Phillip Wong Photography

Editorial/Portraits

Angelina Jolie

          I had been working with models from Elite NY and one of the bookers called to ask me to see a model who they wanted to shoot with, but also to ask my opinion about what could be done with her.     

         Angelina Jolie was sure of herself, unafraid, and precocious. She didn’t see herself as a model, but she wanted to act.  We spent hours talking, shooting, talking some more, but I realized she was right about herself.  She probably would be very good. (I never knew who her parents were, so I treated her goals the same as anyone else.) She was intelligent and would occasionally say things that seemed to be testing me, checking to see if I were actually listening, seeing if I took her seriously.  We talked about modeling, acting, directing, perception, and how audiences see. We drifted into the differences between religions, philosophies, values, goals and the need for, or importance of success, before discussing our impact in the world.

         I had no doubt that whatever she chose to do, she would succeed at, but what she would DO with that success would be just as important.