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Better Left Unsaid: Angelina doesn't frighten me

By ANA MARTINEZ

Spotlight Columnist

A lot of people are afraid of Angelina Jolie. They remember the vial of blood she used to wear around her neck.

Or they recall her slightly deranged performances in movies such as Girl, Interrupted or runway-model-turned-junkie biopic Gia.

Maybe they even know that once upon a time, when she was into wearing a lot of leather and black, she made out with her brother at an awards show.

I guess those things could seem a bit frightening, especially when you're talking about someone who looks the way she does.

But I've never been scared of her. I've actually always thought she was kind of cool -- in a slightly off, odd sort of way.

Her performances are typically solid, whether she's playing a sexy assassin like in Wanted or a driven-but-shallow blonde as in Life or Something Like It.

My affinity for her, though, is about more than her acting chops.

What I really like is that she's living the sort of fairy-tale existence I wanted when I was younger.

Around 14, I was really into the IRA's struggle (just to be clear, that's the Irish Republican Army, not the tax agency). I thought the multi-racial Benetton ads were the coolest things since sliced bread, and I wanted to adopt a child from every continent and travel the world spreading the message of cultural relativity and understanding.

At that age, the U.N. seemed an infallible, powerful organization equipped to wipe hunger and suffering off the face of the planet. I daydreamed about making millions of dollars, which I would give away to scholarship funds and education initiatives. Oh, and I would find a way to live in one of Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian homes and lead the effort to preserve all of his buildings -- and those of Walter Gropius.

Jolie recently bought an old castle in France.

But that's not the only way in which she's made my teenage fantasy a reality. She also knows enough about Darfur to write about it, has so far adopted children from three developing countries and since 2001 has been a globe-trotting U.N. goodwill ambassador.

And this past weekend, Jolie went from "liked" to "admired/respected" in my book.

The actress had twins -- an event that fueled all sorts of speculation about who will get the first photos of the babies, and how much the images will sell for.

In 2006, Jolie had another biological child (with help from partner Brad Pitt). The first set of photos from that baby, Shiloh, reportedly sold for $4.1 million.

The couple took the cash and gave it to children's charities and released a statement pointing out that "two million babies born every year in the developing world die on the first day of their lives."

So basically, they used their baby's high profile, their own celebrity and the media demand to bring attention to children's suffering.

This time around, there's speculation that the images of the twins will sell for more than $10 million. The couple apparently again are planning to give all the funds away, which is simply fantastic.

I know you're still thinking she looks intimidating, or like she could turn you into stone if you do so much as glance in her direction.

But she's also ridiculously generous and smart enough to know how to get legitimate money for the social causes she's passionate about.

And there's definitely nothing frightening about that.

• Better Left Unsaid appears in Spotlight every other week. E-mail Ana Martinez at ana.martinez@theeagle.com.