Angelina Jolie is one of Hollywood's most famous woman and she returns to the action genre as a seductive assassin in Timur Bekmambetov's first English speaking movie Wanted.

In a career that has spanned twenty five years the actress is the recipient of three Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

We look back over Jolie's long and varying career, with roles such as Lara Croft and The Bone Collector to uncover her top five movie performances.

1. Girl Interrupted

Girl Interrupted was released in 1999 and established Jolie as a cinema actress, after having major success with some television movies.

Directed by Walk the Line filmmaker James Mangold the film also starred Winona Ryder and was adapted from the original memoir Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen.

It's 1967, and 17 year old Susanna Kaysen (Winona Ryder) is like a lot of American teenagers her age confused, insecure, struggling to make sense of the rapidly changing world around her.

The psychiatrist she meets with (courtesy of her parents), however, gives this behaviour a name Borderline Personality Disorder, "manifested by uncertainty about self-image, long-term goals, types of friends or lovers to have, and which values to adopt" and whisks her away to Claymoore.

Here, Susanna discovers Lisa, Daisy, Georgina, Polly and Janet a group of offbeat young women who not only become her closest friends, but light Susanna’s way back to someone she had lost herself.

At the hospital "the other Ivy League" Susanna loses herself in a world of eccentric young women, among them Lisa (Angelina Jolie), a charming sociopath; Daisy (Brittany Murphy), a pampered "Daddy’s girl" with a predilection for rotisserie chicken and laxatives; and Polly (Elisabeth Moss), a burn victim whose heart, unlike her face, remains remarkably unscarred.

Ultimately, Susanna must choose between the world of those who belong on the inside of the institution and the often difficult world of reality on the outside.

But it was Jolie who stole the film winning an Academy Award, Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Lisa Rowe.

2.A Mighty Heart

Directed by Michael Winterbottom A Might Heart follows Mariane Pearl, the widow of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Daniel was kidnapped and executed in Pakistan in 2002, and Winterbottom's film centres on the frantic activities leading up to his death.

Fellow journalist Mariane revs into action as soon as the disappearance of her husband is announced, calling on the FBI and experts in terrorism to help in the desperate search.

With the media circling around the story like hawks, Mariane endures a very public display of grief.

Despite not being a huge financial success the film, and Jolie's performance, was well received by the critics. For her role she was nominated for Best Actress at the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

3.Gia

The film Gia follows Gia Carangi, a young woman who rose to the forefront of the modelling industry very quickly.

However her success soon brought problems as her persistent loneliness drives her to experiment with mood-altering drugs like heroin.

She becomes entangled in a passionate affair with Linda, a make-up artist. However, after a while Linda begins to worry about Gia's drug use and gives Gia an ultimatum, with Gia choosing the drugs.

Failed attempts at reconciliation with Linda and with her mother Kathleen Carangi drive Gia to begin abusing heroin.

Although she is eventually able to break her drug habit after much effort, she has already contracted HIV from a needle containing infected blood and dies of complications from AIDS in the year 1986 at the age of 26.

A film for television Gia brought Jolie critical praise and she won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television and a Screen Actors Guild Awards.

4. Mr and Mrs Smith

Doug Liman directs Pitt and Jolie who play extremely skilled professional assassins who have managed to stay married for five years without ever realizing each other's profession because they work for rival agencies and the work is top secret.

When their paths eventually cross on a high-level hit, one of the most lethal battles of the sexes in the history of cinema is officially on.

Thanks to a genuinely witty script, the issue isn't who will win, but whether the couple will realize they are meant for each other before it's too late.

The 2005 movie was Jolie's most commercially successful movie to date as it went on to gross $468,336,279 worldwide however it was only met with mixed praise from the critics.

5. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

Based on the hit computer game Jolie took on the role of adventurer Lara Croft in the 2001 movie.

When mercenaries invade her cavernous, hi-tech mansion and steal an ancient relic, Lara journeys to various international locations, including Cambodia, Italy, and the Arctic Circle, to retrieve the strange object and discover its mysterious properties.

As Lara's quest becomes increasingly dangerous, it begins to shed light on the life of her deceased father, Lord Croft (Jon Voight, Jolie's real-life father), and a secretive group known as the Illuminati.

This movie propelled Jolie to super-stardom and despite receiving mixed reviews from the critics it's the most successful video game adaptation grossing $300,000,000 worldwide.

Wanted is out now.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw