Jovovich began modeling at age 10, when she was discovered by photographer Carlos Reynosa. Later Gene Lemuel convinced Herb Ritts to shoot her for the cover of Lei magazine. Richard Avedon featured her in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements, and she continued her career with other campaigns for L'Oréal cosmetics, Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Donna Karan, and Versace. In 1988, she had her first professional acting role in the television film The Night Train to Kathmandu, and later that year, she appeared in her first feature film, Two Moon Junction. Following more small television appearances such as the "Fair Exchange" (1989) and a 1989 role as a French girl (she was 14 at the time) on a Married... with Children[5] episode and film roles, she gained notoriety with the romance film Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). She appeared in 1993's Dazed and Confused, before a short hiatus. Jovovich then acted alongside Bruce Willis in the science fiction film The Fifth Element (1997), and later played the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). In 2002, she starred in the video game adaptation Resident Evil, which spawned three sequels: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) and Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010).
In addition to her modeling and acting career, Jovovich 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; Jovovich has yet to release another album. In 2003, she and model Carmen Hawk created the clothing line Jovovich-Hawk, which ceased operations in early 2008. In its third season prior to its demise, the pieces could be found at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Harvey Nichols, and over 50 stores around the world. Jovovich also has her own production company, Creature Entertainment.
Early life and family
Milla was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, former Soviet Union, the daughter of Bogdan Bogdanović Jovović (Богдан Богдановић Јововић), a Serbian pediatrician, and Galina Mikhaylovna Loginova (Галина Михайловна Логинова), a Russian stage actress, and was raised in the Russian Orthodox religion.
Milla's paternal family's estate was in Zlopek near Peć in the northwestern part of Metohija Valley, Serbia. 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).
In 1980, when Milla was five years old, her family left the Soviet Union for political reasons and moved to London. They subsequently lived in Sacramento, California before settling in Los Angeles seven months later; Milla's parents divorced soon after.
In 1988, as a result of her father's relationship with a woman from Argentina, Milla's half-brother Marco Jovovich, was born.
Milla attended public schools shortly after arriving in the United States, and became fluent in English in three months. During school, many of the students had teased her 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.
Modeling career
At the age of nine, she began going to modeling audition. At ten years old she signed with Model and Photographer Carlos Reynosa as part of Prima Modeling agency.She was later shot by photographer and poet Gene Lemuel. He shot some test photos 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 gained controversy for becoming involved in the industry at a young age.
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".
Acting career
Early work (1985–1993)
Jovovich's mother had "raised her to be a movie star" and in 1985, enrolled Jovovich in the Professional Actors school in California.
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.
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.
Breakthrough (1997–2001)
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| Jovovich at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. |
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 later married on December 14, 1997, but later divorced. Jovovich also co-created and mastered an over 400-word alien language for her role.[36] 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". 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).
International success (2002–2006)
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| Jovovich at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival |
In 2002, Jovovich starred in the horror/action film Resident Evil, released in the United States on March 15, 2002. 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. 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 English actor and DJ Angus Macfadyen.
Recent and future roles (2007–present)
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, but she added that talks of another sequel in the Resident Evil franchise were a "real possibility".
Jovovich speaking at WonderCon 2010 about Resident Evil: Afterlife.
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[60] 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.
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.
Awards and nominations
Jovovich has been nominated for numerous awards. In 1992, she was nominated for Young Artist Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture Award for her role in Return to the Blue Lagoon.
In 1997, she was nominated for the Saturn Best Supporting Actress award, the Blockbuster Entertainment Favorite Newcomer Award, the MTV Movie Best Fight Scene Award (between her and aliens), for her role as Leeloo in The Fifth Element.
In 2002, she received a nomination for the Saturn Best Actress Award for her role as Alice in Resident Evil and won Best Actress in a sci-fi/action film for Resident Evil: Extinction from the Scream Awards in 2008.
She has also been nominated for Best Horror Actress for playing Dr. Abigal Tyler in The Fourth Kind for Scream Awards 2010 and won the Hollywood Spotlight Award at the 14th Annual Hollywood Awards Gala for her role as Lucetta in Stone.
Music career
Jovovich had begun working on a music album as early as 1988, when she was signed by SBK Records after the company heard a demo she recorded. In August 1990, she asserted in an interview that the then-forthcoming album would be "a mix between Kate Bush, Sinéad O'Connor, This Mortal Coil, and the Cocteau Twins". After it was initially presented by SBK strictly as a pop album, Jovovich protested, insisting on using her personal poetry for lyrics and recording her own instrumental material. Jovovich had written the songs when she was fifteen, with the exception of a Ukrainian folk song, "In a Glade", that she covered. In April 1994, billed under her first name, she released The Divine Comedy, a title that was a reference to the epic poem by Dante Alighieri of the same name. Jovovich had chosen the title after seeing Russian artist Alexis Steele's proposed cover artwork sketch for the then untitled album. Jovovich found that the sketch had "all the struggle that I'm singing about. It IS the divine comedy". The Divine Comedy was well received by critics, and featured pop-infused traditional Ukrainian folk songs that led to comparisons with musicians Tori Amos and Kate Bush.
In May 1999, Jovovich along with Chris Brenner formed an experimental band called Plastic Has Memory, in which she wrote the songs, sang, and played electric guitar. band was "much heavier and darker than the vaguely Ukrainian folk-sounding elements of her first album" and had a similar sound to a grunge and trip hop Portishead. Plastic Has Memory played about a dozen shows in Los Angeles and New York City for a potential Virgin Records album release, one of which Mick Jagger had attended. Though Plastic Has Memory was featured on Hollywood Goes Wild, a benefit celebrity compilation album, the group never formally released a record and is no longer together.
Jovovich continues to write songs which she refers to as "demos", and which are provided for free in MP3 format on her official website. She provides license to freely download and remix the tracks, but reserves the right to sell and issue them.
Fashion design
Jovovich and fellow model Carmen Hawk launched a line of clothing called Jovovich-Hawk in 2003. The pair opened a showroom in New York City's Greenwich Village on September 13, 2005, and the line lasted for four years. All of the dresses for Jovovich-Hawk line were designed by herself and her partner Carmen Hawk, in The atelier is based in Los Angeles, but pieces could be found at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Harvey Nichols, and over 50 stores around the world. Vogue has praised the line for its "girl-about-town cult status most designers spend years trying to achieve."
In November 2006, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and US Vogue nominated Jovovich-Hawk for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award. Jovovich-Hawk was nominated as a finalist, although Doo-Ri Chung took the top prize.
In late 2008, Jovovich and Hawk mutually agreed to end the business due to increased demands on their time. Jovovich explained, "I'm an artist. I'm not someone who can deal with shipping rates and taxes."
Media personality
Jovovich has been noted for her careers as a model, singer and actress. Music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt" for her roles in various sci-fi and action films and Rebecca Flint Marx of Allmovie said that despite the negative critical response for the Resident Evil films, the franchise has turned Jovovich into an "A-list action star." Her action roles have given her a geek following for which MTV said she was "Every Geek's Dream Girl."
In 2004, Jovovich was ranked #69 on Maxim magazine's "Top 100 Hot List",ranked #82 in 2005 and ranked #21 in 2010. Maxim also named her #11 on their list of "Hottest Nerd Crushes." In 2008, she was ranked #90 on Ask Men's Top 99 Women of 2008 List. In 2011, Jovovich attended and sang at the birthday celebration of Mikhail Gorbachov. The actress also gave a speech in which she thanked Gorbachov, saying that when she and her family left the Soviet Union in 1980 they were sadly sure that they would never see their relatives again and that thanks to him they have been reunited again.
Personal life
Jovovich currently resides in homes in Los Angeles and New York with her husband, film writer and director Paul W. S. Anderson, whom she married on 22 August 2009. The two met while working on Resident Evil, which Anderson wrote and directed, and in which Jovovich starred. Anderson proposed to Jovovich in 2003, but the two separated for a period of time before becoming a couple again. On November 3, 2007, Jovovich gave birth to her and Anderson's first child, a daughter, Ever Gabo Anderson. The child was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, one day before Jovovich's due date of November 4.
Prior to her relationship with Anderson, Jovovich married on-screen boyfriend Shawn Andrews in 1992 while filming Dazed and Confused together. Andrews was 21, while Jovovich was 16; the marriage was annulled by her mother two months later. Shortly after the annulment, Jovovich moved to Europe with her friend and musician Chris Brenner where she met and then lived with her new boyfriend, Jamiroquai ex-bassist Stuart Zender, in London from May 1994 to October 1995. From 1995 to 1997, she dated photographer Mario Sorrenti. In Las Vegas, she married The Fifth Element director Luc Besson in 1998 where they went skydiving directly after the ceremony; they divorced in 1999. Between 1998 and 2001, she befriended the young poet and musician, Anno Birkin, and each was the other's inspiration behind many of their compositions. Jovovich became involved with Birkin romantically just before his death in a car accident in late 2001. Jovovich also dated former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante, for seven months in 2000.
In addition to being a smoker, Jovovich has advocated the legalisation of cannabis, and appeared in a spread and on the cover for High Times. In an article published in 1994, she admitted that her only vices were cigarettes and cannabis. She practices yoga and meditates often in attempts to live a healthy lifestyle; although not affiliating with any specific religion, she prays and considers herself a "spiritual person".
Jovovich has establish a charitable foundation to help Ukrainian children in 2005. At the time she referred to herself: ”I am a strong Ukrainian girl, that is why I work a lot”.
Jovovich can speak Russian and English fluently, and a little French.
Discography
1994 The Divine Comedy
1st Studio Album
Released: 5 April 1994
Recorded: 1993
Label: SBK
Producers: Rupert Hine, Richard Feldman
Genre: Folk rock, Alternative rock, Soft rock
–
UK: 2,000+
Unauthorized album by Jovovich
Year Album Peak chart positions Sales
UK
1998 The People Tree Sessions
Second Studio Album
Released: Unauthorized by Jovovich after released to the market,
(however it remains available online)
Recorded: 1997/1998
Label: SBK
Producers: David Turin, D. Elder
Genre: Folk rock, Electronic, Experimental folk
–
UK:
Compilations, soundtracks and albums featuring Jovovich
The Million Dollar Hotel: Music from the Motion Picture (2000) – "Satellite of Love" (with the MDH Band)
Hollywood Goes Wild Benefit compilation (2001) – "On the Hill" (with her band, Plastic Has Memory)
The Rules of Attraction Soundtrack (2002) – "The Gentleman Who Fell"
Dummy Soundtrack (2002) – "Shein VI Di l'Vone" and "Mezinka" (with Botanica Bulgar Ensemble)
A Gift of Love II: Oceans of Ecstasy (by Deepak Chopra) (2002) – "Former Lover" (with Deepak Chopra)
Underworld Soundtrack (2003) – "Rocket Collecting" (with Danny Lohner)
Legion of Boom (by The Crystal Method) (2004) – "I Know It's You" (with The Crystal Method)
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans Soundtrack (2009) – Underneath the Stars (Renholder Mix) (by The Cure, also featuring with Maynard James Keenan)
"The Mission" (2008 single by Puscifer, a side project of Maynard James Keenan, vocalist of Tool) (also featuring Renholder)
Filmography
1988 Two Moon Junction Samantha Delongpre
1991 Return to the Blue Lagoon Lilli Hargrave
1992 Kuffs Maya Carlton
1992 Chaplin Mildred Harris
1993 Dazed and Confused Michelle Burroughs
1997 The Fifth Element Leeloo
1998 He Got Game Dakota Burns
1999 The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc Joan of Arc
2000 The Claim Lucia
2001 The Million Dollar Hotel Eloise
2001 Zoolander Katinka Ingabogovinanana
2002 Resident Evil Alice
2002 You Stupid Man Nadine
2003 Dummy Fangora "Fanny" Gurkel
2003 No Good Deed Erin
2004 Resident Evil: Apocalypse Alice
2005 Gore Vidal's Caligula Drusilla Trailer/Short film
2006 Ultraviolet Violet Song jat Shariff
2007 .45 Kat
2007 Resident Evil: Extinction Alice
2008 Palermo Shooting Herself
2009 A Perfect Getaway Cydney Anderson
2009 The Fourth Kind Dr. Abigail "Abbey" Tyler
2010 Stone Lucetta
2010 Resident Evil: Afterlife Alice
2010 Dirty Girl Sue-Ann
2011 Vykrutasy (Frills) Nadya Russian Movie
2011 Bringing Up Bobby Olive
2011 The Three Musketeers Milady de Winter Post-production
2011 Faces in the Crowd Anna Marchant Post-production
2012 Resident Evil: Retribution Alice Pre-production
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