orget about all the strange things you've read or heard about Angelina Jolie. The Oscar winning actress has been busy trying to change her image, and it's working.

  Jolie has accomplished plenty in her 26 years. Growing up in Los
Angeles, Jolie was no stranger to the film industry, being the daughter of Academy Award winning actor Jon Voight. She made a huge impact in the TV movie Gia in 1998, as the drug addicted model and hasn't slowed down since. She loves to take chances with her roles, tackling everything from action-hero Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, taking part in the controversial steamy-romance Original Sin, and proving she's got what it takes when she won an Oscar for her moving performance in Girl, Interrupted in 1999.
 
  Jolie is also very happily married to actor/director Billy Bob Thornton whom she met on the set of Pushing Tin. Now Jolie is ready to show the world that she can handle comedy with the release of Life or Something Like It, co-starring Edward Burns. "I didn't know that I had comedy chops before making this film, so I'm still nervous about them," says Jolie on location in Montreal for her next feature, Beyond Borders.

  In Life or Something Like It, Jolie plays Lanie Kerigan, a news reporter who is completely focused on her career. She wants to become the next network anchor and will stop at nothing to achieve her goals. One day she meets a street prophet who predicts that she is going to die within a week. With this news, she starts to reassess what is really important in her life. While the film is mainly a comedy, it still has a heartfelt message that made Jolie think a lot about her own mortality. "God, I've had times when things weren't always so great for me."

  That brings us back to Ms. Jolie making some important changes in her own life. Along with all of her film duties, Jolie was recently named a goodwill ambassador
for the United Nations High Commission For Refugees. "I have started to travel and now I see things in the world very differently," Jolie says with a heavy sigh.
Jolie has been so impassioned with her new title; she recently published an online diary of her recent trip to Cambodia as part of a United Nations mission. The diary details Jolie's visit to Phnom Penh and a personal account of her interaction with refugees. "Being the Ambassador for the UNHCR has changed my life incredibly. I met people who have survived things that we can't even imagine. Their spirit is unbreakable and brilliant and they made me realize so much about life."

  Jolie and her husband Thornton have taken steps to share their love. The couple recently adopted a Cambodian child to start what they hope will one day be a large family. "I am so ready for motherhood," she says.

  So, despite all the wacky things that Jolie may have done in her past, one thing is certain. This girl has a heart of gold that she clearly wears on her sleeve for all to see.

- Bonnie Laufer-Krebs