Angelina Jolie confirms retirement from acting

Angelina Jolie has confirmed she is retiring from acting to concentrate on writing and directing. The Hollywood star, who won an Oscar for Girl Interrupted, said she did not enjoy being the centre of attention and intended to move permanently behind the camera.

‘I’ve never been comfortable as an actor; I’ve never loved being in front of the camera,’ Jolie said in an interview with Du Jour magazine. ‘I didn’t ever think I could direct, but I hope I’m able to have a career at it because I’m much happier.’

Jolie is currently promoting her new film, Unbroken, about Olympic runner and US airman Louis Zamperini, who spent 47 days living on a raft after a plane crash and survived two years as a Japanese prisoner of war.

The 39-year-old actress made her directorial debut in 2007 with the documentary A Place in Time, followed up by the harrowing feature film In the Land of Blood and Honey in 2011 about the Bosnian war.She recently signed up to direct Africa, a biopic of Kenyan politician and conservationist Richard Leakey.

Jolie said earlier this year that that her appearance as Cleopatra in an impending biopic of the Egyptian queen could be her final acting role.