Pitt was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and raised in Springfield, Missouri, the son of a trucking company manager and a school counselor. He studied journalism with a focus on advertising at the University of Missouri, but left just short of graduating to move to Los Angeles and pursue acting, initially taking odd jobs — including driving strippers around in limousines and dressing as a giant chicken for a restaurant mascot — while auditioning for roles.

Pitt’s breakthrough came with a small but memorable role in “Thelma & Louise” (1991), which led to leading roles in “A River Runs Through It” (1992) and “Interview with the Vampire” (1994). His performance in “Legends of the Fall” (1994) and an Oscar-nominated turn in “12 Monkeys” (1995) established him as one of Hollywood’s top leading men by his early thirties, a status cemented further by “Seven” (1995) and “Fight Club” (1999).

Pitt’s career has combined blockbuster franchise work — including the “Ocean’s Eleven” trilogy and “Troy” — with acclaimed dramatic roles that produced three Academy Award nominations for acting (“12 Monkeys,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Moneyball”) before he won Best Supporting Actor for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (2019). As a producer through Plan B Entertainment, he won the Best Picture Oscar for “12 Years a Slave” (2013). More recently, he starred in the 2025 Apple TV/Warner Bros. racing film “F1,” produced in collaboration with Formula One and Lewis Hamilton, and co-starred with George Clooney in “Wolfs.”

Photo: Dick Thomas Johnson via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Pitt remains one of the highest-paid actors in the industry, consistently commanding a minimum of around $20 million for major motion picture releases, with some recent deals reported considerably higher. His income streams combine acting fees, producing fees and profit participation through Plan B, and, increasingly, brand and business income unrelated to film.

Pitt reportedly earned a $30 million upfront salary for starring in “F1” (2025), and was separately paid around $35 million by Apple TV to co-star alongside George Clooney in “Wolfs.” These figures place him among a small handful of actors still able to command nine-figure-adjacent paydays for individual projects, a status built on decades of box-office reliability and continued critical acclaim.

Pitt has taken a more selective approach to endorsements than many of his peers, with his most notable commercial partnership being a long-running global ambassador deal with Chanel (for the men’s fragrance Chanel No. 5, later Bleu de Chanel), reported at the time to be one of the largest single endorsement deals ever signed by a male celebrity. He has otherwise kept most of his commercial activity tied to his own ventures rather than third-party sponsorships.

Pitt co-founded production company Plan B Entertainment in 2001, which he has continued to run as sole owner following his divorce, and which has produced Academy Award winners including “12 Years a Slave” and “Moonlight” alongside numerous other acclaimed films and television projects. He also launched the men’s skincare line Le Domaine, and has been a long-running co-owner (alongside ex-wife Angelina Jolie) of Chateau Miraval, a French winery and estate — a partnership that became the subject of a prolonged legal dispute after Jolie sold her stake to a third party without his agreement.

Pitt’s real estate holdings have been reported to exceed $100 million in value, anchored by a roughly $40 million estate in Carmel Highlands, California, along with additional properties reported in Los Feliz, Los Angeles, and internationally in France, tied to his historical ownership of Chateau Miraval. He has also been associated over the years with design and architecture projects, including furniture collaborations, reflecting a long-standing personal interest in architecture.