Angelina Jolie was reduced to tears on TV Thursday as she recalled the plight of refugee children around the world.

The actress, a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, appeared on Anderson Cooper's CNN show to highlight the cause ahead of World Refugee Day on Saturday.

And mother-of-six Jolie fought back tears as she compared her own children to those she has seen living in poverty and suffering in war-torn countries.

Recalling one 15-year-old boy she met, Jolie said, "He had been shot in the back and paralyzed and his whole family had been killed, and he had nobody in the world. And yet he had this really strong, unbreakable spirit. He had lost everything. He was just so full of laughter and kindness, and he passed away.

"The young people you meet, and you can't help but think, in any other situation, what an extraordinary adult they would have been.

"I think of him and I can't complain about anything. He was grateful and he had nothing. And there are millions like him."

She was also touched by an eight-year-old orphan she befriended in Tanzania: "She'd fled fighting. She saw her family killed infront of her.

"My son (Maddox) is eight in August, and I can't imagine if something happened to my family, him grabbing his little brother (Pax) and running by himself somewhere. That's what she did. She carried him and fed him. And they ran for two weeks and found a camp."

Angelina Jolie Photos

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)