Angelina Jolie Says ‘None’ of Her Kids ‘Are Dying to Be on Screen’

While Angelina Jolie is more than happy to grace the movie screens — she says her kids are not.

The Maria star, 49, shared during a panel at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Wednesday, Feb. 5, that she didn’t think that any of her six children had an “affinity” for movies. 

“No. I don’t know, that’s not my doing,” Jolie, who received the Maltin Modern Master Award at the Festival, said. “I always wanted them to be around film because I wanted them to know as a part of — it’s such a wonderful family, to be creative, to be an artist, to be… They’re not interested.” 

“They really don’t like any of the celebrity part of it, especially Shiloh hates it,” she added. “I think in a very healthy way they don’t … It’s not a normal thing. It’s a silly thing really.”

However, the Eternals actress also noted that it didn’t mean her children — Maddox, 23, Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 18, and twins Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline, 16, whom she shares with ex-husband Brad Pitt, 61 — haven’t connected with the art of film in their own ways.

“Yes, they’ve been on set with me,” Jolie continued while appearing on the panel. “And some of them dance, some of them paint, some of them love theater, but none of them are dying to be on screen.”

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She said the closest her children have gotten to the screen is doing work behind the scenes on a film. Two of her sons, Maddox and Pax, did some assistant director work behind the screens of Maria.

“It’s good to start them in working,” she said. “[You’ve] got to run around and do anything for everybody. And so they’ve been doing that in a few films. And then Pax was doing some of the photography work.”

The actress’ daughter Vivienne has also dipped her toes into the entertainment world co-producing Broadway’s The Outsiders alongside her mom in early 2024. She also worked as an assistant on production — something Jolie told PEOPLE she took “very seriously.” 

“She’ll correct me,” she revealed in April 2024. “She’ll say, ‘Didn’t you read the memo? We have to do this. We have to go through this.’ She’s been a really tough assistant.”

While her kids aren’t clamoring to follow in her movie star footsteps, Jolie also shared at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival that it was important for her as a mother to give her children “space” to figure out what they want to do with their lives.

“And I think for my children … I hope I’m giving them space to figure out who they actually are and something that they want to live for that’s authentic to them so it holds in their life,” she said.