Grew up in Springfield, Missouri.
1986 Moved to Los Angeles claiming to his parents that he was attending the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
Worked at odd jobs including as a chaffeur to Strip-O-Gram strippers, delivering refrigerators to college students and dressing up in a chicken costume outside the El Pollo Loco restaurant.
1987 Did extra work in the film "Less Than Zero".
1987 Had small role on the NBC soap opera "Another World".
1987 Primetime TV debut in a guest role in an episode of the ABC sitcom "Growing Pains".
1987 Cast as the boyfriend of Jenna Wade Ewing's daughter in three episodes of the CBS primetime soap "Dallas".
1988 TV-movie debut, "A Stoning in Fulham County".
1989 Made second guest appearance on "Growing Pains", playing a different character.
1989 Feature acting debut, "Cutting Class".
1990 Co-starred with Juliette Lewis in the fact-based NBC TV-movie "Too Young to Die?" , about a teenage girl put on trial for murder.
1990 Appeared in the regular role of Walker Lovejoy, a high school graduate working as a reporter, in the short-lived Fox drama "Glory Days".
1991 Cast in breakthrough role of drifter J D in "Thelma & Louise" after Billy Baldwin bowed out to star in "Backdraft".
1991 Debut as a feature lead, "Johnny Suede", about an aspiring pop singer.
1992 Had major role in "A River Runs Through It", directed by Robert Redford.
1993 Played featured role in "True Romance".
1994 First worked with Anthony Hopkins playing one of his sons in "Legends of the Fall".
1994 Co-starred with Tom Cruise in "Interview With the Vampire", playing Louis, the aristocratic Southerner made turned reluctant bloodsucker.
1995 In January dubbed "The Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine.
1995 Co-starred with Morgan Freeman as detectives tracking a serial killer in "Seven".
1995 Earned Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a mental patient in "12 Monkeys".
1997 Engendered controversy for making negative comments about "The Devil's Own", in which he played an Irish revolutionary opposite Harrison Ford as an NYC cop.
1997 Successfully sued Playgirl magazine to stop distribution after it published unauthorized nude photographs of Pitt and then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow.
1997 Film "Seven Years in Tibet" was subject of controversy when it was disclosed that the character Pitt played, Heinrich Harrer, had ties to the Nazis.
1998 Reteamed with Anthony Hopkins for "Meet Joe Black", a loose remake of "Death Takes a Holiday".
1999 Co-starred with Edward Norton in "Fight Club".
2000 Portrayed an itinerant Irish gypsy bare knuckles boxer in "Snatch", written and directed by Guy Ritchie.
2001 Co-starred with Julia Roberts in "The Mexican", playing a mafia bagman sent to retrieve the titular object, an antique pistol that supposedly carried a curse.
2001 Teamed with Robert Redford in "The Spy Game", playing the protege of a retiring CIA agent.
2001 Had featured role in the ensemble of "Ocean's Eleven" which included Julia Roberts, George Clooney and Matt Damon.
2002 Cast as the lead in the sci-fi film "The Fountain" directed by Darren Aronofsky; film fell through.
2003 Voiced the title character in the animation feature "Sinbad".
2004 Portrayed fated warrior Achilles in director Wolfgang Petersen's epic "Troy".