On Saturday, November 16, Angelina Jolie kicked off award season with her acceptance of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the annual Governors Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She received this honorary Oscar for her work with refugees and advocating for human rights through her film career.
Since 2012, Jolie has travelled on more than forty missions around the world as a special envoy for the United Nations Refugee Agency, and she recently helped refugees fleeing the war in Syria. In 2001, Jolie filmed a movie in Cambodia and first came to terms with the plight of refugees. She immediately took action by adopting a young refugee from Cambodia, who became her son Maddox. Maddox was in attendance at the Governors Awards, supporting his mother.
As Jolie accepted her award, she explained, “When I met survivors of wars and famine, and rape, I learned what life is like for most people in this world and how fortunate I was to have food to eat, a roof above my head, a safe place to live and the joy of having my family safe and healthy.” She added, “I realized how sheltered I had been and I was determined never to be that way again.”
Jolie remembered her late mother as she accepted the humanitarian award, who always encouraged her to live a life of use to others. Jolie has indeed lived up to her mother’s words, helping others in extraordinary ways.