In an age when celebrity seems to be more important than the most critical events in both the country and the world, it would easy for Angelina Jolie to be just that, a celebrity. But Jolie is much more, as she's used her celebrity to not only educate people on a variety of world issues that need attention but also teach her kids the importance of selflessness. Although Angelina lives in the constant glare of the paparazzi, she's found a way to deflect attention away from her and onto those who need it most.

Now Angelina Jolie is shedding light on a completely different and unique issue through her role in Clint Eastwood's Changeling, a true story about a mother who realizes that the child that's found and returned to her after a kidnapping is not her son. As Jolie's character, Christine Collins, searches for her child and answers to the fraud, she's denigrated, ostracized, and perceived crazy by the authorities.

While doing press for Changeling, Angelina shed light on the characters she plays, the emotional investment she had to make, her definition of hope, how she drew inspiration from her mother, and her approach to teaching her kids the value of humanitarian work and helping those in need.

Angelina Jolie on whether her Changeling role was difficult and if she had trepidations about it:

"I did because it's such horrible subject matter and it is my worst nightmare. And after I read it, I didn't sleep well that night. I just didn't want to go near having to think about anything happening to my children. I didn't want to spend months being emotional about it, but I couldn't get her story out of my head. And it reminded me of my mom, who I had lost that year, and it is also a story of justice and democracy and action. There's something about her that was so remarkable to me that I wanted to tell the story."

Jolie on whether this type of story is still happening today:

"Oh, sure. Look at Burma. There [are] many parts of the world where peoples’ voices aren't being heard and media is corrupting and hushing someone up. Absolutely..."

On whether it made a difference that her character was a single woman:

"I think that was a big part of how they felt they could manipulate the situation and they had power over her. I don't think they chose to attack her because of it, but I think they thought she was an easy target. I think they knew at that time women didn't command that type of respect, and certainly some were more looked down upon and questioned at that time."

Angelina Jolie on whether the character was inspirational for the audience:

"I guess in some way, but it's also, for me - Or thinking of my daughters, I tell them stories that I think are the type of women I'd want to meet, the type of women - even if they're silly characters I've played, like Tomb Raider, there's something about that that will be fun for my daughters to see one day. And I like this person. I've never really played anyone who I thought was a horrible person that said nothing. I wouldn't have much interest in that."

Jolie on her mother:

"My mom was very soft spoken and her name was Marcheline, and she always called herself marshmallow [laughs]. She was a very soft spoken person, and even if she came in and wanted me to clean my room, she just couldn't yell and she couldn't swear, and yet I would want to do anything to make her happy because she was that sweet. But when it came to her kids, if anybody crossed her children or if they needed anything, she somehow found this remarkable strength. But it came out like it came out with Christine, she would still... there’s this scene where I'm angry in the film but I'm still apologizing because she doesn't like being ugly or angry. She's very uncomfortable in that."

On whether the role was hard for her to do:

"It was. It was the hardest thing for me to figure out and to map her emotions and to figure out how she got from the person she is in the beginning to the person she is in the end, and without it being some moment where she just flips. It was gradual that she would find and then lose her strength again, and she'd find it and then something else would happen and it grew into something. Yes, absolutely, because usually it happens in films that you go with your instincts.

My instincts were so often to scream and look at the person like, 'You're nuts! I'm not listening to any of this!' So something in my face would betray - but again I guess I tried to put myself in my mom's shoes or somebody else's shoes where you feel I'm not going to get my son home unless I 'behave’. And I have to get my son home. So whatever bullsh*t, I'm going to put up with it and do the best I can. I'm nervous to cross the line."

Angelina Jolie on back to back emotionally grueling roles, including A Mighty Heart:

"Well, I did do Wanted in between [laughs] and that's actually why I did. After Mighty Heart, I lost my mom, I had a baby and I'd just finished Mighty Heart where I was emotionally drained and I really wanted to pull the covers over my head. And I knew I'd be going into Changeling in six months. I called and said, 'Is there anything there that is just physical and aggressive and something original? Because I'm going to start turning into a little flower if I can't - I'm breaking.'"

Jolie on not sleeping well after reading the script:

"Yeah, all through the film my children were irritated at how huggy [laughs] I was, constantly asking, 'Where is everybody, and what's going on?' But it was a very difficult film to do, and one of the hardest things I've ever done. And at the end of each day it was really draining. But sometimes you go through something so deeply and you come out the other end better. It was one of those projects where I just love my children that much more and I'm so grateful I know where they are and that they're healthy at the end of the night. And I'm so grateful I'm not living through what she lived through. And so you get through it but it was certainly very difficult."

On her definition of hope:

"I think we have to have [hope]. I had this amazing experience. I got to meet Jane Goodall and spend some time with her because she was working for refugees. And somebody said - she was asked that question, actually it was more pointed. It was more, 'How can we have hope in the situation today?' And I'd never seen her angry and she slammed her hand down on the table and said, 'We absolutely have to. There is nothing if we don't have that.' We have nothing.

So it's about survival and it's one of those things - we must focus on, on how we're going to get through things and thinking about the past and this story, this horrible thing that happened to this woman and yet she confronted the police department. She fought, she changed the law, she never found her child but I'm sure she made people that much more careful about their children and maybe protected somebody else. If you think to the past of all the times where it must have seemed - women's right to vote, or racial equality - somehow it does change. Walls come down, things happen, we have moved forward and we have new obstacles and new very difficult things to face - we have to be if we're going to face them."

Angelina Jolie on talking with her kids about the humanitarian work she does and whether she hopes they will follow her lead:

"We do hope so - we have programs started in our kids' countries and we hope that just with that, and visiting those programs as they grew up, and being a part of it will be something they will feel responsible for. But they travel with us to those countries, and so the biggest thing we can do for our kids is - they live in a lot of different worlds. They're having fun running around this hotel right now, but they'll also be in Ethiopia in a few weeks and they won't have everything they have here. And as they travel so much, they tend to notice.

We show them different worlds. They go to Cambodia and they help go buy candy and shoes and water and go bring it to the local people and hang out and talk to the kids. They see that the world is not balanced and they see that - they ask those questions and instead of preaching to them, we're going to keep showing them and hope that that sinks in and that they will find in themselves a desire to always help and strike a balance."

Angelina Jolie on the most uncomfortable situation while traveling:

"Oh, God, the most uncomfortable situation? I was somewhere where the local corrupt government was trying to get my passport and I was hiding in the corner, pretending I wasn't there because I had heard they had a history of ripping up passports."

Jolie on whether she got involved with charities to deflect attention away from her as a sex symbol:

"No, I haven’t done anything because of an image of me. I do what I want to do because I love - I've gone into the field years ago because I wanted to understand what was going on in the world, because I started to travel and felt ignorant and I love spending time with refugees. Selfishly, it's the most I've ever grown and most I've ever learned, and some of the best times I've ever had speaking with other human beings. I love it and I think they're remarkable survivors, and I genuinely, genuinely love it and want that example for my kids. I want to raise my kids right, and if there's anybody who I want to be looking at me and understanding a balance of who I am, it's certainly not for the media, it's my six kids that are going to question what my life is about."

On how she explains a violent movie like Changling to her kids:

"I'll talk to them about it when they're older because they won't' see those films. But they often ask me, and if they say, 'Who's the bad guy?' Pax is very into who's the bad guy, and we always say, 'Are they doing bad things to someone who's not doing anything bad to them, or are they defending themselves?' "

Angelina Jolie on whether she only picks violent roles that appear justified:

"No, it's more complicated than that. My kids play video games but I'm not somebody that... in Cambodia we have rangers working with us and we have - I'm not somebody who doesn't... I let my kids play with toy soldiers, and they ask me about war. My son recently said, 'Which country is good and bad?' And he was pointing to all these different flags, and I had to explain to him its from where you're standing. I've got to explain to my sons the history of America's involvement in Vietnam and Cambodia and their relationship with each other and their border issues. So we don't take lightly war and violence and we don't hide and don't say, 'You can't play toy soldier in the house. And mommy and daddy have movies where we play these characters, but there's real death and real life and real responsibility.'"