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It was while she was in Cambodia in 2001, shooting Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, that Angelina Jolie became aware of the suffering of the people in that war-ravaged country — “my eyes started to open,” she would later say. That experience — and a greater understanding of a worldwide humanitarian crisis – led the actress to contact the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees later that year.

In the years since, her work on behalf of the homeless and dispossessed has taken her to more than 30 countries — including a few war zones — and to Washington, D.C., where she has pushed for legislation to assist refugees in troubled regions around the world.

These images show just some of the globe-spanning good deeds done by the actress–turned–human rights activist.

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