Angelina Jolie is one of the most celebrated actors of her generation, and one of Hollywood's most notable humanitarians. She's done vitally important work on behalf of refugees for the United Nations, and has also taken up for women's rights in the third world. She's an extraordinary person, but it all started with acting -- and overcoming the potential stigma of being what the kids nowadays call a "nepo-baby."

Yes, Angelina Jolie is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. Her father was a pivotal actor in the New Hollywood movement of the 1960s and '70s, starring in such trailblazing films as "Midnight Cowboy," "Deliverance," and "Coming Home" (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor). Jolie got her first film role alongside her father in Hal Ashby's ill-fated comedy "Lookin' to Get Out" in 1982, but didn't return to movies until 1993 as the lead...