Angelina Jolie Was Nearly Unrecognizable With These Hairstyles

When one thinks of Angelina Jolie, quite a few things come to mind, including her famous propensity for inappropriate outfits, her high-profile romance woes, her slew of back tattoos, and her long, dark, voluminous hair. Throughout her career, Jolie has cultivated an edgy vibe, complete with wearing a necklace filled with her boyfriends' blood and her love of a pseudo-goth color palette for her makeup, wardrobe, and hair. However, Jolie has undergone a truly stunning style transformation over the years, and it didn't begin or end with the look she's most famous for.

In fact, Jolie has been an icon and influencer since the early days of her career, when she made pixie cuts cool again with her look in "Hackers" and made blonde retro-curls a hit in the late '90s. However, even though she's never looked less than flawless, she's still instantly associated with her raven locks. She built so much of her reputation and career on dark hair — just look at her roles in "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," and "Maleficent," to name a few. That is why she's been nearly unrecognizable in the rare instances in which she took some bold hair style swings.

Angelia Jolie's big breakout role came in 1995 with the movie "Hackers," in which she played the hard-as-nails computer expert Kate Libby, one of the film's titular hackers. The shockingly short, dark pixie cut look works perfectly for her edgy and rebellious character, who goes by the handle Acid Burn. The movie is one of the most '90s things that ever existed, but Jolie's bold haircut has gone down in history as one of the best parts of the hilariously dated techno-thriller.

In May 2025, Angelina Jolie lit up the Cannes Film Festival in France, showing off her bright blonde locks. The Oscar-winner's strikingly summery 'do was a beautiful complement to her ivory gown, which simply glowed on the red carpet. Jolie busted out the unusually light look for the world premiere screening of director Ari Aster's new dark comedy "Eddington," which Jolie was not directly involved with, but was an invited guest to the high-profile screening. It's nice to see Jolie's recent embrace of brighter, warmer looks, and it makes you wonder if it has anything to do with her messy divorce from Brad Pitt finally coming to a close earlier in the year.

When Angelina Jolie hit the carpet at the National Board of Review Awards in New York City in February 1999, she stunned the world by channeling the spirit of Marilyn Monroe with her unexpected hairstyle. The actor — who had made a big splash with her performance in "Playing By Heart" — wowed with her flawless curly locks that evoked the Golden Age of Hollywood, and an era of iconic starlets and undeniable glamour. The look was unlike any Jolie had rocked in the past, and proved to be something of a good luck charm as she wound up walking away that night with the award for Best Breakthrough Performance by an Actress.

A few years after Angelina Jolie went for a short pixie cut in "Hackers," she wound up starring in a biographical drama, "Gia," about Gia Carangi, a real-life supermodel who eventually died as a result of her drug addiction. The heartbreaking film required Jolie to eventually cut off all her hair, which the actor later said was a very freeing experience. "I was sick in the film, so I had to look like I had no ... [like I was] losing hair. So, I shaved it off with a razor, and I kind of loved it," Jolie told People in September 2017. "It was kind of freeing to feel like hair doesn't matter, and get rid of it."

For her role as the club-going party girl Joan in 1998's "Playing By Heart," Angelina Jolie brought her fiery character to life with an equally fiery hairstyle. Jolie rocked a flawlessly styled red bob for the role, which served as a thematic counterpoint to the teal blue spikes that adorned the head of her character's love interest, Keenan (played by Ryan Phillippe). Jolie's bob cut, which she wears in the film, as well as a pompadour style in other scenes, came amid a period of short cuts for the actor, all of which were a far cry from the flowing, cascading locks she's become famous for.

As the daughter of screen veterans Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand, Angelina Jolie grew up around cameras and film sets and began pursuing a career in the industry at a young age. As a teenager, her career began to pick up heat, and she got some professional headshots taken to help book gigs. One such shot, taken when she was 16 back in 1991, showed a nearly unrecognizable and baby-faced Jolie with her brunette locks in large, loose curls. The innocent 'do gave her the look of a child star during the silent film era, and proved to be a stark contrast to the edgy, more punk looks she'd be opting for just a few years later.

In 2024, Angelina Jolie underwent something of a stunning blonde hair transformation that really changed her look. The remarkable color choice was particularly noticeable when she styled her hair in frizzy curls as she walked the red carpet at the AFI Fest's premiere screening of her film "Maria" in October 2024. The naturalistic, light look had an optimistic vibe, and came a year after Jolie spoke with Vogue, and admitted that she's still finding herself in her style after her divorce. "I wonder if I don't know what my style is because I'm still understanding who I am at 48," Jolie said at the time. "I guess I'm in transition as a person." This look was particularly noticeable for what a departure it was from the dark hair she'd worn for years.