Jolie lands Lara role

Jolie's selection ends years of speculation

Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie will play computer heroine Lara Croft in the movie of the game Tomb Raider.

Eidos, the manufacturers of the hit game, said that production on the much-anticipated movie from Paramount Pictures would begin this summer in the UK.

Lara Croft has become a worldwide phenomenon

Jolie, who scooped the Academy Award for best supporting actress for Girl, Interrupted, has previously spoken of her desire to play Lara.

In a recent interview she also described the computer heroine as "really bold and funny and loyal".

Jolie, the daughter of Midnight Cowboy star Jon Voight, won her Oscar after playing the part of a patient in a mental hospital in Girl, Interrupted.

She has also won praise for her parts in the Bone Collector with Denzel Washington and Gone in Sixty Seconds with Nicolas Cage.

In Tomb Raider Jolie will play Lara Croft, a publishing magnate who battles danger as she travels to exotic locations to uncover and preserve ancient artifacts.

Jolie in her Oscar-winning role

Tomb Raider is to be directed by Simon West, whose credits include The General's Daughter and Con Air.

Lara first stole the hearts of computer game enthusiasts worldwide in 1996 and is now into her fourth Tomb Raider adventure.

She has become so well known around the globe that her face has appeared on the covers of successful magazines and in advertising campaigns for products totally divorced from the IT world.

However, Eidos's share price has been in decline since the end of last year following sluggish sales of new games.

The new film is hoped to breathe new life into sales of the Tomb Raider series.

The news ends years of wild speculation over who would be picked to take Lara on to the big screen.

Names linked with the role in the British media have included ranged from actresses Liz Hurley and Catherine Zeta Jones to television presenter Rhona Mitra and glamour model Nell McAndrew.