Tomb Raider star Angelina Jolie is well known for her humanitarian work but believes her acting career harms her credibility. She told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine: "I don't necessarily think that's a natural role for an actor. Sometimes acting and politics make a very bad combination. I think that sometimes people take me less seriously in my work for the UN because I appear in movies."
Angelina, a UN Goodwill Ambassador, spent Tuesday visiting 1,200 Iraqi refugees in makeshift shelters near the Iraq-Syria border to draw attention to the devastation of those "uprooted by the War in Iraq". Despite the massive attention she draws, she conceded that Hollywood stars don't always make the best spokespeople for causes.
"I think we should be looking for great leaders in people who have dedicated their lives to those issues. And the reality is that actors spend a great deal of their time making films."
During her trip to Iraq, she also visited US troops and other foreign forces deployed in the region.
Angelina said of her visit: "I have come to Syria and Iraq to help draw attention to the humanitarian crisis and to urge governments to increase their support for the United Nations Refugee Agency and its partners."
