When it comes to Brad Pitt , a few obvious things come to mind.
Things like his impressive movie career or his high-profile relationships with Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie.
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But did you know that he once underwent psychiatric coaching for a role or that he used to chauffeur strippers around??
Turns out, there’s more than meets the eye with this gorgeous A-lister. Here are 10+ interesting facts about Brad Pitt that fans didn’t know.
1. His real name is William Bradley Pitt:
He was named after his father, but once he pursued acting in Hollywood, he decided to go by a shortened version of his middle name.
Which one do you like better?
2. He dropped out of college to pursue acting:
He was only two credits away from his journalism degree at the University of Missouri when he dropped out.
“It just came to the time of graduation and everyone — all my friends were committing to jobs — and I just realized I was not ready for that yet,” he told NPR in 2011.
Years later, he told *Esquire* that film had always been his passion.
“It just wasn’t on the list of career options where I grew up. Then it occurred to me, literally two weeks before graduation: If the opportunity isn’t here, I’ll go to it. So simple. But it had never occurred to me,” he said .
3. He was rejected from his high school basketball team:
Instead of letting the rejection get him down, he decided to create his own basketball team called The Cherokee Rejects.
Clever.
Brad’s dad even coached the underdog team, which practiced at the family’s church.
4. His first job was dressing up as a chicken to promote El Pollo Loco in Los Angeles:
When asked by Ellen DeGeneres how he felt about wearing the feathered chicken suit, he said he felt “no shame.”
He also said that he “got flipped off a lot”!
5. Only two movies can make him cry:
These are How to Train Your Dragon and Life as a House .
“In the end, he lost his leg and they’re living in harmony with the dragons … it got me,” Pitt told W Magazine in 2012.
Then he said he “wept” while watching the Kevin Kline movie.
“I don’t know if it would still hit me the same way, but on my 27th hour of just pure wretchedness, this movie crushed me,” he said.
6. Prior to filming *Fight Club*, he volunteered to get his tooth chipped:
This was for his character Tyler Durden.
His publicist, Cindy Guagenti, told Entertainment Weekly in 1998, “Brad’s willing to go to great lengths for a character. Most people hate to go to the dentist.”
7. Another one of his pre-fame jobs was chauffeuring strippers around:
Yes, really.
“My job was to drive them to bachelor parties and things. I’d pick them up, and at the gig I’d collect the money, play the bad Prince tapes and catch the girls’ clothes,” he once recalled to Newsweek .
“It was not a wholesome atmosphere, and it got very depressing.”
In the end, though, that job ended up changing his life.
“This girl – I’d never met her before – was in an acting class taught by a man named Roy London,” he said.
This was a famous acting coach.
“I went and checked it out, and it really set me on the path to where I am now. Strippers changed my life.”
That’s definitely an understatement . The man is worth millions!
8. He was banned from China:
This was due to his controversial role in 1997’s Seven Years in Tibet .
The People’s Republic of China was disappointed in the film for political reasons since it depicted Chinese military officers negatively.
9. He underwent psychiatric coaching for a role:
This was for the movie 12 Monkeys , if you can believe it!
He worked with Dr. Laszlo Gyulai, the director of the bipolar disorders unit at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine .
Dr. Gyulai taught him how to properly portray an institutionalized character with mental illness.
This clearly paid off as the actor was nominated for an Oscar for the role.
But when this happened, he was surprisingly critical of himself: “I nailed the first half of 12 Monkeys . I got the second half all wrong.”
10. He’s done a lot of voice acting:
Every once in a while, the A-list actor takes a break from being in front of the screen.
So far, he’s lent his voice to roles in Megamind , Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas , and King of the Hill .
11. He loves eating on-screen:
“I like to busy myself, I’m a grazer by nature,” he said during a 2019 interview with JOE .
As for what he likes to eat? Everything and anything. Mm, anyone else hungry now?
Eating a lot worked well for his character, Rusty Ryan, in the *Ocean’s* movies.
“He was always on the run, always on the move, I figured he could never sit down and have a proper meal. So he always had to grab something on the run,” Pitt said.
12. He got his pilot license because of Angelina Jolie:
“She’s definitely more experienced,” he told Rolling Stone .
“I like the details. And she likes getting there,” he said. In 2013, he even bought a World War II-era Supermarine Spitfire for $3.3 million.
13. His favorite movie is *Saturday Night Fever*:
“I loved Saturday Night Fever when I was a kid,” he told NPR about the 1977 movie that starred John Travolta.
“I couldn’t believe people talked that way. It was just a whole new culture I didn’t understand. I snuck into it. It was an R-rated film. So it holds a special place.”
14. Brad Pitt is among the men who have been named as the sexiest man alive TWICE:
I mean, is it his fault that he’s one of the most handsome men in Hollywood? No, it is not!
We truly can’t blame those in charge for coming to this conclusion.
15. He actually prefers being a producer over acting:
In fact, he even has his own production company called Plan B Entertainment, which was actually founded with Jennifer Aniston.
It has produced a lot of Pitt’s movies, including 12 Years a Slave , which won an Oscar.
“I’d rather be behind the camera,” Pitt said during a conversation with Guy Ritchie with *Interview Magazine*.
“As a producer, obviously, you’re part of a team that brings the story to the screen. It wouldn’t be there if you didn’t champion it or if you and a group of people weren’t championing it. I like that.”
16. His favorite candy is Twizzlers:
Back in 1998, he said that his favorite candy was Twizzlers. He also loves pizza (like most people) and Frosted Flakes!
Oprah was surprised to know this about Pitt as, apparently, she hadn’t met people who enjoyed Twizzlers.
He even displayed his love for them at the 2020 Golden Globes when speaking to Mario Lopez.
“I do like a Twizzler,” Pitt said. “I will do one of these bags in a sitting.”
Whatever floats your boat, Pitt.
17. Pitt’s favorite movie that he’s ever done is *The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Fordone*:
But the film didn’t actually perform well at the box office!
“I can turn out the hits over and over and I just — my favorite movie is the worst-performing film of anything I’ve done, ‘The Assassination of Jesse James,'” he told GQ .
“If I believe something is worthy, then I know it will be worthy in time to come.”
While it only earned $4 million at the box office, he obviously has hopes that it will become a classic in years to come!
18. He doesn’t feel the need to get too political:
“I can help in other ways. I can help by getting movies out with certain messages. I’ve got to be moved by something—I can’t fake it.”
Which makes tons of sense.
“I grew up with that Ozarkian mistrust of politics to begin with, so I just do better building a house for someone in New Orleans or getting certain movies to the screen that might not get made otherwise.”
Everyone has their own way of helping out!
19. He is so creative that it also translates outside of his movies, and into personal art:
“I’m making everything. I’m working with clay, plaster, rebar, wood. Just trying to learn the materials. You know, I surprise myself. But it’s a very, very lonely occupation.”
“There’s a lot of manual labor, which is good for me right now. A lot of lugging clay around, chopping and moving and cleaning up after yourself,” he continued.
“But I surprise myself.”
What’s your favorite fact about the legendary Brad Pitt?
Do you know of any other interesting facts about the famous actor? Or do you just love learning about him?
Let us know down below in the comments section!
