She will not be stopping there, however. As Angelina Jolie announced earlier this year: "I would love in three years to have a shaved head, 30 tattoos, a plane and several children. Oh - and three lovers."

As Kanphai used the traditional method of flicking a long inkfilled needle to break the surface of the skin, he chanted an ancient hymn to bless the tattoo to ensure the bearer would be rich and powerful.

The design itself - a snarling tiger baring its teeth and claws - represents luck, power and good fortune. (Jolie earns up to Pounds 10 million a film which might also be said to represent good fortune. But that's another story.) Jolie, 29, flew to Bangkok with her two-year-old adopted son Maddox, who was born in neighbouring Cambodia, in her private jet.

In April last year, Kanphai emblazoned her left shoulder with a traditional Cambodian Khmer tattoo.
Many other celebrities share Jolie's penchant for tattoos on the lower back, where the skin is thicker and offers a flat canvas.

Victoria Beckham has four tattoo stars on her lower back representing herself, sons Romeo and Brooklyn and husband David, who has the name Brooklyn on his lower-back.

Singer Anastacia has a large tattoo sun on her lower back, as does tennis star Anna Kournikova. Geri Halliwell had a six-inch black panther tattoo but had it removed.

By Richard Simpson (c) Associated Newspapers Ltd.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

Angelina Jolie involved in a tattoo cover-up with Billy Bob

The black tattoo on her back consists of five vertical rows of ancient Cambodian script, designed to ward off bad luck, the Nation newspaper reported Thursday.

"I like it a lot. It looks very sacred. I think I'll have a new tattoo the next time I come to Thailand," the 27-year-old actress was quoted as saying.
It was applied Wednesday by well-known tattoo artist Noo Kamphai in Pathum Thani, 16 miles north of Bangkok, the newspaper said.

Jolie is reported to have many tattoos, most notably a dragon on her upper left arm. Above that is etched "Billy Bob," the name of her estranged husband, Billy Bob Thornton.
When she attended the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards in London earlier this year, "Billy Bob" wasn't visible, apparently covered by makeup.

Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nation's refugee agency, became enchanted with Cambodia in 2000 while filming "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." She later adopted an infant from Cambodia.Her upcoming films include "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life," "Sharkslayer" and "The World of Tomorrow."

Angelina Jolie - Interview by Michael Atkinson

IF RULES WERE MADE TO BE BROKEN, SHE WAS MADE TO BREAK THEM

Angelina Jolie wouldn't know how to tread on the safe, middle path if you marked it for her in fluorescent road paint. Born into Industry aristocracy, she took fame in stride; in the process, she's made Hollywood bend to her will, not vice versa, winning an Oscar just as she's vamping up magazine covers and making her headlong, wherever-the-chips-may-fall love life a rich source for gossip. (You just know there are a few lovers' quarrels resulting in trashed-hotel-room stories in her future.)

Jolie may very well own the world's best-known tattoo, and then of course there are her lips--as defining a physical trait as Belle Davis' eyes or Lucille Ball's hair.
And, like several stars of an earlier day (and too few of our own), she raises audience attention-spans the moment she enters a picture. That Jolie seems to be one of our most sexually incendiary actresses is inarguable. What's not as conveniently acknowledged is her bruised current of darkness, which have been easily exploited in her award-winning turns in Gia (1998) and Girl, Interrupted (1999) but a surprise when injected into the froth of comedies like Playing by Heart (1998) andPushing Tin (1999).

From the beginning Jolie has successfully straddled the great Hollywood divide, doing time in formula blockbusterdom (Gone in 60 Seconds, for example) while lighting out for territories unknown. Her 2001 releases include her franchise-hopeful turn as video-action-minx Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, the role of a terminal femme fatale in Original Sin (based on the Cornell Woolrich novel that Truffaut adapted into Mississippi Mermaid [1969], and starred Catherine Deneuve as the vamp), and Ralph Fiennes' romantic interest in Beyond Borders, Oliver Stone's epic about relief workers. With such a varied run, it's impossible to know what the future holds--all that's clear is that Jolie is hardly content to traipse down the Julia Roberts-Meg Ryan-Sandra Bullock romantic comedy route. Otherwise, anything goes, as long as it's different from where she's been.

In that, Jolie seems to be demonstrating what in Hollywood passes for a chin-stuck-way-out machisma, which is another way of saying she will not be told which star to steer by. Who knows how long her rebellions will sustain her; movie audiences seem to prefer safer, tamer beasts, and Jolie's surfeit of attitude sometimes seems to be aimed at the very people who made her a star. Such is fame. In the meantime, the fireworks will be hot and colorful.

Michael Atkinson is a film critic for The Village Voice and mrshowbiz.com. COPYRIGHT Brant Publications, Inc. & Gale Group