SAGs Flashback '98: Jolie Experiences the Reward
Before she became a household name and arguably the most popular actress of the modern era, Angelina Jolie was an aspiring actress looking for her big break into stardom. However, when she lost confidence that her break would come, Jolie abruptly ended her acting career--only to resume it after an encouraging awards season.
In 1997, the then-22-year-old actress wrapped production for the TV film Gia, based on the true story of deceased model Gia Carangi, occasionally dubbed the first supermodel, who gained notoriety for her illicit drug use that eventually led to her contraction of HIV and subsequent death from AIDS at 26.
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Perhaps still in the character of the often-volatile late model, Jolie quit acting, later saying that she felt she "didn't have anything else to give." However, her decision to quit proved to be only a brief hiatus when she witnessed the critical success of George Wallace, which won her a Golden Globe, and then Gia, for which she received a Golden Globe followed by a Screen Actors Guild Award.
"I get so funny at these things. I get really shy," Jolie says on the red carpet of the 1998 SAG Awards, where she eventually received an award for Gia. "I just heard Lauren Bacall was called, so I'm like all funny...It's amazing. I'm so honored to be here."
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Although Jolie marveled at the other women in the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie category, it was she who was granted the award, which came on her first SAG Awards nomination.
Jolie would go on to sweep the SAGs, Oscars, and Golden Globes the following year with Girl, Interrupted, which marks the most recent occasion on which she received an award from those awards shows despite a pair of nominations.
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However, that heavy award in her hand gave her a tangible reward to cherish for her work and she carried on. The SAG figurine may not have had a visible mouth, but she did, and would for years to come.