Just In: Angelina Jolie’s Dream Job Outside of Acting Is Weird, as Expected….Read More

It might be where she gets her funeral-chic style.

A few years after landing on the scene, Angelina Jolie quickly solidified herself as a Hollywood icon. The actress starred in several cult classics like Tomb Raider, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Girl, Interrupted, which won her her first and only Academy Award. Over the years, she has continued to deliver unforgettable performances, such as in her newest film Maria, while also establishing herself as a minimalist fashion hero on the red carpet and with her brand, Atelier Jolie. However, she almost had a completely different career—one away from the spotlight, and in fact, pretty dark.

The Maleficent star will appear on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon today, her first late-night talk show appearance in a decade. Ahead of the episode, the show’s official YouTube channel shared a sneak peek at Jolie and Fallon’s chat, during which she reminisced about almost becoming a funeral director. Yup, you read that correctly; but, it is Angelina Jolie, so you had to expect her almost-odd job to be pretty strange.

You’re an incredible actor,” Fallon started, “but I saw some things online. I was wondering if I could ask you if these rumors are true of other careers that you might have had.”

Oh no,” Jolie responded, throwing her head back with a smile.

“I’d be interested to see if any of these are real,” Fallon continued, to which Jolie responded, “I’m interested too. Okay.”

First of all, is it true that prior to acting you were studying to become a funeral director?” Fallon asked. To which, Jolie succinctly confirmed, “Yes.”

The mom-of-six then joked, “Doesn’t it make sense though?” before elaborating by explaining, “My grandfather died, and I remember thinking this is not how they should be. This should be a celebration of life. And since I’m not afraid of death and I was comfortable with it, I thought, ‘This would be a great career path for me…I could, like, make this better. I could do a thing here.'”

Yes,” Fallon said. “We need more people like that. It shouldn’t be that. That’s great.”

Jolie concluded, “It’s my fallback career now.”

This isn’t the first time Jolie has opened up about her alternative job path. She spoke about almost pursuing funeral directing in a 2011 interview with 60 Minutes.

“It sounds like this very strange, eccentric, dark thing to do. But, in fact, I lost my grandfather and I was very upset with his funeral,” Jolie explained. “So we discussed that maybe there are ways where this whole idea of how somebody passes and how a family deals with this passing and what death is should be addressed in a different way. If this acting thing didn’t work out, that was gonna be my backup.”

Although Jolie never took up the craft, she seems to have adopted a funeral-chic wardrobe. The star often opts for monochromatic black looks when she steps out, just as she did for her chat with Fallon. For the occasion, Jolie wore a sleeveless, slinky black gown, which she paired simply with dainty gold earrings and a gold ring.