Milla the charming woman
Milla Jovovich born on December 17, 1975) is an American model, actress, musician and fashion designer. During her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, earning her the sobriquet “reigning queen of kick-butt” from the music channel VH1 in 2006. Jovovich began modeling when Herb Ritts photographed her for the cover of the Italian magazine Lei (“She”) in 1987. Richard Avedon then featured her in Revlon’s “Most Unforgettable Women in the World” advertisements and she also appeared in campaigns for L’Oréal cosmetics, Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Donna Karan and Versace. In 1988, she made her first professional acting appearance in the television film The Night Train to Kathmandu and, later that year, she appeared in her first feature film, Two Moon Junction. After a few more lower-profile film and television appearances, such as in the Married… with Children episode “Fair Exchange” (1989) as a French girl, Jovovich gained notoriety following her appearance in the 1991 romance film Return to the Blue Lagoon. In 1992 and 1993, she appeared as Christian Slater’s character’s love interest in Kuffs and as one of the teenagers in the comedy coming-of-age film Dazed and Confused, before her breakthrough alongside Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman in the 1997 Luc Besson science-fiction film The Fifth Element. She then appeared as the central character Joan of Arc in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), also directed by Besson, who was now her husband.In 2002, Jovovich starred in the film adaptation of the video game Resident Evil, which, although disliked by critics,proved very successful. To date, four sequels have followed in which she has reprised her role of “Alice”: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) and Resident Evil: Retribution (2012).In addition to her modeling and acting career, Jovovich has released a music album, The Divine Comedy, in 1994. She continues to release demos for other songs on her official website and contributes to film soundtracks. She has yet, however, to release another album. In 2003, she and model Carmen Hawk created the clothing line Jovovich-Hawk. It ceased operations in early 2008. Prior to its demise, its items could be found at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Harvey Nichols and over fifty other stores around the world.Jovovich now has her own production company, Creature Entertainment.
Milla Jovovich was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, former Soviet Union, the daughter of Bogdan Bogdanović Jovović, a Serbian pediatrician, and Galina Jovovich, a Russian stage actress. She was raised in the Russian Orthodox religion.
Milla’s paternal family’s estate was in Zlopek near Peć. Her paternal great-grandfather, Bogić Camić Jovović, was a flag-bearer of the Vasojevići clan and an officer in the guard of King Nicholas I of Montenegro; his wife’s name was Milica, after whom Milla was named. Her paternal grandfather, Bogdan Jovović, was a commander in the Pristina military area, and later investigated finances in the military areas of Skopje and Sarajevo, where he uncovered massive gold embezzlement. He was punished for refusing to convict a friend of the crime. Later, the government briefly imprisoned him in Goli otok for refusing to testify. When he feared that he could be arrested again, he escaped to Albania and later moved to Kiev. A different version of the story claims that he was the one who took the gold. Milla’s father, Bogich, later joined Bogdan in Kiev, where he and his sister graduated in medicine. In 2000, her grandfather, Bogdan Jovović, died in Kiev. Her mother was born in Tuapse (now in Russia) but moved in her childhood to Dnipropetrovsk (now in Ukraine). Her mother played a part in several films, including Vykrutasy, and the upcoming American silent movie Silent Life (2012).
In 1980, when Milla was five years old, her family left the Soviet Union for political reasons and moved to London. They subsequently moved to Sacramento, California, settling in Los Angeles seven months later. Milla’s parents divorced soon after their arrival in Los Angeles. In 1988, as a result of her father’s relationship with a woman from Argentina, Milla’s half-brother Marco Jovovich, was born. Milla’s mother attempted to support the family with acting jobs, but found little success, and eventually resorted to cleaning houses to earn money. Her mother and father both provided cooking and cleaning services for director Brian De Palma. Milla’s father was incarcerated for participating in an illegal operation concerning medical insurance; he was given a 20-year sentence in 1994, but was released in 1999 after serving five years in an American prison. According to Milla, “Prison was good for him. He’s become a much better person. It gave him a chance to stop and think.” Milla attended public schools in Los Angeles, and became fluent in English in three months (as is common with young children). In school, she was teased by classmates because she had immigrated from the Soviet Union during the Cold War: “I was called a commie and a Russian spy. I was never, ever, ever accepted into the crowd.” At age 12, in seventh grade, Milla left school to focus on modeling. She has stated that she was rebellious during her early teens, engaging in drug use, shopping mall vandalism, and credit-card fraud. In 1994, she became a U.S. citizen.
At the age of nine, Jovovich began going to modeling auditions. She was discovered by Gene Lemuel, who shot test photos of her and later showed them to Herb Ritts in LA. The next day Ritts booked her for the cover of Lei, an Italian magazine. After Jovovich booked Lei, she was signed by Prima Modeling Agency then Richard Avedon hired her for Mademoiselle. Avedon was head of marketing at Revlon at the time, and chose Jovovich to appear with models Alexa Singer and Sandra Zatezalo in Revlon’s “Most Unforgettable Women in the World” advertisements. In 1988, she made her first professional model contract. Jovovich was among other models who ignited controversy by becoming involved in the industry at a young age.Later, Jovovich made it to the cover of The Face, which led to new contracts and covers of Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Since then, she has graced over one hundred magazine covers, including Seventeen, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, and InStyle. Her modeling career has included various campaigns for Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Damiani, Donna Karan, Gap, Versace, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Coach, Giorgio Armani, H&M, and Revlon. Since 1998, Jovovich has been an “international spokesmodel” for L’Oréal cosmetics. She also had a minor cameo in Bret Easton Ellis’ novel Glamorama, a satire of society’s obsession with celebrities and beauty. In an article published in 2002, she was said to be Miuccia Prada’s muse and in an article published in 2003, Harpers & Queen magazine claimed Jovovich was Gianni Versace’s “favourite supermodel”. In 2004, Jovovich topped Forbes magazine’s “Richest Supermodels of the World” list, earning a reported $10.5 million. In 2006, Jovovich was picked up by Spanish clothing line Mango as their new spokesmodel and is currently featured in their ad campaigns; she can also be seen in advertisements for Etro. She has noted that “Modeling was never a priority” and it instead enables her “to be selective about the creative decisions she makes”. In 1988, she appeared in her first professional role in the made-for-television film The Night Train to Kathmandu as Lily McLeod. Later that year, she made her debut in a theatrically released picture with a small role, as Samantha Delongpre, in the romantic thriller Two Moon Junction. Following roles on the television series Paradise (1988), Married… with Children (1989) and Parker Lewis Can’t Lose (1990), Jovovich was cast as the lead as Lilli Hargrave in Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). This sequel to The Blue Lagoon (1980) placed her opposite Brian Krause. Return to the Blue Lagoon led to comparisons between her and child model-turned-actress, Brooke Shields (who had starred in the original)—Jovovich was often called by press the “Slavic Brooke Shields”. The role also gained her controversy, much like Shields gained in The Blue Lagoon, for appearing nude at a young age. For her portrayal of Lilli Hargrave, Jovovich was nominated for both “Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture” at the 1991 Young Artist Awards, and “Worst New Star” at the 1991 Golden Raspberry Awards. In 1992, Milla Jovovich co-starred with Christian Slater in the comedy Kuffs. Later that year, she portrayed Mildred Harris in the Charlie Chaplin biographical film Chaplin. 1993 saw Jovovich in the Richard Linklater cult film Dazed and Confused, in which she played Michelle Burroughs, on screen girlfriend to Pickford (played by her then real life boyfriend Shawn Andrews). Jovovich was heavily featured in the promotional material for the film, however, upon the film’s release, she was upset to find her role was considerably trimmed from the original script. The bulk of Jovovich’s role was to be shot on the last day of filming; however, she was misinformed of the date, and ultimately had one line in the film, “No”, in addition to singing a line from “The Alien Song” from her album, The Divine Comedy. Discouraged, she took a hiatus from acting roles, during which time she moved to Europe and began focusing on a music career.
Jovovich returned to acting in 1997 with a lead in the Luc Besson-directed science fiction action film The Fifth Element, alongside Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman. She portrayed Leeloo, an alien who was the “supreme being”. Jovovich said she “worked like hell: no band practice, no clubs, no pot, nothing” to acquire the role and impress Besson, whom she married on December 14, 1997, but later divorced. Jovovich also co-created and mastered an alien language of over 400 words for her role. She wore a costume that came to be known as the “ACE-bandage” costume, a revealing body suit made of medical bandages designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier. The Fifth Element was selected as the opening film for the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and its worldwide box office gross was over $263 million, more than three times its budget of $80 million. The Fifth Element was often praised for its visual style and unique costumes, and film reviewer James Berardinelli, explained “Jovovich makes an impression, although her effectiveness has little to do with acting and less to do with dialogue”. Jovovich was nominated for “Favorite Female Newcomer” at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and “Best Fight” at the MTV Movie Awards. Jovovich’s portrayal of Leeloo inspired a video game and a planned action figure, but the figure was never released due to licensing problems. In a 2003 interview, Jovovich said Leeloo was her favorite role to portray. In 1998, Jovovich had a role in the Spike Lee drama He Got Game as abused prostitute Dakota Burns, appearing with Denzel Washington and Ray Allen. In 1999, she appeared in the music video for the song “If You Can’t Say No” by Lenny Kravitz. In 1999, Jovovich returned to the action genre playing the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, reuniting her with director Luc Besson. She was featured in armor throughout several extensive battle scenes, and cut her hair to a short length for the role. Jovovich received generally good reviews for her performance, although she also received a Razzie Award nomination for “Worst Actress”. The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc did moderately well at the box office, gaining $66 million worldwide. In 2000, Jovovich appeared as the troubled Eloise in The Million Dollar Hotel, a film based on a concept story by Bono of the band U2 and Nicholas Klein. Directed by Wim Wenders, Jovovich starred alongside Jeremy Davies and Mel Gibson, in addition to providing vocals on the film’s soundtrack. Afterwards, she portrayed bar owner Lucia, in the British western film The Claim (2000), and the evil Katinka in the cameo-laced comedy Zoolander (2001).In 2002, Jovovich starred in the horror/action film Resident Evil, released in the United States on March 15 2002 and based on the CAPCOM video game series of the same name. She portrayed Alice, the film’s heroine, who fights a legion of zombies created by the evil Umbrella Corporation. Jovovich had accepted the role of Alice because she and her brother had been fans of the video game franchise, saying, “It was exciting for me just watching him play, I could sit for 5 hours and we would sit all day and play this game.” Jovovich had performed all the stunts required in the film, except for a scene that would involve her jumping to a cement platform, which her management deemed too dangerous, and had trained in karate, kickboxing, and combat-training. The film was commercially successful, grossing $17 million on its opening weekend, and gaining $40 million domestically and $102 million worldwide. Later, she portrayed the manipulative gang wife Erin in No Good Deed (2002), Nadine in the romantic comedy You Stupid Man (2002), punk rocker Fangora (“Fanny”) in Dummy (2003), and provided a guest voice on the television series King of the Hill. The role of Fangora in Dummy, allowed Jovovich to act in film with Oscar-winning Adrien Brody, who was a friend prior to filming. Jovovich found it easy to identify with this role because she felt Fangora, as opposed to previous characters, possessed similar qualities to the actress’ own life.In 2004, Jovovich reprised the role of Alice in the sequel to Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse. The role required her to do fight training for three hours a day, in addition to the three months prior to filming in which she had “gun training, martial arts, everything”. Apocalypse received even more negative reactions from the critics than the first film, but it was an even greater commercial success, ranking number one at the box office unlike the first film. Following the release of the film, Jovovich was unhappy with the critical results and director Alexander Witt’s effort. She noted during an interview that year that her large action films take care of the commercial part of her career, while she acts in “independent little films that never come out” to appease her artistic side, and “It’s a good balance”. The following year, she was featured in Gore Vidal’s faux trailer remake of Caligula, as Drusilla. In 2006, Jovovich’s film, the science fiction/action thriller Ultraviolet, was released on March 3. She played the title role of Violet Song jat Shariff, a role that also involved heavily choreographed fight sequences and Gun Kata, a fictional martial art combining statistical analysis and gunplay. It was not screened for critics, but when reviewed, it was critically panned, grossing $31 million worldwide.That year, Jovovich also starred in .45, as Kat, the revenge driven girlfriend of an illegal gun and drug dealer with Scottish actor and DJ Angus Macfadyen. In 2007, Jovovich reprised her role as Alice in Resident Evil: Extinction, the third of the Resident Evil series. The film grossed an estimated $24 million in 2,828 theaters on its opening weekend, topping the box office gross for that week. It opened stronger than its predecessor, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which opened with $23 million in 3,284 theaters (over 450 more theaters than Extinction). In a March 2006 interview, Jovovich said that she would not appear in another action film “for a long time”, expressing a desire to portray more diverse roles,[citation needed] but she added that talks of another sequel in the Resident Evil franchise were a “real possibility”.
In 2009, Jovovich starred in David Twohy’s A Perfect Getaway with Kiele Sanchez, Timothy Olyphant, and Steve Zahn. The film is a thriller about a newlywed couple (Milla and Zahn) on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Filming began Spring 2008.
Jovovich played Lucetta, the wife of a jailed arsonist (played by Edward Norton) in Stone, a psychological thriller starring Robert De Niro. Filming began in May 2009 at the recently closed Southern Michigan Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan.Jovovich played the part of Dr. Abigail Tyler in the science-fiction thriller The Fourth Kind and will star in the psychological thriller Faces in the Crowd, which is written and directed by Julien Magnat; in the latter film, she plays the survivor of a serial killer’s attack that leaves her suffering from a condition called prosopagnosia, which renders her unable to recognize faces. Jovovich returned as Alice in the fourth movie of the Resident Evil series, Afterlife, which was directed by her husband, Paul W. S. Anderson. She had a role in Dirty Girl, which premiered on September 12, 2010 at the Toronto Film Festival, opposite Juno Temple, William H. Macy, Mary Steenburgen, and Tim McGraw. Jovovich starred in Paul W. S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers, as Milady de Winter, in 2011. Jovovich is set to star in David R. Ellis’ horror film Bad Luck, based on a screenplay by David Schouw. She will appear in Famke Janssen’s debut directional film Bringing Up Bobby, which also stars Marcia Cross. Vikrutasi, a Russian film which translates into Tricksters, also stars Jovovich. Jovovich was set to portray Amalia Bezhetskaya in The Winter Queen in 2007; however, with the announcement of her pregnancy early that year, the film was postponed. In the spring of 2011, Seven Arts and GFM Films announced they would be merging their distribution operations. The joint venture is expected to release The Winter Queen under the direction of Fyodor Bondarchuk.She returned to her role as Alice in the fifth installment of Resident Evil for Resident Evil: Retribution, which was released on September 14, 2012
