James Haven, 46, is an American actor, producer, director, and son of Oscar-winning actor Jon Voight and actress Marcheline Bertrand. He is the older brother of Angelina Jolie and was regularly seen with the actress in the early 2000s. James began his professional acting career in 1998 and appeared in several of his sisters’ films from 1998 – 2001 before taking a hiatus to focus on producing and directing. James produced the documentary Trudell which chronicles the life of Santee Sioux musician and activist John Trudell and was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival.
Jon and Marcheline divorced in 1976, James went to live with his mom and Angelina in Palisades, New York. Around 1986, the family moved back to Los Angeles where James finished high school and then attended the USC School of Cinema-Television where he won a “George Lucas Award” for a student film starring his sister.
James Haven is still producing and directing various projects in Los Angeles and now has a good relationship with his father. Jon Voight made headlines recently for calling Donald Trump “the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln”.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. James Haven first gained fame from kissing Angelina Jolie at the 2000 Oscars
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Angelina brought James as her date to the Academy Awards in the year 2000. The two were being overly affectionate on the red carpet and shared a kiss that some people thought was a little too long for siblings. Incest rumors started to circulate through the press as everybody speculated if the two were dating. Their behavior overshadowed Angelina’s Oscar win for “Best Supporting Actress” for her part in Girl, Interrupted. During her acceptance speech, she mentioned how she was “So in love with my brother right now” which helped fuel the rumors.
But James Harvey’s mom Marcheline’s close friend Cis Rundle explained the situation to Radar Online.
“The day she kissed Jamie at the Oscars, it was the first day Marcheline was treated for cancer. They left the hospital together and got ready together,” she told Radar Online.
“Nobody in the world knew that they spent the day in the hospital. It was like, ‘Look where we’re at now.’ But the world saw something incestual. It was meant to be ‘Here we are.’ They only ever had each other. They had a very tight relationship with each other and their mother.”
James Haven commented on the kiss years later saying, “It was an amazing moment. Yet it was totally misconstrued.”
2. He’s dating actor Ashley Reign
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According to the Daily Mail, James started dating actress Ashley Reign in 2011. Ashley is a TV actress best known for her roles in Shit Southern Girls Say (2012), Easy Silence (2014) and Not Making it in the City (2009).
Their relationship came as a relief to then married couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. A source close to the two said in 2011 “It’s really nice to see them so happy. And the relationship has come as a big relief to Brad too, who sometimes felt like James was hanging around them too much.” The couple was also rumored to be thinking about getting married.
James and Ashley started a blog about “things to do in L.A.” which has a few posts from December 2013. It’s unclear if the couple is still dating but there has been no public news about their breakup so they are assumed to still be together.
3. James was a nanny to sister Angelina Jolie’s kids
After Brad Pitt and Angelina filed for divorce in 2016, James became a full-time nanny for Angelina, helping the actress take care of her children while she was filming a movie in Cambodia. James was spotted running through airports with Angelina and her family as they traveled. His role soon transferred to their home where he took care of Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, and twins Vivienne and Knox full-time for a number of months.
While he loved spending time with his nieces and nephews the job proved to be much more demanding than he had anticipated. He was basically running the entire house and felt “shattered” according to a source close to the couple.
Angelina eventually ‘fired’ James so that he could move on and recuperate. A source close to Angelina told Grazia, “She was worried about how exhausted he looked and realized he needed a break. Brad is coming back into the kids’ lives, so things have calmed down a little. She’s grateful that James was there, but knows she can’t rely on him every step of the way.”
4. He has a strained relationship with his father, Jon Voight
Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for KNK Productions, Inc.
James Haven Voight dropped the ‘Voight’ after years of a tense relationship with his father. James claimed that Jon Voight was hard on his mother and didn’t provide her any financial support when him, Angelina, and Marcheline lived in New York. James criticized his father to the Daily Mail in 2007 saying “He put my mum through years of mental abuse.”
James was estranged from Jon for most of his life. In 2007, Marcheline passed away from cancer which led to Jon reconciling with James and Angelina in 2009 for the first time in years. The three now have a healthy relationship
5. He Became a Born Again Christian in 2009
Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for KNK Productions, Inc.
James Haven became a born again Christian in 2009 and is a fixture at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest near LA. Back in 2012, he was also training to be a youth minister. His conversion to the Christian faith was also the impetus in reuniting with his father the same year and encouraging his sister to do the same.