Born:
December 29, 1938
in
New York
Best Known For:
Being Angelina Jolie's dad
Early-life:
Born Jonathan Vincent Voight on December 29, 1938, in Yonkers, New York. His father, Elmer, was a professional golfer. He has two brothers: James (better known as Chip Taylor) is a successful songwriter who penned Wild Thing, while Barry is a volcanologist. Voight began treading the boards at school, after which he studied drama at the Catholic University of America. He also had a four-year stint at the Neighbourhood Playhouse's prestigious acting academy in New York.
Career:
Voight's professional career began on stage with a role in a Broadway production of The Sound of Music. He made his TV debut in a 1963 episode of Naked City and four years later appeared in Fearless Frank, his first film. He became a star in 1969 thanks to an Oscar-nominated performance in Midnight Cowboy. A series of well-received movies followed, such as Catch-22, Deliverance and The Odessa File. He won a Best Actor Academy Award for 1978's Coming Home. Major films since include Table for Five, The Champ, Heat, Mission: Impossible, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Ali and The Manchurian Candidate. He played Jonas Hodges, the main antagonist of Jack Bauer, in the seventh season of American drama 24. More recently, he has starred in Ray Donovan.
Quote:
"I'm grateful for my celebrity. It allows me to focus on organisations that do good."
Trivia:
He has won Golden Globes for Midnight Cowboy, Coming Home, Runaway Train and Ray Donovan.