Brad Pitt told his parents when he was young that he wanted to move to Los Angeles to attend an art school. However, in reality, Pitt wanted to break into the entertainment industry in the City of Angels and fulfill his dream of making it big on the silver screen.
Like many kids of the 1960s, Brad Pitt was captivated by movies at a young age. In 2012, he told “Backstage,” “I grew up in Oklahoma and Missouri, and I really loved movies.” Los Angeles, California, is known as the City of Angels in Spanish, and its Hollywood district is renowned for its film production.
In 1986, at the age of 22, Pitt revealed to “Tiger Beat” his intention to attend an art school in California, but in reality, he wanted to try his hand at performing in Los Angeles. Pitt said, “I was still in college studying advertising and graphic design at the University of Missouri. I told my parents I wanted to go to art school in California, but I didn’t tell them I wanted to act. I always wanted to try it on my own. When I got here, I started asking around, but I never actually went to art school.”
Pitt never ended up going to school. His early days in Hollywood were tough, as he didn’t have much money and had to find a place to stay. Luckily, he had some friends he could rely on. He said he stayed with a friend’s father for the first month, “I knew a girl back home, and her dad had a house here. There was only a female housekeeper, so I got to stay there for free for a month.”
Later on, Pitt and a group of people rented an apartment. He said he enjoyed his time in the bachelor pad, “I found a few guys later on, and we all lived in a small apartment in North Hollywood with eight people. It was pretty wild; we had no furniture, just sleeping on the floor in the living room. We had a TV, a toaster, and a stereo. What more does a man need? We had no girlfriends and no money!”
In May 1985, at the age of 21, Pitt went to New York for a small role in the popular TV soap opera “Another World,” and later that year in November, he guest-starred in “Growing Pains.” In 1987, he appeared in four episodes of the hit TV series “Dallas,” gradually making his presence felt across America.
Pitt’s early career also saw him in commercials for Mountain Dew and McDonald’s, and he revealed that his parents were very proud of him. When asked about his vision for the next ten years by “Tiger Beat,” he said, “In ten years, I’ll be 32, and I hope to be like Kevin Costner. He’s a top-notch, respected actor, and I just want to be a respected actor and give people the feeling that I get when watching movies. I want to have my own production company.”
A decade after the “Tiger Beat” interview, Pitt had achieved his dreams. By that time, he had starred in the American film “Thelma & Louise” (1991), which was his breakthrough role, and he received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in the American drama film “Legends of the Fall” (1994).
In 2001, Pitt also realized his dream of owning a U.S. film production company. He co-founded Plan B Entertainment, Inc. with Paramount Pictures executive Brad Grey and Jennifer Aniston. Now, at 60 years old, Pitt has become a top Hollywood leading man with a net worth of approximately $300 million (around 9.7 billion New Taiwan dollars).