Angelina Jolie Considers Cambodia Her Home, But She Almost Turned Down the Blockbuster That Brought Her There

“I think about my life and the amount of things I almost didn’t do,” the ‘Maria’ star reflected at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Feb. 5.

Angelina Jolie attends the 40th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Feb. 5, 2025.

Angelina Jolie is opening up about the life-changing movie that led her to call Cambodia home — and how she almost turned it down.

The Maria star, 49, was asked where she considers home to be during a conversation about her life and career at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Wednesday, Feb. 5, where she received the Maltin Modern Master Award.

“In my heart, Cambodia,” Jolie answered. “My first trip was Tomb Raider, where you saw me hanging upside down [in the clip].”.

She then reflects on how life would’ve looked very different for her if she didn’t say yes to certain opportunities, including the 2001 blockbuster that was inspired by the video game of the same name.

Angelina Jolie in ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ in 2001.

“I learned something about life. I think about my life and the amount of things I almost didn’t do, almost missed, that would’ve changed the course of my life.

I said no to Tomb Raider when I was first called.” .

When asked why she ultimately agreed to play Lara Croft in the film, Jolie said that the adventures she was promised to go on swayed her decision.

“They said, ‘You can travel the world and train with the British military.’.

And I said, ‘I will wear the shorts for the first five minutes and then I’ll never wear them again.’ And that’s true. And that’s the movie.

That’s actually what happened.”.

Angelina Jolie and son Maddox in September 2017.

While Tomb Raider may have brought her there, the Oscar winner formed a deep connection with the Southeast Asian country by adopting her first child, Maddox, a year after the film was released.

Jolie credits Maddox, now 23, for encouraging her to make the Netflix film First They Killed My Father, which takes place in her son’s home country.

Angelina Jolie with her kids in 2021.

Maddox told PEOPLE exclusively in 2017 that he helped out on the film whenever he could — whether it was pitching in on meetings, prepping for shoots and helping to review dailies.

The drama, directed by Jolie, is based on her friend Loung Ung’s memoir about surviving the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia.

Jolie previously told PEOPLE that her son “goes back and forth [to Cambodia] a lot, but this would be over four months of just being in the country, really reading, listening, learning and absorbing all things about his culture and country [including] the very, very dark parts.”.

Along with Maddox, Jolie shares Pax, 21, Zahara, 20, Shiloh, 18, and twins Knox Léon and Vivienne Marcheline, 16, with ex-husband Brad Pitt, 61.

Jolie’s latest film, the Maria Callas biopic Maria, is now streaming on Netflix. It earned a Best Cinematography nomination for the 97th Academy Awards.