Angelina Jolie and Jon Voight on Red Carpet Over the Years: Photos

If one thing’s for sure, Jon Voight couldn’t be happier to be the dad of iconic actress Angelina Jolie. Despite any issues the famous family has encountered in the past, the beloved Midnight Cowboy star — who is celebrating his 81st birthday on Sunday, December 29 — has had a blast watching his little girl grow up right before his very eyes on Hollywood red carpets.

As fans can recall, Jon and Angelina, 44, have had their share of ups and downs ever since the 1970s. “We don’t talk politics well. We talk art very well. We’ve found it’s a common language,” the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider actress once said, Closer Weekly previously reported. Angelina also has noted her father has become a doting grandpa to her six kids.

“Jon and I have gotten to know each other over [his] grandchildren now,” she once said of Maddox, 18, Pax , 16, Zahara, 14, Shiloh, 13, and 11-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox. “We’re finding a new relationship, and it’s very, very nice.”

Although that hasn’t always been the case as they’ve “had some difficulties,” Angelina has acknowledged of the long estrangement she felt from her father — who split from her late mom, Marcheline, when she was a toddler. “I didn’t feel close to my father. I felt more of my mother’s daughter when I was a child,” she has said.

However, things turned around for the now-reunited father-daughter duo after Angelina’s beloved mother passed away in 2007. Years later in December 2017, the Maleficent actress’ brother, James Haven, exclusively opened up to Closer Weekly about his sister and dad’s long-awaited homecoming.

“It was really a trifecta, meaning she found peace with him, and I found peace,” James, 46, told Closer at the time. “This story has come full circle. A big part of it is just coming to that point where you deal with and solve and rectify things. It’s nice.”

James also noted that the reconciliation was a huge relief for the Mr. and Mrs. Smith actress — who shares her six kids with ex-husband Brad Pitt. The tensions within the famous family “were a big deal for decades,” said James, noting at that the time he’d just gotten off the phone with his dad. “It’s a major weight off our shoulders.” Aww!

While catching up with Jon at the Movieguide Awards in Hollywood this past February, the doting dad opened up to Closer about his daughter’s parenting chops. Jon couldn’t help but gush over getting to watch Angelina be such an amazing mother to her brood.

“Well, she’s a good mom I’ll tell you that,” he exclusively told Closer. “She is very loving to the kids and very much there with them, always there with them although she has a busy life. She doesn’t miss any opportunity to inquire into their lives and help them every step of the way. So I’m very proud of her.”

Scroll through the gallery below to see Angelina grow up on the red carpet with her dad through the years!