Entertainment Movies Feast Your Eyes on These Throwback Photos of Birthday Boy Brad Pitt Rediscover the roles that have helped define the A-list star's enduring career By Diane J. Cho Diane J. Cho Diane J. Cho was the Features Editor of PEOPLE Digital from 2019 to 2022. She worked at the brand for nearly four years covering news, features, human interest, evergreen, holiday gift guides and more. She launched the How I Parent and What It's Really Like to Be …. digital series and has interviewed several celebrities and influential leaders within the entertainment industry. Prior to joining PEOPLE, Diane worked at Bustle, VH1 and Complex. She received her bachelor's degree in Journalism from Rutgers University and her master's degree from Columbia Journalism School. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on December 18, 2022 08:10 AM Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos 01 of 13 Brad Pitt on Growing Pains Walt Disney Television via Getty Remember when Brad Pitt guest-starred on Growing Pains? Here he is posing as Jonathan Keith, Jeremy Miller's character's (fictional) favorite rock musician, in 1989. 02 of 13 Brad Pitt in The Kids Are All Right Chris Helcermanas Benge /Walt Disney Television via Getty The star appeared alongside Evan Mirand and Claude Knobler in the Walt Disney Television pilot for The Kids Are All Right in 1989. 03 of 13 Brad Pitt in True Romance Warner Bros. Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty True Romance — a 1993 film written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott — featured a young Pitt, Michael Rapaport, Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette. 04 of 13 Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire Geffen/Kobal/Shutterstock The only vampire we would volunteer to get bitten by is Pitt as Louis de Pointe du Lac in 1994's Interview with the Vampire, a film he starred in along with Kirsten Dunst and Tom Cruise. 05 of 13 Brad Pitt in Thelma & Louise Who can forget Thelma & Louise's breakout character J.D., the cowboy hitchhiker with an irresistible southern drawl and smokin' hot bod? 06 of 13 Brad Pitt in Fight Club Merrick Morton/20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock The now-59-year-old played the impossibly cool Tyler Durden in 1999's Fight Club, a film that showcased Pitt's ability to take on a macho, rebellious leading man with a secret. 07 of 13 Brad Pitt in Inglourious Basterds Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock The movie star played one of his most notable roles as 1st Lieutenant Aldo Raine in 2009's Inglourious Basterds. 08 of 13 Brad Pitt in Troy Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock Pitt grew his blond locks to portray Greece's greatest warrior Achilles in 2004's historical drama Troy. 09 of 13 Brad Pitt in Ocean's Eleven Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock Don't even try to pull a fast one over Ocean's Eleven's Rusty Ryan. Pitt played Danny Ocean's best friend and close adviser (opposite George Clooney) in the 2001 film. 10 of 13 Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys Polygram/Kobal/Shutterstock Pitt's 12 Monkeys director Terry Gilliam told EW that he specifically cast the actor to play a wild and unhinged character, which was not a version of the star fans were used to seeing at the time. But Gilliam's decision proved to pay off because on Pitt's first day of filming in 1995, the director said, "He just exploded on the set," a fact that can be seen in the movie's original trailer. 11 of 13 Brad Pitt in The Big Short Moviestore/Shutterstock Ben Rickert, a retired trader, was Pitt's character in the 2015 biographical dramedy The Big Short. 12 of 13 Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Moviestore/Shutterstock The actor aged in reverse on screen in 2008's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in which Pitt played Button — who suffers from a rare reverse-aging condition — through nearly 80 years of his life. 13 of 13 Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black Liaison/Getty The star shares a kiss with costar Claire Forlani as his death in the flesh character in the 1998 film Meet Joe Black.