Ukranian-born actress, supermodel, designer and musician, the ground-breaking Milla Jovovich is a walking, talking immigrant dream come true. While many sneer upon today’s celebrities who out of mere boredom undertake new fields in the entertainment business, you can’t snigger at Milla - because she’s actually good at what she does. Scratch that - she’s phenomenal at what she does. Here’s her life’s story from 1975 to now.

Milica NataÅ¡a Jovović was born in Kiev, Ukraine (then a part of the USSR, which dissolved in 1991, becoming the Russian Federation. Ukraine gained its independence with the dissolution of the USSR) on December 17 1975 to Serbian pediatrician Bogdanovitch “Bogdan” Jovovich and critically acclaimed Soviet stage actress Galina Loginova Jovovich. Due to her father’s medical studies in London, much of Milla’s early childhood was spent back and forth between England and her hometown of Kiev, where her mother resided. In 1981, when Milla was a mere five years old, the family fled the country for political reasons and immigrated to the United States in search of the American dream.

The transition from a Russian to an American culture did not come easy for any of the family members. As Milla’s mother Galina found it difficult to find employment in the field of acting in the U.S., she worked as a cleaner for e.g. director Brian de Palma in the Los Angeles area. Meanwhile, Milla was experiencing problems blending into the Californian society. She told Telegraph in August 2007, “I was sent to school with borsch and strange meats. Kids would crowd around and stare at me. It was an alien existence.” Furthermore, in 1989, a year after the birth of Milla’s only sibling Marco, Bogdan Jovovich was sentenced to prison for having been involved in a health-insurance scam, leaving Galina to take care of her children for 20 years to come. Bogdan was not released from prison until 1999.

However, despite her early difficulties settling down in America, Milla remains positive about her early life. She has later spoken of her father’s jailtime experience, saying, “Prison was good for him. He’s become a much better person. It gave him a chance to stop and think.” However, with her father’s sentencing an important source of income withered, and Galina, with her only source of income being her cleaning job, was determined to make Milla a star. A year following her October 1987 cover in the Italian fashion magazine Lei and her 1986 Revlon “Most Unforgettable Women in the World” advert, Milla signed her first modeling contract and quickly became the one to bring home the bacon.

Entering the modeling industry did not come without its price, however. With Milla only being in her early teens when appearing in the Richard Avedon-photographed Revlon advert, the campaign caused a controversy regarding her age and garnered aggressive right-wing critique towards her mother. Though at the time standing by her decision to enter the industry, Milla has later been quoted saying she began modeling primarily for financial reasons, and does not encourage young girls to enter the brutal world of the modeling business. “I’m very against underage modelling. I would never allow my kids to do it. But we were immigrants, we had to work and make it work.” (Telegraph, January 2006) By the end of the 80’s, Milla was one of the top models in the industry.

Modeling, however, was not the lifetime career Milla was aiming for, and in 1988 she debuted as an actress in a small supporting role as Samantha in the Zalman King-directed erotic drama Two Moon Junction opposite Sherilyn Fenn and Richard Tyson, followed by the role of Lily McLeod in Robert Wiemer’s made-for-TV film The Night Train to Kathmandu (1988) and a guest appearance as Katie in an episode of the 80’s Western drama Paradise (1988). These roles were followed by a notable guest appearance as French exchange student Yvette in episode “Fair Exchange” of the popular American sitcom Married with Children in 1989.

However, while her acting career was slowly but surely taking off, Milla’s life was occupied mainly by her modeling career, which began to interrupt her other aspirations in life, including her acting. In 1997, she told Oneworld, “For me, [modeling] was such a distraction. I couldn’t play the guitar. I couldn’t write. I didn’t have time to read scripts. I didn’t have time for acting classes. I didn’t have time to nurture myself to be amazing at what I was doing. So I wasn’t doing anything well. I wasn’t concentrating on one thing.” Indeed, she found her modeling career such a distraction she was forced to quit working on her music, and in the early 90’s faced a career decision; either she would pursue a career in modeling, or one in acting. She chose the latter.

Following a guest appearance as Robin Fecknowitz on the comedy series Parker Lewis Can’t Lose in 1990, Milla made her first big silver screen appearance as the orphaned Lilli opposite Charmed-star Brian Krause in William A. Graham’s Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991), a film which was aimed as a sequel to The Blue Lagoon of the 1980’s, starring Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins. Regrettably, unlike its predecessor, the film was both a commercial and critical failure, but, convinced she had talent, it didn’t defer Milla from continuing to pursue a career in Hollywood.

Return to the Blue Lagoon was followed by supporting roles in Bruce A. Evans’ Kuffs (1992) opposite Christian Slater and Ashley Judd, and Richard Attenborough’s Chaplin (1992), opposite Diane Lane, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Anthony Hopkins, Kevin Kline and Dan Aykroyd. In 1993, whilst recording her debut album, she landed the (however small) role of Michelle Burroughs in Richard Linklater’s cult hit Dazed and Confused. During production of the film, she met co-star Shawn Andrews, with whom she then, being the wild child that she was, eloped to Las Vegas in October 1992. However, with Milla being only 16 at the time, Galina had her daugther’s marriage quickly annulled on November 25 1992 - only weeks before Milla’s 17th birthday.

Despite the setback in her personal life, Milla was able to move on, and on April 5 1994 she released the debut album she had worked on since the late 80’s - The Divine Comedy, a 45-minute-long feature of folky, melodic music, which was received with almost unanimous praise upon its release. Looking back at her earlier film roles and the surprise marriage with Shawn Andrews, Milla’s music took many by surprise with its sophistication and mature lyrics. Although not a commercial success, the album was noted by a good many respected music publications and -critics, and many have since looked forward to a follow-up. Unfortunately, due to (further) creative differences with her record company, she has at this time opted not to release another album.

The mid-90’s saw an interruption in Milla’s acting career. Recording her album had generated an unexpected debt to her record company, and she was forced to rethink her career choices. Explaining the situation, she told Oneworld in 1997, “I am not good with money. I am a Sagittarian. I would sit around bull-shitting with producers for a few hours. That all costs money. It all adds up and nobody bothers to tell me. I took it for granted, that I had freedom but I was paying for it. I ended up getting a big bill from the record company.” As her acting wasn’t bringing in enough money, she turned to the runway and modeling once more, though still determined it was not something she wanted for the rest of her life. In 1998, she signed a modeling contract with the prestigeous L’Oréal cosmetics company, whose spokesmodel Milla remains to this day.

In 1997, however, Milla returned to the silver screen with Luc Besson’s ambitious science fiction hit, The Fifth Element, co-starring Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Chris Tucker and Ian Holm. In the film, Milla portrays the iconic Leeloo, “The 5th Element”, a perfect, divine creature who, together with cab driver Korben Dallas (Willis), attempts to save the world from Evil and destruction in a distant future. With its $90 million budget, it was production company Gaumont’s most high-risk and ambitious project to date - but it was also worth the risk. The Fifth Element debuted on May 11 1997 on 2,500 U.S. screens and earned over $17 million in its opening weekend, and by November it had garnered a total of $247 million worldwide. The film quickly established a loyal cult-following, and remains a noteworthy milestone in Milla’s acting career.

While filming The Fifth Element, a romance ensued between Milla and director Besson; indeed, they would even have long conversations in the “Divine Language” invented for the film during its production, and the couple married the same year. Following her portrayal of Leeloo, an impressed (and lovestruck) Besson quickly cast Milla in a starring role in his next film - the heavy, action-laden historical drama The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). With Milla in the title role as Jeanne d’Arc alongside an impressive cast, including such names as John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway, Vincent Cassel and Dustin Hoffman, filming began soon after the release of The Fifth Element in 1997, and the film was released on November 14 1999 to more than 2,100 U.S. screens.

The much-anticipated The Messenger did not fare as well as hoped or expected. The film garnered largely mixed reviews both regarding the film as well as Milla’s performance, and brought in a modest $6 million in its opening weekend. The film also marked the end of another era in Milla’s life, as her marriage with Besson ended in divorce on June 12 1999 - only months prior to the release of their film. The couple chose not to release a statement as to why their marriage didn’t work out, but in July 2002 Milla told InStyle UK, “Unfortunately, what happens is that after the movie’s over, I go on to something else, get really into that and that’s when the whole jealousy thing happens. Suddenly, they don’t have me 100 per cent any more and they start to get freaked out.” Although no names were mentioned, this could be interpreted as a nod towards her marriage with Besson.

After The Messenger, the newly-divorced Milla began to think smaller, and moved on to star in Michael Winterbottom’s indie Western tragedy, The Claim (or Kingdom Come) in 2000, in which she portrays the uniquely gifted singer and saloon- and brothel owner Lucia, an intensive and touching performance which has been hailed by many as one of her best. The same year she starred as the eccentric, antisocial Eloise Ash in Wim Wenders’ indie drama The Million Dollar Hotel, co-starring Mel Gibson, Jeremy Davies, Jimmy Smits and Peter Stormare. Her affecting portrayal of the complexities of Eloise was hailed by critics and movie goers alike, and ranks as one of her most compelling performances. The millenium came with even more changes as her band Plastic Has Memory, which Milla fronted and toured with in major U.S. cities in the late 90’s, quietly split.

Following The Claim and The Million Dollar Hotel, Milla’s interests were once again turned to more Hollywood-oriented productions. With her music now taking a backseat to her respective careers in modeling and acting, she now had more time to dedicate to her career ambitions in Hollywood, and in 2001, she starred in small supporting role as Katinka in Ben Stiller’s critically and commercially successful crazy comedy, Zoolander, making fun of her Eastern European roots and the stereotypical, Russian accent. The film also marked her first silver screen attempt at comedy.

The year 2002 saw Milla release a noteworthy four feature films. The success of Zoolander prompted Milla to again endeavor in the comedy genre, and she was soon seen in Greg Pritikin’s drama comedy Dummy as the quirky punk-rocker Fangora or “Fannie”, alongside Adrien Brody and Vera Farmiga. She then moved on to portraying the smart and sweet Nadine in the mostly unnoticed romantic comedy You Stupid Man, co-starring Denise Richards, David Krumholtz and William Baldwin, before her more sophisticated turn as the manipulative, emotionally supressed Erin opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd in Bob Rafelson’s heavy crime drama No Good Deed (aka. The House on Turk Street).

More notably, however, on March 15 2002, the Paul W.S. Anderson-penned and directed action thriller Resident Evil premiered in the U.S. Based on the wildly popular Biohazard video games, it was Milla’s first starring role since The Messenger of 1999 and her first turn as the sexy (former) Umbrella special agent Alice. Co-stars include Michelle Rodriguez, James Purefoy, Colin Salmon, Eric Mabius and Martin Crewes. Although the film garnered mostly average, if not negative, critical reviews as well as criticism from video game puritanists for not holding true to the original game story, Resident Evil was nevertheless a commercial success, bringing home well over $40 million both from the film’s theatrical release and rentals - in the U.S. alone. It also remains the best reviewed film of what was to become the Resident Evil film franchise.

Resident Evil was not just a milestone in Milla’s professional career, but also one in her private life. Working on the film in 2001 with writer-director Anderson sparked a romance between the two, and the couple have been engaged since March 2003. Upon being asked about her relationship with Anderson in the July 2007 issue of InStyle UK, Milla was quoted saying, “I thought he was cute and interesting. And there’s also that thing where he chose me for his film. It’s a very attractive quality when someone chooses you. I like people who like me!”

In 2003, Milla launched the Los Angeles showroom of her fashion label Jovovich-Hawk with friend and fellow model Carmen Hawk. However, aside from a brief guest appearance as the voice of Serena on the popular, satiric cartoon series King of the Hill in 2002, Milla wasn’t seen on screen until September 2004. The success of Resident Evil in 2002 sparked a sequel for the film, the Alexander Witt-directed Resident Evil: Apocalypse, in which Milla reprises the role of Alice. To please game fans, the film included more characters from the original video games, including that of Jill Valentine, portrayed by Sienna Guillory - other cast members include Oded Fehr, Thomas Kretschmann, Sandrine Holt, Iain Glen, Zack Ward and Razaaq Adoti.

Although a commercial success, Resident Evil: Apocalypse was notably less well received than its predecessor by fans and professional critics alike, blaming the Anderson-penned script for dispensing with character development over unrealistic action sequences. In later days, Milla has been quoted expressing her dismay at how the film turned out, with the action sequences requiring stunt personnel being too fantastic and thus lacking in realism. In June 2006, she told About.com, “And I was telling everyone, ‘I jumped off a 6-story building!’ And so then I saw it and thought, ‘No one’s even going to know.’ So, whatever. I had my little problems with the second one. I changed a lot of things in the dubbing. That’s one of my problems with the director [Alexander Witt] of the second one. I just felt like he wasn’t in the moment.”

2005 was a largely quiet period for Milla. While launching the New York showroom for her Los Angeles-based fashion label, she starred as the sultry Druscilla in an outrageously graphic faux trailer for a remake of Gore Vidal’s Caligula, co-starring Helen Mirren, Gerard Butler, Karen Black, Justine Bateman, Benicio Del Toro, Adriana Asti, Tasha Tilberg and Courtney Love, before moving on to portraying the beautiful hemophage heroine Violet in Kurt Wimmer’s futuristic action drama, Ultraviolet (2006).

A lot of expectations were lain on Kurt Wimmer’s Ultraviolet, with Wimmer having directed the cult hit Equilibrium in 2002. Unfortunately, despite its leading lady and beautiful visuals, the film failed to impress critics and movie goers alike and went largely unnoticed, bombing at the box office upon its March 2006 release, earning a modest $9 million in the U.S. in its opening weekend. Shortly after the release of the film, Milla spoke of her disappointing experience working with director Wimmer. “Listen. All I can tell you is, I was completely locked from the editing room. Which was unfortunate, because I was promised that I would be [allowed in]. [...] With Ultraviolet I was very depressed because [Wimmer] was a real cad in the sense that he just kind of reneged on his promises, and didn’t allow me to see my performance. [...] Whatever. It’s unfortunate because that’s the perfect example of a movie that I spent a year of my life preparing for, and shooting, and you know, once you see it, you’re like, ‘Okaaay…’ [laughs] On to the next!” Wimmer, in turn, put the blame of the failure of his film on studio-enforced cuts.

In 2006, Milla returned to the indie genre and landed the role of Kat in Gary Lennon’s violent, sexually explicit drama .45, co-starring Angus Macfadyen, Aisha Tyler, Stephen Dorff and Sarah Strange. The film received a limited European release in 2006 and went straight to DVD in the U.S. in 2007, despite initial positive reviews. The overall response to the film was mixed, however, and with its limited worldwide release, the film went largely unnoticed by the general public. Meanwhile in the fashion industry, Jovovich-Hawk was chosen as one of the ten designer finalists competing for the prestigeous CFDA Fashion Fund Award (the award, however, went to Doo-Ri Chung). Shortly afterwards, Milla signed a modeling contract with Spanish fashion label Mango; she represented the label’s Fall 2006, Winter-, Spring- and Summer 2007 collections.

The following year brought with it another milestone in Milla’s personal life. While Sony Screen Gems were preparing for the promotion of the upcoming Resident Evil: Extinction, in April 2007 Milla’s representative announced Milla and director Anderson were expecting their first child. She told InStyle UK in July 2007 that the child was not “planned, but I wasn’t on the Pill either.” Ever since the announcement, rumors have been circulating about a potential marital ceremony, to which Milla responded in June 2007 that a marriage may one day happen, but not pre-pregnancy. “I don’t want to do a white-trash wedding with a big belly.”

Her pregnancy, however, did not stop Milla from giving zombies a run for their money in the Russell Mulcahy-directed Resident Evil: Extinction, released in September 2007. Although a commercial success like its two predecessors, professional critics were again no fans of the film. Due to the success of the film franchise and that of the third film, a fourth (CGI-based) installment in the franchise is currently in the making, but it is likely that Resident Evil: Extinction will mark the end of the line for Milla’s genetically mutated heroine Alice.

Following the September 20 2007 world premiere of Resident Evil: Extinction, Milla flew to Düsseldorf, Germany, to film a small cameo for her second collaboration with director Wim Wenders, titled The Palermo Shooting. Filming for her upcoming Russian period drama, the Paul Verhoeven-directed Azazel, which was postponed from the intended July 2007 date due to Milla’s pregnancy, is expected to begin early 2008.

On Saturday, November 3 2007 (one day ahead of due date), Milla gave birth to a healthy, 7lb 8oz baby girl Ever Gabo Anderson, at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Despite earlier concerns regarding his filming schedule for Death Race, Anderson was able to be by his fiancée’s side at the delivery of their child, and Milla et al. are now happily resting at their Los Angeles home.

“You know, I don’t need to make any more money. I have the career of a 45-year-old so I could totally quit tomorrow. But I wouldn’t be happy because I know what I love to do – it’s what I did as a little kid before I started working, which is sitting all day and drawing.”
- Milla in Telegraph, January 2006

Biography by Sandra N./MillaFan.com
Jun 16th 2006 (revised October 3 2007).
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