanchett and picked up a Golden Globe nomination for supporting actor.

Plan B produced which 2006 Best Picture winner for which only Graham King could collect the Oscar?

Pitt had an on-screen producer credit but was ruled ineligible. Its star would later be his co-lead in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Pitt won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor for playing which American outlaw?

Andrew Dominik's 2007 film, from Ron Hansen's novel, is Pitt's own favourite of his movies. He collected the prize a year late, at the 2008 festival.

Burn After Reading (2008) was Pitt's first film with which filmmaking duo?

The Guardian called it 'a tightly wound, slickly plotted spy comedy' and rated his turn among the funniest.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button loosely adapts a 1921 short story by which writer?

The man who ages in reverse brought Pitt his second Oscar nomination and first SAG nod; the film had 13 nominations in all.

What is the name of the lieutenant nicknamed 'The Apache' that Pitt plays in Inglourious Basterds?

The film premiered at Cannes in 2009, took $311 million and earned eight Oscar nominations.

Which superhero did Pitt voice in the 2010 animated film Megamind?

Will Ferrell voiced the blue-headed villain of the title.

Who directed The Tree of Life, which Pitt produced and starred in and which won the Palme d'Or?

Sean Penn co-starred in the 2011 experimental drama.

In Moneyball, Pitt's Billy Beane is general manager of which baseball team?

Based on Michael Lewis's 2003 book, it earned six Oscar nominations including Best Actor for Pitt and Best Picture for him as producer.

What is the name of the mob hitman Pitt plays in Killing Them Softly (2012)?

Andrew Dominik adapted George V. Higgins's novel Cogan's Trade, reuniting with Pitt after their Jesse James film.

World War Z, Pitt's biggest hit until F1, is based on a novel by which author?

It grossed $540 million; a sequel with David Fincher attached was eventually shelved over budget problems.

12 Years a Slave, which Pitt produced, is based on the autobiography of which man?

Pitt also took a small role. The film won three of its nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, his first Academy Award.

Who wrote and directed the 2014 tank film Fury?

Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, Michael Peña and Jason Isaacs shared the tank; it grossed $211 million.

Who wrote and directed By the Sea (2015), the marriage-in-crisis drama Pitt starred in?

It was her third film as director and the couple's first on-screen pairing since Mr. & Mrs. Smith a decade earlier.

In Allied (2016), Pitt's assassin falls for a French spy played by which actress?

Robert Zemeckis directed the wartime thriller about a mission to kill a German official.

Which stunt double did Pitt play to win his acting Oscar in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood?

He swept the Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG and Critics' Choice awards. It was his second Academy Award but the first for acting.

In Ad Astra, Pitt's space engineer Roy McBride travels the galaxy searching for whom?

James Gray directed; one critic said the performance 'weaponizes passivity into a lethal form of self-defense'.

Pitt earned an Emmy nomination for playing which public figure in a 2020 SNL cold open?

The nod was for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. He had earlier played a weatherman on The Jim Jefferies Show.

Pitt reopened Miraval Studios in France with which French record producer?

The studio at Château Miraval had been silent for two decades after hosting Pink Floyd, AC/DC, the Cranberries, Sade and Muse.

Who directed F1 (2025), which became Pitt's highest-grossing film?

He produced and starred for a $30 million fee; it became Apple's biggest box-office hit.

Pitt's Make It Right Foundation built 150 sustainable homes in which New Orleans district?

He founded it in 2006 after Hurricane Katrina with 13 architecture firms; he had studied computer-aided design in Frank Gehry's offices.

In 2022 Pitt said he had struggled for years with which undiagnosed condition?

Prosopagnosia. In 2013 he said it was so severe he often wanted to stay home. He also has no social media accounts at all.