Anecdotes

Banned from entering China because of his role in Sept ans au Tibet (1997).

After watching Arnaques, crimes et botanique (1998), Pitt asked director Guy Ritchie if he could be in his next film. He could not master the English accent, so Ritchie gave him the role of Mickey the One Punch Pikey, an Irish fighter, in Snatch : Tu braques ou tu raques (2000).

Broke his arm during the filming of Seven (1995). The injury was written into the movie.

Turned down a role as an astronaut in Apollo 13 (1995) to accept his role in Seven (1995).

Donated five million dollars of his own money to rebuild homes in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans.

Showed his parents the "Chemical Burn" scene to convince them not to watch Fight Club (1999).

Owns the rights to the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs (2002). He wanted it to be remade with he and Tom Cruise in the leading roles. The movie was eventually remade as Les Infiltrés (2006). Pitt served as a producer on the movie.

Tore his Achilles tendon during the production of Troie (2004), in which he plays, coincidentally, Achilles. His injury caused the production of Ocean's Twelve (2004) to be pushed back to April 2004 (2003).

His first job was dancing in a chicken suit to draw in customers at an El Pollo Loco restaurant on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

Speaks French fluently.

He took Greek language lessons in secret to surprise his then-wife Jennifer Aniston who is of Greek ancestry.

He and his ex-wife Jennifer Aniston met on a blind date, which was arranged by their agent.

Is a huge fan of MTV's reality show Jackass (2000). He even asked the cast if he could join them during one of their stunt jokes. He eventually made an appearance dressed in an ape outfit, in order not to be recognized, which would have ruined the joke.

Considers Vol au-dessus d'un nid de coucou (1975), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and L'Assassinat de Jesse James par le lâche Robert Ford (2007) among his personal favorite movies.

Says his children are home schooled so they can have more freedom with their education.

Got into better shape and eventually gained over 20 pounds of muscle for Troie (2004).

Initially did not want to appear in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), although he was the one who gave the screenplay to director Doug Liman.

Had to learn to fly-cast for his role in Et au milieu coule une rivière (1992). He practiced on top of buildings in Hollywood. During these practices, he frequently hooked himself in the back of his head.

A girl went to Pitt's Hollywood-area home shortly after midnight January 7, 1999 and crawled in through an open window, dressed herself in his clothes and stayed for 10 hours before the alarm went off. Athena Rolando, 19, was ordered not to contact the actor and to stay 100 yards away from him for three years (1999).

He was trained to handle weapons by renowned Hollywood gun coach Thell Reed, who has also trained such actors as Val Kilmer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Sam Elliot, Girard Swan, Ben Foster and Kurt Russell.

He has appeared in eight films that have been nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Babel (2006), L'Étrange Histoire de Benjamin Button (2008), Inglourious Basterds (2009), The Tree of Life (2011), Le stratège (2011), 12 Years a Slave (2013), The Big Short : Le Casse du siècle (2015) and Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019). 12 Years a Slave won in the category.

Donated $100,000 to the Discovery Center - a children's learning museum in his hometown of Springfield, Missouri. (juin 1996)

(July 18, 2001) Sued Damiani International, the company which created the wedding ring he gave Jennifer Aniston. According to Pitt, the ring was his design and was to be exclusive. The company has since been selling replicas and indicating Pitt/Aniston's endorsement of the ring.

Has Single Engine Land pilot license.

With Brad Grey's departure for Paramount Pictures and after the divorce settlement with ex-wife Jennifer Aniston, he now solely owns Plan B Entertainment.

Paid $29 million in a divorce settlement to Jennifer Aniston.

Is the first man ever to be named "Sexiest Man Alive" twice by People magazine (1994 and 2000).

He was the third choice for the role of J.D. in Thelma & Louise (1991). William Baldwin, the first choice, left to star in Backdraft (1991).

In 2005, he earned $4,500,000 for a Heineken commercial that aired during the 2005 Super Bowl.

He was considered for the lead role in Matrix (1999), which went to Keanu Reeves.

Was a journalism major in college with an advertising focus.

His first starring role in a feature film was in The Dark Side of the Sun (1988), shot in pre-war Yugoslavia during the summer of 1988. As editing neared completion, civil war broke out in the region and much of the footage was lost. In 1996, after a five-year search, all of the lost footage was found and returned to producer Andjelo Arandjelovic, who is working on getting a distribution deal. Pitt was paid $1,523 per week for seven weeks. He played a young American taken by his family to the Adriatic Sea to search for a cure for a rare skin disease.

A short while after completing Et au milieu coule une rivière (1992), he fled to Amsterdam where he briefly resided for three months by himself in a small basement apartment before returning to the United States to film Kalifornia (1993).

When he and Juliette Lewis began their relationship in 1989, she was 16 years old while Pitt was 26. They met on the set of the TV movie Trop jeune pour mourir (1990), in which they played a couple, and worked together again in Kalifornia (1993). They resided together and the relationship ended after four years, in 1993.

Made a cameo appearance with Matt Damon for free in Confessions d'un homme dangereux (2002) as a favor to Ocean's Eleven (2001) co-star and close friend George Clooney - the film was Clooney's directorial debut.

Originally cast as Colin Sullivan in Les Infiltrés (2006), but later dropped out. He continued to produce the film under his (and his then wife Jennifer Aniston's) production company, Plan B.

Brad Pitt met with the director to discuss the role of Cable in Deadpool 2 (2018), but could not commit due to scheduling conflicts, so the role was given to Josh Brolin. Although he was cast as Vanisher instead.

He has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Thelma & Louise (1991) and 12 Years a Slave (2013). He has also produced one film that is in the registry: 12 Years a Slave.

Purchased a mansion in Southern California from the actress who portrays Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (Cassandra Peterson). He reportedly paid $1.7 million for the house. This mansion is filled with antiques and has a "vampirish" look to it (1996).

Was considered for two roles which went to Johnny Depp: Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow : La Légende du cavalier sans tête (1999) and Willy Wonka in Charlie et la Chocolaterie (2005). Both were directed by Tim Burton.

Has appeared in three movies with the number seven in the title (Seven (1995), Sept ans au Tibet (1997) and Sinbad : La Légende des sept mers (2003)). Has also appeared in three movies with the number twelve in the title (L'Armée des 12 singes (1995), Ocean's Twelve (2004) and 12 Years a Slave (2013)).

Owns multiple houses in ultra trendy Los Angeles neighborhood, Los Feliz. Giovanni Ribisi, Bo Barrett, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Pine, Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are among the other actors who also call Los Feliz home.

He appeared on the last episode of Jackass (2000), where the crew "kidnapped" him.

Owns and plays Taylor Guitars.

Dianne Wiest is his favorite actress.

Attended and graduated from Kickapoo High School in Springfield, Missouri (1982).

Did a television commercial for Toyota (Altis model) that aired only in Asia. The car became very popular and its sales resulted in Toyota getting an almost 32% share of the passenger car market.

In November 2005, he visited Pakistan with Angelina Jolie to see the impact of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. In 2006, Jolie and Pitt also went to Haiti where they visited a school supported by Yéle Haïti, a charity founded by Haitian-born hip hop musician Wyclef Jean.

Resides in Los Angeles, Malibu, Goleta, California, Benerville, France and New Orleans, Louisiana.

He was considered for the lead role in USS Alabama (1995), which eventually went to Denzel Washington.