Milla Jovovich(I)
- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Milla Jovovich is a Ukrainian-American actress, supermodel, fashion
designer, singer and public figure, who was on the cover of more than a
hundred magazines, and starred in such films as
The Fifth Element (1997),
Ultraviolet (2006), and the
Resident Evil (2002) franchise.
Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich was born on December 17, 1975 in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now in Ukraine). Her Serbian father, Bogdan Jovovich, was a medical doctor in Kyiv. There, he met her mother,
Galina Jovovich (née Loginova), a
Russian actress. At the age of 5, in 1981, Milla emigrated with her
parents from the Soviet Union, moving first to London, UK, then to
Sacramento, California, and eventually settled in Los Angeles. There
her parents worked as house cleaners for the household of director
Brian De Palma. Her parents separated,
and eventually divorced, because her father was arrested and spent
several years in prison.
Young Milla Jovovich was brought up by her single mother in Los
Angeles. In addition to her native Ukrainian, she also speaks Russian and
English. However, in spite of her cosmopolitan background, Milla was
ostracized by some of her classmates, as a kid who emigrated from the
Soviet Union amidst the paranoia of the Cold War. Many emotional scars
had affected her behavior, but she eventually emerged as a resilient,
multi-talented, albeit rebellious and risk-taking girl. She was coached
by her actress mother since her childhood, first at home, then studied
music, ballet, and acting in Los Angeles.
She shot to international fame after she was spotted by the
photographer Richard Avedon at the age of 11, and was featured in
Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements, and on
the cover of the Italian fashion magazine 'Lei' which was her first
cover shoot. She made her first professional model contract at the age
of 12, and soon made it to the cover of 'The Face', 'Vogue',
'Cosmopolitan' and many other magazines. In 1994, she appeared on the
cover of 'High Times' in the UK, at the age of 18. The total number of
her magazine covers worldwide was over one hundred by 2004, and keeps
counting. In 2004, she made $10.4 million, becoming the highest paid
supermodel in the world.
Milla appeared in ad campaigns for Chanel, Versace, Emporio Armani,
Donna Karen, DKNY, Celine, P&K, H&H, and continues her role as the
worldwide spokesperson and model for L'Oreal. Thanks to their continued success
with Milla, Giorgio Armani chose her to be the face of his fragrance,
Night. In addition to Armani's fragrance, Milla was the face for Calvin
Klein's Obsession and Christian Dior's Poison for over 10 years and has
most recently become the new face for Donna Karan's Cashmere Mist
fragrance, which debuts in August 2009. Milla continues to shoot with
the fashion industry's most sought after photographers, including Peter
Lindbergh, Mario Sorrenti, Craig McDean and Inez & Vinoodh.
Milla made her acting debut in the Disney Channel movie
The Night Train to Kathmandu (1988)
and she made guest appearances on television series including
Married... with Children (1987)
(in 1989 as a French exchange student),
Paradise (1988) and
Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990).
In 1988, at age 12, she made her film debut credited as Milla in a
supporting role in
Two Moon Junction (1988) by
writer/director Zalman King. During the
1980s and early 1990s, she played several supporting roles as a teenage
actress in film and on television, then starred in
Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991).
In 1997, she co-starred opposite
Bruce Willis in the sci-fi blockbuster
The Fifth Element (1997), then
she starred as the title character of
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999).
In the early 2000s, Milla had a few years of uncertainty in her acting
career due to the uneven quality of her films, as well as some hectic
events in her private life. She appeared with
Mel Gibson in
Wim Wenders'
The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)
which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. She went on to co-star
with Wes Bentley and
Sarah Polley in
The Claim (2000) and in
Ben Stiller's spoof of the world of models
and high-fashion, Zoolander (2001).
Milla achieved box office success in the U.S. and around the world with
the action-packed thriller,
Resident Evil (2002), based on the
wildly popular video game, Resident Evil. It was written and directed
by Paul W.S. Anderson. Milla reprised
her role as the zombie slaying heroine, Alice, in
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004),
Resident Evil: Extinction (2007),
Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010),
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012),
and again in
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
A seventh resident Evil movie is in pre-production.
She received glowing reviews opposite Oscar-winner
Adrien Brody and
Illeana Douglas in
Dummy (2002) which premiered at the Toronto
Film Festival. In the spring of 2006, Milla returned to the big screen
as action heroine, Violet, in the futuristic film
Ultraviolet (2006) directed by
Kurt Wimmer.
Focusing on her personal sense of style, her love of fashion led Milla
and her friend and business partner, Carmen Hawk, to launch their
Jovovich-Hawk clothing line, which achieved instant acclaim in the
domestic and international fashion world. The fresh, unique line
garnered the attention of red carpet watchers and fashion magazines,
including American Vogue, who featured Jovovich-Hawk on their coveted
list of "10 Things to Watch Out for in 2005." A student of voice and
guitar since she was very young, Milla began writing songs for her
first record at the age of 15.
Her first album, "The Divine Comedy", was released by EMI Records in
1994. Informed by her experiences as a child growing up as a Russian
emigrant in the Red-bashing Reagan era, the introspective
European-folkish debut drew favorable reviews for Milla's songwriting
and performing. She continues to write music, and has had songs
featured on several film soundtracks. She has been writing music and
lyrics to her song-demos, playing her guitar and sampling other sounds
from her computer, and allowing free download and remix of her songs
from her website.
Charitable work also plays a major part in Milla's life. She has served
as Master of Ceremonies and co-chaired with
Elizabeth Taylor for the amfAR
and Cinema Against AIDS event at the Venice Film Festival, and has been
heavily involved with The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, as well as The
Wildlands Project.
For many years Milla Jovovich has been maintaining a healthier
lifestyle, practicing yoga and meditation, trying to avoid junk food,
and cooking for herself. Since she was a little girl, Milla has been
writing a private diary, a habit she learned from her mother. She has
been keeping a record of many good and bad facts of her life, her
travels, her relationships, and all important ideas and events in her
career, planning eventually to publish an autobiography. After
dissolution of her two previous marriages, Milla Jovovich became
engaged to film director
Paul W.S. Anderson; their daughter,
Ever Anderson, was born on November 3, 2007. They got married on August 22, 2009. Their second daughter, Dashiel Edan, was born on April 1, 2015.
designer, singer and public figure, who was on the cover of more than a
hundred magazines, and starred in such films as
The Fifth Element (1997),
Ultraviolet (2006), and the
Resident Evil (2002) franchise.
Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich was born on December 17, 1975 in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now in Ukraine). Her Serbian father, Bogdan Jovovich, was a medical doctor in Kyiv. There, he met her mother,
Galina Jovovich (née Loginova), a
Russian actress. At the age of 5, in 1981, Milla emigrated with her
parents from the Soviet Union, moving first to London, UK, then to
Sacramento, California, and eventually settled in Los Angeles. There
her parents worked as house cleaners for the household of director
Brian De Palma. Her parents separated,
and eventually divorced, because her father was arrested and spent
several years in prison.
Young Milla Jovovich was brought up by her single mother in Los
Angeles. In addition to her native Ukrainian, she also speaks Russian and
English. However, in spite of her cosmopolitan background, Milla was
ostracized by some of her classmates, as a kid who emigrated from the
Soviet Union amidst the paranoia of the Cold War. Many emotional scars
had affected her behavior, but she eventually emerged as a resilient,
multi-talented, albeit rebellious and risk-taking girl. She was coached
by her actress mother since her childhood, first at home, then studied
music, ballet, and acting in Los Angeles.
She shot to international fame after she was spotted by the
photographer Richard Avedon at the age of 11, and was featured in
Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements, and on
the cover of the Italian fashion magazine 'Lei' which was her first
cover shoot. She made her first professional model contract at the age
of 12, and soon made it to the cover of 'The Face', 'Vogue',
'Cosmopolitan' and many other magazines. In 1994, she appeared on the
cover of 'High Times' in the UK, at the age of 18. The total number of
her magazine covers worldwide was over one hundred by 2004, and keeps
counting. In 2004, she made $10.4 million, becoming the highest paid
supermodel in the world.
Milla appeared in ad campaigns for Chanel, Versace, Emporio Armani,
Donna Karen, DKNY, Celine, P&K, H&H, and continues her role as the
worldwide spokesperson and model for L'Oreal. Thanks to their continued success
with Milla, Giorgio Armani chose her to be the face of his fragrance,
Night. In addition to Armani's fragrance, Milla was the face for Calvin
Klein's Obsession and Christian Dior's Poison for over 10 years and has
most recently become the new face for Donna Karan's Cashmere Mist
fragrance, which debuts in August 2009. Milla continues to shoot with
the fashion industry's most sought after photographers, including Peter
Lindbergh, Mario Sorrenti, Craig McDean and Inez & Vinoodh.
Milla made her acting debut in the Disney Channel movie
The Night Train to Kathmandu (1988)
and she made guest appearances on television series including
Married... with Children (1987)
(in 1989 as a French exchange student),
Paradise (1988) and
Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990).
In 1988, at age 12, she made her film debut credited as Milla in a
supporting role in
Two Moon Junction (1988) by
writer/director Zalman King. During the
1980s and early 1990s, she played several supporting roles as a teenage
actress in film and on television, then starred in
Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991).
In 1997, she co-starred opposite
Bruce Willis in the sci-fi blockbuster
The Fifth Element (1997), then
she starred as the title character of
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999).
In the early 2000s, Milla had a few years of uncertainty in her acting
career due to the uneven quality of her films, as well as some hectic
events in her private life. She appeared with
Mel Gibson in
Wim Wenders'
The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)
which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. She went on to co-star
with Wes Bentley and
Sarah Polley in
The Claim (2000) and in
Ben Stiller's spoof of the world of models
and high-fashion, Zoolander (2001).
Milla achieved box office success in the U.S. and around the world with
the action-packed thriller,
Resident Evil (2002), based on the
wildly popular video game, Resident Evil. It was written and directed
by Paul W.S. Anderson. Milla reprised
her role as the zombie slaying heroine, Alice, in
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004),
Resident Evil: Extinction (2007),
Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010),
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012),
and again in
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)
A seventh resident Evil movie is in pre-production.
She received glowing reviews opposite Oscar-winner
Adrien Brody and
Illeana Douglas in
Dummy (2002) which premiered at the Toronto
Film Festival. In the spring of 2006, Milla returned to the big screen
as action heroine, Violet, in the futuristic film
Ultraviolet (2006) directed by
Kurt Wimmer.
Focusing on her personal sense of style, her love of fashion led Milla
and her friend and business partner, Carmen Hawk, to launch their
Jovovich-Hawk clothing line, which achieved instant acclaim in the
domestic and international fashion world. The fresh, unique line
garnered the attention of red carpet watchers and fashion magazines,
including American Vogue, who featured Jovovich-Hawk on their coveted
list of "10 Things to Watch Out for in 2005." A student of voice and
guitar since she was very young, Milla began writing songs for her
first record at the age of 15.
Her first album, "The Divine Comedy", was released by EMI Records in
1994. Informed by her experiences as a child growing up as a Russian
emigrant in the Red-bashing Reagan era, the introspective
European-folkish debut drew favorable reviews for Milla's songwriting
and performing. She continues to write music, and has had songs
featured on several film soundtracks. She has been writing music and
lyrics to her song-demos, playing her guitar and sampling other sounds
from her computer, and allowing free download and remix of her songs
from her website.
Charitable work also plays a major part in Milla's life. She has served
as Master of Ceremonies and co-chaired with
Elizabeth Taylor for the amfAR
and Cinema Against AIDS event at the Venice Film Festival, and has been
heavily involved with The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, as well as The
Wildlands Project.
For many years Milla Jovovich has been maintaining a healthier
lifestyle, practicing yoga and meditation, trying to avoid junk food,
and cooking for herself. Since she was a little girl, Milla has been
writing a private diary, a habit she learned from her mother. She has
been keeping a record of many good and bad facts of her life, her
travels, her relationships, and all important ideas and events in her
career, planning eventually to publish an autobiography. After
dissolution of her two previous marriages, Milla Jovovich became
engaged to film director
Paul W.S. Anderson; their daughter,
Ever Anderson, was born on November 3, 2007. They got married on August 22, 2009. Their second daughter, Dashiel Edan, was born on April 1, 2015.
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