In early 2001, Angelina Jolie approached the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) asking how she could help refugees. She wanted to learn more about humanitarian field operations. Shortly after spending a day in briefings with UNHCR in Washington DC, she was on her way to Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Sierra Leone, where she spent several weeks meeting refugees and working with UNHCR field staff.

During the summer of 2001 she travelled with UNHCR through Cambodia (July) and later spent a week with Afghan refugees in Pakistan (August). On August 27, Jolie was named UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, accepting the responsibility of meeting with and advocating for the protection of refugees on five continents.

For over five years, Jolie has travelled with UNHCR to remote and desolate regions, meeting refugees and field workers in some 20 countries and regions including Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Pakistan, Cambodia, Thailand, Ecuador, Kenya, Namibia, Kosovo, Sri Lanka, the Russian Federation, Jordan, Egypt, Chad, Sudan's Darfur region, Lebanon, India and Costa Rica.

-  schools and promotion of UNHCR's education materials
- honorary patron of the annual World Refugee Day school poster contest in the United States
- honorary patron of the Greek Schools Essay Contest on refugee issues, in partnership with the Ministry of Education (2004)
- opening of the new National Center for Refugee and Immigrant Children (2005)
-   "Operation A Day's Work" to fund an educational project in a developing country (Sweden, 2006)
-  Jolie is an active participant in World Refugee Day on 20 June each year
-  2005 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum participant held in Davos, Switzerland

Jolie has donated to many field operations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, the Balkans and the Americas. She covers all of her expenses when she goes on mission with UNHCR, as well as costs relating to her World Refugee Day activities and other refugee advocacy projects. These contributions now total well over $3 million.

Jolie is an American actress, winner of an Academy Award and three Golden Globe awards. She is the mother of a son, Maddox Chivan, and two daughters, Zahara Marley and Shiloh Nouvel.



Resources: Read the full Angelina Jolie UNHCR fact sheet here . Access a detailed Angelina Jolie timeline here . For a complete Angelina Jolie professional bio click here .
Detailed information regarding many of Jolie's activities as UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador can be found on the UNHCR website linked here .