Now, for the first time, Jolie’s roles both on- and off-screen have converged. In “Beyond Borders,” which opened this weekend, Jolie plays a London socialite who abandons the comforts of home to become an international aid worker, traveling to war-ravaged regions around the world. Jolie, who has homes in both London and Cambodia, has spent the past three years traveling to–you guessed it–embattled areas from Africa to Afghanistan on behalf of the United Nations. This week, she received a new award to set beside her Oscar, the United Nations’ first-ever Citizen of the World Award, for her work in bringing attention to the plight of the world’s 20 million refugees. Despite four upcoming films, Jolie just signed on for two more years as the Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency. NEWSWEEK’s Jennifer Barrett spoke to her about her new roles both on and off-screen.

NEWSWEEK: How did you first get involved with the U.N. refugee agency?

Angelina Jolie: Five years ago, I read the script for “Beyond Borders” and I was so moved by the content and curious about a world I knew nothing about. I felt a responsibility to start to educate myself as we all should, as we grow up. When I found out the film wasn’t going to go forward, I was really sad because I had wanted to take that journey and understand what that was about. Then it dawned on me that I could educate myself and travel to these parts of the world and see for myself what was happening. And so I read many different books on different organizations and different chapters of the U.N. And I was shocked when I read about how 20 million people are displaced today. I couldn’t understand how that was possible. I called [the U.N. office in] Washington and, at the time, I had been following stories about Sierra Leone, so that was the first place we discussed me going, so I could observe and help.

There was a civil war going on in Sierra Leone. Did you realize what you were getting yourself into?

I thought I was prepared but, in retrospect, I had no idea. I had seen a lot in the news and was aware of the brutality and the dangers. But I had never seen that many displaced people and the amputee camps and the really disgusting, poor conditions. The sewage problems and the mass human suffering. I met very tiny kids with arms and legs cut off. You suddenly realize that there is just so much you don’t know about and the real world out there. I was just shocked.

How did the experience in Sierra Leone affect you?

One week there completely changed my life. From there I went to Tanzania and a few other countries and just was so inspired by refugees and the aid groups working in the field. I grew up in L.A. and New York and I had never been in an environment with real suffering and real need. And also, in a positive way, I had never been around so many wonderful people doing so much to help each other. It was so inspiring to see such unity among human beings. I was asked to join the U.N. after a few trips and I did because I fully supported them after watching them in the field. And then, two years later, to my surprise, the film “Beyond Borders” came back and started to shoot. It was wonderful, but I was just that much more nervous because now I had met these people and I wanted to get it right for them. You don’t want to misrepresent a group you have so much respect for.

Your real-life refugee experience must have affected the way you portrayed Sarah in the film?

I added a few things to her naivete in the beginning because there is a real sense of thinking you can change the world. There’s also a lot of me staring at things. But that’s what you really end up doing. I had to do one scene and I remembered things from my own experience–you think about that first child you saw die and suddenly you can’t stop crying. So I do a lot now to not remember all the images because I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle it now. I had nightmares for the first month after certain things I saw and I still on occasion do. When I go about my everyday life I think about what I can do to fix things or to be with my kid. One day I will have someone sit me down and I’ll really know how it all settled in me, but for now, I feel like I can’t afford to sit down and think about it because it is too sad.

Do you think the serious nature of the film might keep some people from seeing it?

I hope people know we’re not preaching with it or saying we have all the answers. It’s just a glimpse into a world. People might consider it too heavy a film to go see, but I hope they do.

I’m not knocking Hollywood here, but was it hard to go back to being a celebrity again after your experience with the refugees?

You know what’s funny is that I thought I would come back with a lot of anger or a lot of distance. But instead, I felt bad for people who were focused on material things or fame. I just wished for them to not be so caught up in those things and hoped they would realize that all that stuff doesn’t matter, and this stuff does.

Has it influenced the way you view your own career in Hollywood?

I see now that if I can be successful in one way, with my films, what I can do. A few years ago, making a bunch of money was great for security but didn’t mean much more than that. Now, if I make a lot of money, I have a nice home for myself and my son but I am able to be extremely generous and build schools and wildlife sanctuaries. If I go to an area and they are missing something in a community, for what we spend on a car, we can fix a village. Being successful really means something now because I can do something with it. I have found purpose.

How has your experience with the refugees affected you personally?

It’s just made me a better person. I’m so grateful for very simple things and I used to complain about things all people complain about. I used to think about all the things I didn’t have. Now I don’t think about the things I don’t have, I think about the things I do. I’m so happy my son is safe and healthy and my mom is healthy and I have the ability of freedom of movement and education and really basic things. And I wonder how I ever in my life was self-destructive because I thought my life was bad. I just hated myself. I really had no idea what suffering or pain is. And then also to feel useful and connected. It’s really nice as a human being to sit with people across the world. You feel like what matters is not how your film did at the box office or the awards you won or didn’t win. What matters is how you connect with another human being and what you’re doing with your life–to be truly useful.

You’ve signed on for another two years with the United Nations even though you have at least three movies coming up.

I’ve got a few, yeah. I’m in the middle of filming “Alexander” [about Alexander the Great] now in Morocco, and then the next one out is “Taking Lives,” with Olivier Martinez and Ethan Hawke and a bunch of really great guys. And after that is “The World of Tomorrow” or “Shark Tale,” I don’t know. I just do these and then come back home in between (laughs). I like doing the films but I don’t always know when they are coming out.

How do you balance being a single mother with your films and your U.N. work?

I make a lot of schedules (laughs). When I am working, I have pretty specific times. I make sure that Maddox is always with me on the set. I’m fortunate because not a lot of single mothers have the ability to eat lunch and dinner with their child. I get to see him a lot and then I make sure I have at least two months off in between each film so I can do my work with the U.N. and just spend time alone with Maddox.

But sometimes, we have to be apart. Recently, I went to the [Republic of] Congo and it wasn’t safe for him so he had to stay in Uganda.

Are you ever worried about your own safety?

I’ve had moments. I feel safer than most. I am always able to come and go. If I feel endangered, I always think that I am still that much more fortunate than the person who doesn’t have the option of getting on a plane tomorrow. In every country, it is different and I went from shock to deep sadness to anger. And that’s where I am now. You just see more and more people and you see the imbalance of the world and what is not being talked about. You see how it can be prevented before these things get so bad.

You kept a journal that was just published.

I hadn’t intended to publish it. I was told to keep it to show it to my mother or my husband in case I was having nightmares. But I came back and I didn’t show my family and I eventually put it on the UNHCR Web site and got a lot of letters from girls and from people in other countries that it seemed to mean something or make sense to them. So I kept putting them up on the Web site and then was asked to publish them…It would have been a book I would have liked to have read when I was 19. It would have helped me. So hopefully it will help other girls.

You used to be sort of a wild child, but it seems like you’ve settled down a bit. Is that the refugee work, your son Maddox, or both?

In some weird way, I think I am more active and more on fire in my life than I have ever been, and before in my life I wasn’t clear about so much and I could often seem more interesting and chaotic. But now my life is so much more wild, considering the places I’m going and where we’re living. But I feel much more balanced. Maybe three or four years ago, I was much more focused on my own dramas. Now I don’t feel like I have any. Maddox has just brought beauty and this real warmth for me–everything that makes me a woman. You suddenly realize why your body is a certain way because you hold him a certain way or he sleeps on you a certain way. Everything nurturing and nice about a woman is brought out when you love and, especially so, when you love a child.

Do you plan to adopt again?

Yeah, I do.

Anytime soon?

I’m trying to schedule–I know if I have a new baby and Maddox that will only work if I am not working for a period of time and Maddox has started school. So it probably won’t be until Maddox is about three, that will be a good time. I am trying to do a lot of work now.

I understand you have a home in Cambodia?

We have a home in London and also a house we built in the jungle in Cambodia. We have a wild sanctuary we’re starting. It’s very cool.

Is it safe?

It’s in the last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge so there are a lot of landmines and the bunkers. We found 48 landmines on our property. But that is Cambodia and that is what people live with; we also found three Khmer Rouge bunkers.

That’s incredible.

We like to think we can turn something ugly into something nice. All the people around us and working with us have been victims of land minds and of the Khmer Rouge. My first thought was of my son [who is Cambodian] but now I have a broader view.

I have to ask: there are rumors about you dating Val Kilmer true–or are you still available?

No I’m not dating him. I’m not actually dating anybody. I’d love to at some point in my life, but at the moment, I am being very cautious about introducing someone to my son.