Biography

Early Life

Milla Jovovich (pronounced "mee-luh" "yo-vo-vitch") was born December 17, 1975 in Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine to Bogdanovitch Jovovich (father, Serbian doctor), and Galina Loginova Jovovich (mother, Russian actress). In 1981, Milla and her family left the Soviet Union and moved to London, England and then to Sacramento, California, ultimately settling in Los Angeles.

Modeling

At the age of eleven, Jovovich was spotted by photographer Richard Avedon, who featured her in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements. In October 1987, she was on the cover of the Italian fashion magazine Lei, her first of many covers. In 1988, she signed her first professional modeling contract.

Milla has appeared in hundreds of magazines and on dozens of covers. She has been featured in ad campaigns for several brands, including Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Damiani, Donna Karan, Gap, Versace, Mango, Etro and several others (see "Gallery" dropdown menu above). Milla has been an international spokesmodel for L'Oréal cosmetics since 1998. In addition to L'Oréal, Milla has been in campaigns for Paris department stores, Samsonite, Derimod, and Gap in 2008.

Acting

Milla's early modeling led to acting roles, and in 1988 she appeared in her first film role in the romance thriller Two Moon Junction. Her first leading role was in Return to the Blue Lagoon in 1991, for which she was nominated for the "Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture" in the 1991 Young Artist Awards. She appeared on some TV shows around this time and also in the films Kuffs (1992), Chaplin (1992), and Dazed and Confused (1993).

Milla's breakout role was as Leeloo, the perfect being in Luc Besson's The Fifth Element (1997). She later starred in several other action movies, including the Resident Evil trilogy (Resident Evil (2002), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)) and Ultraviolet (2006).

Milla has also been in several comedies and dramas, including Spike Lee's He Got Game (1998), The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), The Claim (2000), The Million Dollar Hotel (2000), Zoolander (2001), Dummy (2003), No Good Deed (2003), You Stupid Man (2003), a faux trailer for a non-existent remake of Caligula (2005), and .45 (2006).

Milla's upcoming movies include:

__ Palermo Shooting (2008) - Wim Wenders' film about a successful photographer who finds himself persecuted by a mysterious shooter who's after him with a vengeance. Milla appears as herself.
__ Azazel (formerly known as The Winter Queen) (2009) - based on the fifth novel in Boris Akunin's Fandorin series.
__ A Perfect Getaway (2009) - a Hawaiian honeymoon turns dangerous for two lovers (Milla and Steve Zahn) when they discover they are being stalked by a pair of killers.
__ The 4th Kind (2009) - a fact-based thriller involving an ongoing unsolved mystery in Alaska, where one town has seen an extraordinary number of unexplained disappearances during the past 40 years and there are accusations of a federal cover-up. Milla plays a woman investigating the disappearances in the town.
__ Keep Coming Back (2010) - Milla stars as an alcoholic former stripper in the directorial debut of veteran actor William H. Macy.

Music

In 1994, Milla released her critically acclaimed folk album, The Divine Comedy. Inspired by a love of "elves and magic trees", Milla wrote the lyrics at 15 and recorded the album when she was just 16. Acoustic, folky, and hard to categorize, the eleven songs on The Divine Comedy are laced with Slavic sadness and X-istential self-doubt. "In a Glade" is a beautiful traditional Ukrainian folk song that Milla sings in her native tongue.

Milla led a band called Plastic Has Memory which played about a dozen shows in Los Angeles and New York City in 1999. Although Plastic Has Memory never released a record, they did contribute one song, "On the Hill", to Hollywood Goes Wild, a benefit CD for The Wildlife Waystation.

Milla performed the song "Left and Right" at Fashion Rocks in London, England in October 2003 (MP3). She has also had songs on several albums, including 2 cover versions of Lou Reed's "Satellite of Love" on the The Million Dollar Hotel soundtrack (2000), "Rocket Collecting" on the Underworld soundtrack (2003), and "Shein Vi Di L'Vone" & "Mezinka" (Yiddish Klezmer songs) on the Dummy soundtrack (2003).

Milla sang on "We Are Family" (2001) (American Red Cross benefit CD), "Former Lover" from Deepak Chopra's album, A Gift of Love II: Oceans of Ecstasy (2002), and "I Know It's You" by The Crystal Method (2004).

Milla continues to write demos. These demos are available here for free. Fans are encouraged to enjoy them and remix them, but may not sell them.

Fashion Design

Jovovich-Hawk was a fashion line founded by Milla and Carmen Hawk in 2003. Jovovich-Hawk was a finalist in 2006 for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA)/Vogue Fashion Fund initiative. Milla's character Alice wore Jovovich-Hawk clothing in Resident Evil: Extinction (2007). Mango released a Jovovich-Hawk for MNG collection in 2007. CNN interviewed Milla and Carmen for a feature on Jovovich-Hawk in 2007 (video). Jovovich-Hawk ended in 2008. See Jovovich-Hawk.com for more information (video preview).

Philanthropy

Milla supports several charities, including OCRF (Ovarian Cancer Research Fund), amfAR, Wildlands Project, and UNESCO World Heritage Centre.

Milla's PSA for the OCRF:

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