Angelina Jolie has won her first-ever Tony Award thanks to her youngest daughter
Angelina Jolie has won her first Tony Award after being inspired by her 15-year-old daughter Vivienne to produce 'The Outsiders: A New Musical'.
The 'Tourist' actress, 49, did not give a speech at the prestigious stage awards ceremony at New York's Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater on Sunday (16.06.24), but she appeared alongside her daughter, who also assisted her with the production.
The show, which is based on S.E. Hinton's tome about 14-year-old Ponyboy Curtis, his two brothers and best friend Johnny – the Greasers – who face rival group the Socs, and has a meaningful message about resilience, was one of the big winners of the night, taking four prizes, also including Best Musical.
Producer Matthew Rego said in a speech: “Susie Hinton wrote The Outsiders 60 years ago and she has received accolades ever since. But she often says that she still gets overwhelmed when told that The Outsiders changed someone’s life because she’ll say, who might have changed anyone’s life? It’s the book. It’s not the author. It’s the message, not the messenger. Well Susie, I’m here to tell you that your story and its eternal message of love and family and staying gold has forever changed all of our lives. We love you.”
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Angelina recently shared how she learned a lot about her youngest daughter through producing the Broadway show.
The 'Maleficent' star was introduced to 'The Outsiders' after Vivienne saw its run on the West Coast, and she agreed to get involved with the New York production because of the youngster's passion.
She told Deadline: "My daughter Viv loves theatre.
"She appreciates all theatre but she certainly knows what she feels close to and what she responds to. She went to see 'The Outsiders' at La Jolla about five times and was telling me about it, and I had read the book, and I'd seen the film years ago."
At the urging of her daughter, Angelina revisited the material and began "really watching the effect it was having on my young daughter and what she was telling me about herself, and I was learning what about it was important to her and why it connected so deeply to her."
Angelina - who also has Maddox, 22, Pax, 20, Zahara, 19, Shiloh, 18, and Vivienne's twin brother Knox with ex-husband Brad Pitt - then joined the production as producer, with her daughter as her assistant.
And Angelina realised doing so was "a moment to learn more about Viv."
She explained: "It was a very different experience of understanding, of how this is having a significant effect on her as a young person right now, and she's communicating something to me, and that is the power of this material.
"And then I had the privilege of watching everyone work over this last year to make it into what it is, and Vivienne has been there the whole way."