Milla Jovovich Biography
Summary
"Milla Jovovich" (Serbian: "?????? ???????"/"Milica Jovovi?", Ukrainian: "????? ???????"; Russian: "????? ???????"; born "Milica Nata?a Jovovi?" on December 17, 1975) is an American supermodel, actress, musician, singer, and fashion designer. Jovovich has been featured in numerous high profile modeling campaigns as well as in Hollywood films. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science-fiction and action themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the 'reigning queen of kick-butt'.
Jovovich had began modeling at eleven, when Richard Avedon featured her in Revlon's 'Most Unforgettable Women in the World' advertisements, and she continues her career with more notable campaigns for L'Oreal 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 and film roles, she gained notoriety with the film "Return to the Blue Lagoon" (1991), the sequel to "The Blue Lagoon". Jovovich then acted along side 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 has gone onto spawn two sequels, "Resident Evil: Apocalypse" (2004) and "Resident Evil: Extinction" (2007).
In addition to her modeling and acting career, Jovovich released the critically-acclaimed musical album, "The Divine Comedy" in 1994. She continues to release demos for other songs on her official website and contributes to film soundtracks as well; Jovovich has yet to release another album. In 2003, she and model Carmen Hawk created the clothing line Jovovich-Hawk. Now in its third season, the pieces can 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.
Family and early life
Jovovich (pronounced 'Yo-vo-vitch' ( in IPA)) was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union to Bogdanovitch 'Bogich' Jovovi?, a Serbian medical doctor, and Galina Loginova (after marriage, Galina Jovovi?), a Soviet actress of Russian origin.
Her paternal family's estate was at Metohija in Zlopek near Pe?. Her paternal great-grandfather, Bogi? Cami? Jovovi?, was a flag-bearer of the Montenegrin Serb Vasojevi?i clan and an officer in the guard of the King Nicholas I of Montenegro; his wife's name was Milica. Her paternal grandfather, Bogdan Jovovi?, was a commander in the Pri?tina 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 communist government imprisoned him in Goli Otok. When he feared that he could be arrested again, he escaped to Albania and later moved to Kiev. Another version of the story claims that he was the one who took the gold. Milla's father later joined her grandfather in Kiev, where he and his sister graduated in medicine.
In 1981, 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, USA before settling in Los Angeles, California seven months later; Jovovich's parents divorced soon after. Jovovich's mother attempted to support the family with acting jobs, but found little success, and eventually resorted to cleaning houses to earn money. Both her father and mother provided house cleaning services for director Brian de Palma. Jovovich's father was incarcerated for most of her childhood for taking part in a health-insurance scam; he was released in 1999 after 20 years in prison. Jovovich has gone on to say that 'Prison was good for him. He's become a much better person. It gave him a chance to stop and think.' She had attented public schools shortly after arriving in the United States, and learned fluent 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. Jovovich said, 'I was called a Commie and a Russian spy. I was never, ever, ever accepted into the crowd'. In 7th grade, Jovovich left school to focus on her growing career. As a teenager before age 14, she claimed to be rebellious, engaging in drug-taking, shopping mall vandalism, and credit-card fraud. She also has a brother named Marco Jovovich, born in 1988.
Career
Modeling
At the age of nine, she began going to modeling auditions, and was signed by Prima modeling agency. At eleven, Jovovich was noticed by the photographer Richard Avedon. 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 1987, photographers Gene Lemuel and Peter Duke took polaroids of Jovovich, and Lemuel later showed the photographs to Herb Ritts. Impressed, Ritts, re-shot the polaroids for the October 1987, cover of the Italian fashion magazine "Lei"; this was the first of her many cover shoots. In 1988, she made her first professional model contract. Jovovich was among other models who gained controversy for partaking in the industry at a young age.
Later she 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 In Style. 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 a 'international spokesmodel' for L'Oreal cosmetics. She also had a minor cameo in Bret Easton Ellis's novel "Glamorama", a satire of society's obsession with celebrities and beauty.
In an article published in 2002, she was noted as Miuccia Prada's muse and in an article published in 2003, Harpers & Queen magazine noted that 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 ads for Etro. She has noted that 'Modeling was never a priority' and it instead enables her 'to be selective about the creative film decisions I make'.
Acting
Jovovich's mother had 'raised her to be a movie star'name='telegraph'> and in 1985, enrolled Jovovich to the Professional Actors school in California; Jovovich finished as the best pupil, as she did in the ballet school. She continued to act and 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 romance thriller "Two Moon Junction". Following roles on the television series "Paradise" (1988) and "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" (1990), Jovovich was cast as the lead in the sequel to "The Blue Lagoon". "Return to the Blue Lagoon" (1991), placed her opposite Brian Krause in the romance and adventure film, leading to comparisons between her and child model-turned-actress, Brooke Shields (who had starred in the original) — Jovovich was called by press the 'Slavic Brooke Shields'. The role also gained her controversy, much like Shield's gained in "The Blue Lagoon", for appearing nude at a young age. For her role, she was nominated for both 'Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture' in the 1991 Young Artist Awards, and 'Worst New Star' in the 1991 Golden Raspberry Awards. In 1992, 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, girlfriend to Pickford (Shawn Andrews) — Andrews and Jovovich later eloped during the months they spent together filming, but the marriage was annulled soon after. During a scene from the film, she sang lines from 'The Alien Song' from her album, "The Divine Comedy". 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. Discouraged, she took a hiatus from acting roles.Jovovich returned to acting in 1997 with a lead in the Luc Besson directed science fiction action film "The Fifth Element", along side Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman. She portrayed Leeloo, an alien and noted 'perfect being'. Jovovich said she 'worked like hell: no band practice, no clubs, no pot, nothing' to acquire the role and impress Besson, who she later married and divorced. She took part in eight months of acting classes and karate practice previous to filming. Jovovich also co-created and mastered a 400-word alien language 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. Jovovich was nominated for 'Favorite Female Newcomer' at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and 'Best Fight' at the MTV Movie Awards. However, she was also nominated for 'Worst Supporting Actress' at the Razzie Awards. Jovovich's portrayal of Leeloo garnered 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, she 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, Jovovich returned to the action genre playing the title role in "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc", re-uniting her with director Luc Besson. She was featured in armor throughout several extensive battle scenes, and cut her hair to a short lenghth 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 $66,976,317 world wide. Afterwards, Jovovich appeared as the troubled Eloise in "The Million Dollar Hotel" (2000), bar owner, Lucia, in the period film "The Claim" (2000) and the evil Katinka in the comedy "Zoolander" (2001).In 2002, Jovovich starred in the horror/action film "Resident Evil", based on the CAPCOM video game series of same name. She portrayed Alice, the heroine who fights a legion of zombies created by an evil bioweapon producing corporation. She 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, save for a scene that would involve her jumping to a cement platform, in which her management deemed too dangerous. The film was commercially successful, grossing $17,707,106 on its opening weekend (March 15-17 2002), and gaining $40,119,709 domestically and $102,441,078 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 Fanny in "Dummy" (2003), and provided a guest voice on the television series "King of the Hill". The role of Fangora or 'Fanny', in "Dummy", brought Jovovich with Oscar-winning friend Adrien Brody. In the role, Jovovich found an ability to identify with the character because Fangora possessed the most similar qualities to the actresses real life than previous roles.In 2004, Jovovich reprised the role of Alice in the sequel to "Resident Evil", "Resident Evil: Apocalypse". The role required her to partake fight training for three hours a day, as well as wire work, in Toronto, Canada. "Apocalypse" received even more negative reactions from the critics than the first film. Following the release of the film, Jovovich was unhappy with the results and director Alexander Witt's effort. She noted during an interview that year, her large action films 'have my commercial part taken care of, and for my artistic side, I make independent little films that never come out' 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. It grossed $17 million at the domestic box office. That year Jovovich also starred in ".45", as Kat, the revenge driven wife of a drug dealer.Jovovich again reprised her role as Alice in "Resident Evil: Extinction", the third of the series. The film was the #1 movie at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend, grossing an estimated $24 million in 2,828 theaters. It opened stronger than the previous film, "Resident Evil: Apocalypse", which opened with $23 million in 3,284 theaters (over 450 more theaters than "Extinction"). In a March 2006 interview, Jovovich claimed that she will not appear in another action film 'for a long time', citing a want to portray more diverse roles.Jovovich was set to portray Amalia Bezhetskaya in "Azazel" in 2007, however, with the announcement of her pregnancy early that year, the film was postponed until 2008.===Music===Jovovich had begun working on her album as early as 1998, when she was signed by SBK Records after the company heard a demo she recorded. In August 1990, she noted in an interview that her upcoming album would be 'a mix between Kate Bush, Sinead O'Connor, This Mortal Coil and the Cocteau Twins.' Initially presented by SBK as a strictly 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 Ukranian 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. She had chosen the title after meeting Russian artist Alexis Steele who showed Jovovich a sketch for the proposed cover artwork of her 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. John McAlley of "Rolling Stone" magazine had called the album 'remarkable', 'strikingly mature and rich in invention' and had featured 'angst-laced poetry with vivid melodies and arrangements that find a common spirit in synth pop, European folk and psychedelic dream rock'. She released 'Gentleman Who Fell' as her only single from the album with an accompanying music video. Jovovich originally filmed a music video directed by Lisa Bonet, that featured Harry Dean Stanton, however, she was not satisfied with the results and decided film another version. The second version of 'Gentleman Who Fell' received airplay on MTV and is a homage to Maya Deren's short film "Meshes of the Afternoon" (1943). Jovovich had toured the United States during most of 1994 to promote the album, opening for Toad the Wet Sprocket and Crash Test Dummies, and playing smaller acoustic sets as well. Following "The Divine Comedy", she expressed interest in releasing a second album, having ten songs ready for a future recording that was estimated for a summer 1996 release. However, Jovovich has yet to release another album.1998 saw the release of "The Peopletree Sessions", a CD of 'electronic folk music'. Jovovich claims that she did not authorize this CD, but its producer counters that she personally approved the CD and the liner notes and photos in its packaging, and authorized its release to the 'underground' market (online and indie record shops). "The Peopletree Sessions" featured electronic beats merged with scattered lyrics, a considerable change from her wistful first release.Jovovich also led a band called Plastic Has Memory that played about a dozen shows in Los Angeles and New York City in 1999. Though Plastic Has Memory was featured on Hollywood Goes Wild, a benefit celebrity compilation CD, the group never formally released a record and is no longer together. Jovovich often contributes tracks to her film soundtracks, but has also provided songs or collaborated on songs for film soundtracks in which she has not acted. For her film "The Million Dollar Hotel" (2000), she recorded two cover versions of Lou Reed's 'Satellite of Love' which were used on the soundtrack. In 2001, Jovovich was one of many celebrities whose vocals were featured in a cover of 'We are Family' to raise money for the American Red Cross. 2002 saw her provide guest vocals on the song 'Former Lover' on Deepak Chopra's album, "A Gift of Love II: Oceans of Ecstasy". In 2003, Jovovich recorded the single 'Rocket Collecting' and recorded vocals for the song 'Rev 22:00', which appeared on the soundtrack for the film "Underworld". She had recorded the Yiddish Klezmer songs 'Shein Vi Di L'Vone' and 'Mezinka' for her film "Dummy" (2003) which were featured on the film's soundtrack. Her vocals also appeared on the 2004 album "Legion of Boom" by The Crystal Method. Jovovich continues to write songs, which she calls demos, and are provided for free in MP3 format on her website. Jovovich provides license to freely download and remix the tracks, but reserves the right to sell and issue them.Jovovich has reportedly been working with Maynard James Keenan of Tool on his side project Puscifer, so far having contributed vocals to the track 'REV 22:20'.===Fashion design===Jovovich and fellow model Carmen Hawk launched a line of clothing called "Jovovich-Hawk" in 2003. The two also opened a showroom in New York City's Greenwich Village on September 13, 2005. The line is currently in its third season. The atelier is based in Los Angeles, but pieces can 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 April 2006, Jovovich and Hawk launched the Jovovich-Hawk clothing range at Harvey Nichols in London. In November, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and "US Vogue" nominated Jovovich-Hawk as for the CFDA/"Vogue" Fashion Fund Award. The award was founded three years ago and underwritten by "Vogue", Barneys New York, Coach, Juicy Couture, Kellwood Co., Nordstrom and Theory, with additional support from Gucci. The winner would receive $200,000 as well as a year of industry guidance and support. Jovovich-Hawk was nominated as a finalist, with Doo-Ri Chung taking the top prize. In 2007, Jovovich and Hawk designed the costume for Jovovich's character in "Resident Evil: Extinction". The shorts Alice, her character, wears are a variation on the 'Alice Star' Shorts from the Spring 2007 collection. In late 2007, Jovovich-Hawk signed a deal to design a diffusion collection for Target's Go International campaign, following in the footsteps of Luella, Paul & Joe and Proenza Schouler. The collection is set to debut in Spring 2008.==Personal life==Jovovich currently resides in homes in Los Angeles and New York with fiance, film writer and director, Paul W. S. Anderson; the two met while working on "Resident Evil" which Anderson had directed and written. Anderson proposed to Jovovich in 2003, but the two separated for a period of time before becoming a couple again. On November 3, 2007, she gave birth to her and Anderson's first child, a daughter, Ever Gabo J. Anderson.> The child was born on at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, one day before Jovovich's due date of November 4th. The couple has stated that they 'would love to get married, but maybe after the baby.' Wim Wenders, who directed Jovovich's film "The Million Dollar Hotel", is the baby's godfather. She has also stated that she would like to have three children and adopt as well. Jovovich has two miniature Maltese dogs, Bubbles and Madness.Previous to her relationship with Anderson, Jovovich married on screen boyfriend Shawn Andrews in 1992 while filming "Dazed and Confused" together. Andrews was twenty one, while Jovovich was sixteen; the marriage was annulled by her mother two months later. From 1996 to 1997, she dated photographer Mario Sorrenti. In a ceremony in Las Vegas, she married "The Fifth Element" director Luc Besson in 1997, however, the two divorced in 1999. Later in 1999, during the filming of "The Million Dollar Hotel", Jovovich dated co-star Jeremy Davies from May, until the end of the year. Jovovich also dated Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante for seven months in 2000, and later had a relationship with Jamiroquai ex-bassist Stuart Zender, during which time they both lived in London. In 2006, Jovovich mentioned her interest in publishing her private diaries as an autobiography. She had kept a diary since childhood, writing about the locations she has traveled and 'all the mad things that I've done'. Jovovich views it as a a way to 'get it all into a book-like an autobiography', and it would have a 'diary feel to it'. However, Jovovich also noted, 'I'm not sure how interested anyone would be in publishing it, or reading it, for that matter.'In addition to being a smoker, Jovovich practices yoga and meditates often in attempts to live a healthy lifestyle; although not affiliating with a certain religion, she prays and considers herself a 'spiritual person'. She avoids junk foods and prefers to cook for herself. She practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in addition to other varieties of martial arts. Jovovich believes in the legalization of Cannabis, and even appeared in a spread for High Times magazine. Jovovich also enjoys playing the guitar, writing in a diary, and writing poems and lyrics for songs.Jovovich is trilingual-she speaks Russian, French, and English fluently.==Filmography====Discography==*"The Divine Comedy" - released April 1994 (single: 'Gentleman Who Fell')*"The Peopletree Sessions" - Unauthorized by Milla, it's a 1998 release that still turns up with Amazon and other online retailers===Compilations, soundtracks and albums including Jovovich=== *"The Million Dollar Hotel" (soundtrack) - 'Satellite of Love' *"Hollywood Goes Wild" benefit compilation - 'On the Hill' by her band, Plastic Has Memory*"Underworld" (soundtrack) - 'Rocket Collecting'*" The Rules Of Attraction" (soundtrack) - 'The Gentleman Who Fell'*"Dummy" (soundtrack) - 'Shein VI Di l'Vone' and 'Mezinka'*"A Gift of Love II: Oceans of Ecstasy" Deepak Chopra's album- 'Former Lover'==References====External links==* (Official site) *** (1989 interview) in Metro magazine by Anthony DeBartolo
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Milla Jovovich.
