Date of Birth
17 December 1975, Kiev, USSR (now Ukraine)
Birth Name
Milica Natasha Jovovich
Height
5' 8½" (1.74 m)
Mini Biography
Milla Jovovich is an
Ukrainian-born 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'
franchise.
She was born Milica Natasha Jovovich on December 17, 1975, in Kiev, Ukraine, Soviet Union (now Kiev, Ukraine). Her Serbian father, Bogdan Jovovich, was a medical doctor in Kiev. There he met her mother Galina Jovovich, a Russian actress. At the age of 5, in 1981, Milla with her parents emigrated 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 Russian, she also speaks Serbian 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. In 1994 she appeared on the cover of 'High Times' in the UK, at the age of 18.
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. 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 Jovovich was torn between two professions, before she eventually became one of the very few supermodels who also developed a steady and serious film career. 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-if 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 uneven quality of her films, as well as some hectic events in her private life. However, she managed to overcome her personal crisis. With the leading role as Alice in Resident Evil (2002) and its two sequels, she established herself as a film star, and her success in acting career eventually matched her success as a supermodel.
Outside of her acting and modeling professions, Milla Jovovich released several critically acclaimed musical recordings, making her debut as a singer, songwriter and musician with the 1994 release of 'The Divine Comedy'. She also gave several live performances with her band Plastic Has Memory and was featured on 'Hollywood Goes Wild'. Her vocal recordings appeared on soundtracks of several films. 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.
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.
She was born Milica Natasha Jovovich on December 17, 1975, in Kiev, Ukraine, Soviet Union (now Kiev, Ukraine). Her Serbian father, Bogdan Jovovich, was a medical doctor in Kiev. There he met her mother Galina Jovovich, a Russian actress. At the age of 5, in 1981, Milla with her parents emigrated 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 Russian, she also speaks Serbian 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. In 1994 she appeared on the cover of 'High Times' in the UK, at the age of 18.
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. 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 Jovovich was torn between two professions, before she eventually became one of the very few supermodels who also developed a steady and serious film career. 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-if 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 uneven quality of her films, as well as some hectic events in her private life. However, she managed to overcome her personal crisis. With the leading role as Alice in Resident Evil (2002) and its two sequels, she established herself as a film star, and her success in acting career eventually matched her success as a supermodel.
Outside of her acting and modeling professions, Milla Jovovich released several critically acclaimed musical recordings, making her debut as a singer, songwriter and musician with the 1994 release of 'The Divine Comedy'. She also gave several live performances with her band Plastic Has Memory and was featured on 'Hollywood Goes Wild'. Her vocal recordings appeared on soundtracks of several films. 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.
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.
Trivia
Name pronounced
Mee-la Yo-vo-vitch.
She has bluish-green
eyes and brown hair originally.
Mother is Russian
actress Galina Jovovich.
Father is a Serbian
pediatrician, from Belgrade Serbia, who moved to Russia and married her mother
there.
Frequently attends
big show business events such as celebrity parties, premieres, openings,
fashion shows, and awards shows. Is a fixture in magazine paparazzi sections
because of this.
Has been on the
cover of more than one hundred magazines worldwide.
Once fronted a band
called Plastic Has Memory.
Her native language
is Ukrainian.
It was announced
that she is currently engaged to Resident
Evil (2002) and Mortal Kombat (1995) director Paul W.S. Anderson (March, 2003).
Voted the Sexiest
Female Movie Star in the Australian Empire Magazine September 2002.
Measurements:
34B-22-33, as a 16-year-old model. But since matured to a 35B. (Source:
Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
While filming the movie Dazed and Confused (1993), she eloped with actor Shawn Andrews to Las Vegas. It was 1992 and a few
months before she turned seventeen. Since she was only sixteen at the time, her
mother had the marriage annulled.
Performed almost all
of her own stunts in Resident
Evil (2002).
Went to high school
with Christina Applegate; then
later made a guest appearance on "Married
with Children" (1987).
Her music video,
"The Gentleman Who Fell" is based on Maya Deren's short film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943).
Ranked #98 in FHM's
100 Sexiest Women in the World (2005).
She was #65 on VH1's
100 Most Hottest Celebrity bodies
Named #82 on the
Maxim magazine "Hot 100 of 2005" list.
At the age of just
eleven, she was used in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the
World" advertisements, which were shot by Richard.
Has one sibling, a
half-brother named Marco (born 1988).
She is also fluent
in Serbian, English and French.
As a teenage girl
she lived with her single mother, because her father spent seven years in
prison, and her parents divorced.
She enjoys martial
arts and she practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Daughter, Ever
Anderson, born 3 November 2007. Father is her fiancé, Paul W.S. Anderson.
Divides her time
between New York City and Los Angeles.
She owns a
5559-square-foot house in Los Angeles' Hollywood Hills that she purchased in
1998 for $775,000. A 4026-square-foot house in Beverly Hills that she paid
$2,223,000 for in 2004. And a 3010-square-foot house in the Doral Isles St.
Croix development in Doral, Florida (just outside Miami) that she purchased in
2005 for $910,000. [2009]
Sold her
four-bedroom, 3582-square-foot house in Beverly Hills, Calif. for $2.750
million. She originally purchased the house in late 2001 for $1.8 million.
[2009]
Returned to work
four months after giving birth to her daughter Ever in order to begin filming A Perfect Getaway (2009).
Milla is left-handed
but she plays guitar and shoots right-handed.
Her ethnicity is
half Serbian (paternal) and half Russian (maternal).
Named one of the
"Twenty Most Beautiful People of the Decade" by Interview magazine
(2009).
Named #43 Sexiest
Woman by the Spanish version of DT magazine (2011).
