Brad Pitt, who became a father again late Saturday when Angelina Jolie gave birth to twins, has shown he can be laid-back or uptight and can carry an indie flick or a blockbuster, but there's one thing that stands out in his almost two-decades-old career -- he's a charmer.

Born 44 years ago in a middle-class family in Oklahoma, William Bradley Pitt studied journalism and advertising at the University of Missouri before following thousands of young Americans before him and trying his luck in Hollywood.

As for many would-be actors, the early days were tough and Pitt supported himself with a series of part-time jobs, including as a chauffeur and removal man, even dressing up in a chicken suit to advertise a fast-food chain.

But from 1987 the work started to trickle in, with bit parts in television series "Dallas" and "21 Jump Street" and a few low-budget movies.

It was in "Thelma and Louise" (1991) that Pitt got his break, displaying his talent -- and half naked body -- as the two-bit thief who seduces Geena Davis.

Secondary roles followed in "Kalifornia" (1993) and "True Romance" (1994) and he finally made it top of the bill later that year alongside Tom Cruise in "Interview with a Vampire," and Anthony Hopkins in "Legends of the Fall."

If the man People magazine twice named the "sexiest man alive" needed any further affirmation of his talent, he got it with "Seven," the acclaimed 1995 thriller in which he played a policemen spun along by a serial killer.

The success continued in the following year with Terry Gilliam's "Twelve Monkeys," in which Pitt was nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actor.

The high from that accolade did not last long, however, being followed by two commercial flops in 1997, "Seven Years in Tibet" and "The Devil's Own" with Harrison Ford. The critics were also less than impressed with his pairing with Julia Roberts in "The Mexican" and Robert Redford in "Spy Game," both in 2001.

But the actor won a new legion of fans alongside Edward Norton in "Fight Club" (1999), and hit the commercial big time two years later as part of a star-studded cast led by George Clooney with the remake of "Ocean's Eleven."

Pitt's position as a Hollywood golden boy was now assured, and his commercial clout was only strengthened by his 2000 marriage to "Friends" star Jennifer Aniston, which made them one of the hottest couples in the world.

If the symbolism of his playing the unstoppable Achilles in Wolfgang Petersen's "Troy" (2004) was not clear enough, he starred in two other box office smashes that year ("Ocean's Twelve") and the next ("Mr and Mrs Smith").

It was in this latter movie that Pitt encountered Jolie. The match-up of two of the world's sexiest stars was commercial dynamite but did little for his marriage to Aniston. They announced their divorce at the end of the year.

"Brangelina," as they were quickly dubbed by the media, were soon an item and in May 2006 Jolie gave birth to their first child, a girl named Shiloh.

Pitt accompanied the actress around the world in her job as UN goodwill ambassador, and also used his fame to help the reconstruction effort in New Orleans, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in summer 2005.

The actor scored another hit in "Babel" (2007) but has recently stepped behind the camera and successfully tried his hand at producing. Through his firm "Plan B" he was involved in Martin Scorcese's Oscar-winner "The Departed" (2006) and "A Mighty Heart" starring Jolie, released the following year.

Still in high demand, Pitt won the Venice Film Festival's 2007 Volpi cup for best actor for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," and stars in two upcoming movies -- "Benjamin Button," the story of a man who is born old and gets younger, and "Burn after Reading," the latest offering from the Coen brothers where he joins forces once again with Clooney.

Source: AFP