Angelina Jolie has had a challenging yet rewarding year and a half.

She tried to conquer kings and sleeping princesses but she vanquished the summer box office instead with "Maleficent." She had her own cancerous demons to face in real life. And perhaps Jolie's biggest rewards were directing two films -- the second one is debuting on Christmas day -- and her marriage to Brad Pitt.

Jolie and her husband have been facing her challenges together. This is an account of Jolie's daring year and a half journey from battling cancer, playing the evil fairy Maleficent, directing her second film, to getting married to Pitt, her long time beau and the father of her children.

Before having to face kings and demons, Jolie had to battle one real life demon that not only affected her life, but it took the life of her mother as well. It was cancer. In May 2013, Jolie wrote an Op-Ed piece in The New York Times explaining her choice to have a double mastectomy -- remove both of her breasts -- in order to stop the spread of cancer.  

In the article, Jolie wrote that she never wanted her children to worry, but she also disclosed that she carried "a 'faulty gene,' BRCA1, which sharply increases [her] risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer," The New York Times reported. Jolie continued that her doctors estimated that she had an 87 percent chance of having breast cancer, and 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer.

Jolie had learned all of this by doing a cancer gene test. Those who have the "BRCA1" gene have a 65 percent of getting breast cancer, she added. Jolie's mother Marcheline Bertrand had died of cancer at the age of 56. One month earlier in that same year, on April 27, Jolie wrote that she completed three months of medical procedures of the mastectomies. And it was during that time that she was able to keep the matter private and "carry on" with her work, The New York Times reported.

Flash forward one year, May 2014, and the debut of Disney's "Maleficent." This was Jolie's starring role in a movie in almost three years since "Kung Fu Panda 2" in 2011. This darker Disney version of "Sleeping Beauty" told the story from the evil fairy Maleficent's point of view. It was No. 1 at the summer box office.

In the film, Maleficent was a vengeful fairy that was driven to curse the infant princess, Sleeping Beauty. It was later revealed that Sleeping Beauty was the only person that could restore peace to the troubled land. The film and Jolie's performance had received rave reviews.

People were talking about Jolie's performance in "Maleficent," and they are also talking about her second directed and upcoming film "Unbroken." Back in 2011, Jolie wrote and directed "In the Land of Blood and Honey." It was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2012 for Best Foreign Language Film.

"In the Land of Blood and Honey" was a war film, as is "Unbroken." "Unbroken" tells the remarkable story of Louis Zamperini. Zamperini was a 1936 U.S. track Olympian who enlisted with the U.S. Air Force in WWII, Entertainment Weekly reported. Zamperini's plane was shot down and had crashed in the Pacific Ocean. Zamperini, along with his crew members, spent nearly 50 days marooned on a raft in the ocean.

Zamperini along with his crew members were captured and tortured in a Japanese POW camp for over two years. Jack O'Connell, ("Skins") is playing the title role of Zamperini, Entertainment Weekly reported. O'Connell had to lose 30 pounds so that he could appear emaciated in certain scenes as Zamperini.

O'Connell prepared for the role by thinking that the love between Zamperini and his wife was the motivation that kept him going. "You learn not to think of your own problems," O'Connell says about Zamperini. "That's something you can attribute to Louie and Angie -- they both strive to be selfless every day," Entertainment Weekly reported.

At the end of last month, Aug. 23, Jolie and Pitt took support from each other, as well as their children. The couple got married in France at the chapel of Chateau Miraval, and it was attended by 20 friends and family members, People Magazine reported. The entire Jolie-Pitt family were involved.

Jolie started a new wedding trend. She wore a unique dress that was designed by Luigi Massi, the master tailor at Atelier Versace. Massi had sewed dozens of designs from her children's drawings into the dress and veil, People Magazine reported.

And all of the children participated: the eldest sons Maddox, 13, and Pax, 10, walked their mom down the aisle; the flower girls were Zahara, 9, and Vivienne, 6 (Zahara and Vivienne both tossed petals gathered from the garden); and Shiloh, 8, and Knox, 6, were ring bearers. And the Jolie-Pitt brood also helped to write their parents' vows, People Magazine reported.

"It was important to us that the day was relaxed and full of laughter," Pitt, 50, and Jolie, 39, told People Magazine. "It was such a special day to share with our children and a very happy time for our family."

The groom, Pitt, had picked out a suit from his closet, along with a tie that was borrowed from one of his sons. Zahara's dress was designed by Adama Kebe, a family friend. The rest of the Jolie-Pitt brood, Maddox, Pax, Shiloh and Knox wore black suits and Vivienne wore a white dress, People Magazine reported.