Raider' star tackles new role as mom

By Nicole Rodriguez

It's hard to know what to expect when you're getting ready for an interview with actress Angelina Jolie.

On the one hand, she is the daughter of Oscar Winner Jon Voight, and has managed to step outside her father's shadow and win her own acclaim and awards (including an Oscar for 2000's "Girl Interrupted"). On the other hand, she was the fifth wife of bad boy actor Billy Bob Thorton and was rumored to have carried a vial of his blood with her everywhere she went during their two year union.

As it turns out, the real Angelina Jolie seems to be more of the former personality than the latter. Although some of the rumors about her have been true, including a large tattoo of ex-husband Thorton's name (for the record, Jolie said, "it's pretty close to gone"), it turns out that Jolie is dedicated to pursuing a career as a serious actress and, more importantly, becoming a good role model for her adopted infant son, Maddox.

One of her most recent attempts to make her son proud has been to help the country of Cambodia, where she adopted him. Jolie committed herself to donating five million dollars over the next 15 years to a wild life sanctuary in the country.

"We're doing two different things. There's a few hectares that will be a home that are actually Maddox's. Then there's over 20,000 hectares which nobody owns, but I will be paying for an education center, the rangers, all the surveys and all the protection for the forest so it's not cut down because of the deforestation problem, for the animals, to make sure that there are no poachers and the poachers become rangers, because there are elephants, tigers and many other animals, we're not really sure because nobody has been up in that area for so long. And then a lot of de-mining."

In addition to this, Jolie is busy working on her acting career. Coming up this summer is the release of the sequel to 2001's "Tomb Raider" and then the November release of "Beyond Borders."

"It's just kind of an epic story of life, love and it may sound heavy, but it's also a good movie to watch," Jolie said of the film, which is about a woman's 12 year journey through places such as Ethiopia, Cambodia, and Chechnya. "I do think it's important and it has a lot of really good issues in it, so I'm very proud of that one."

Jolie is thrilled with the opportunities films provide her with to reach the public on a more personal level.

"I love communicating with people, I need to share and I felt very connected to everybody, so I haven't felt kind of divided and like I'm talking from a separate place. I think most people feel they know me and they actually do in many ways. "

However, Jolie assures, she does not take this privilege for granted.

"I understand the responsibility of being able to do things. I know that now I can be here in Sri Lanka and do certain things that I feel are important and I can actually bring attention to it. That I love about being in the public eye. That's a wonderful thing."

Although much of her work has allowed her to do just this, many feel that her role as video game vixen Lara Croft, as well as her many public romances, have made Jolie into something of a Hollywood sex symbol, but Jolie laughs the label off.

"I'm somebody that at the moment, and for a long time, has not had any sex, so I don't feel it at the moment, I feel like a mom."

And she has dedicated herself wholeheartedly to fulfilling this latest role in her life for Maddox.

"Being a parent is harder than anything I've ever done, but it's also the greatest thing in the world, so it's a very delicate balance," said Jolie. She stresses that she always makes time for her son, even on the most grueling of movie sets.

"He comes to work with me in the morning and we have breakfast, and then we have lunch together, and then his bedtime is late, so I have a few hours after work everyday and things like that. He kind of makes everything worthwhile, so it makes it easy."