Milla Jovovich

Biography of Milla Jovovich

Milica "Milla" Jovovich was born on December 17, 1975 in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. She is an American model, actress, musician and fashion designer of Serbian-Russian origin.

Milla Jovovich was born as the daughter of the Serbian doctor Bogić from Montenegro (then SFR Yugoslavia) and the Russian actress Galina Loginova Jovović.

When Jovovich was five years old, her family emigrated from the Soviet Union to London in 1981 for political reasons. They then went to the United States and lived in Sacramento, California before moving to Los Angeles seven months later.

At the age of 16, Jovovich married her co-star Shawn Andrews, with whom she worked on the film Confusion. However, the marriage was annulled after less than two months at the request of her mother.

Jovovich has held US citizenship since 1994. In the same year she got a contract with EMI Records and released her first album The Divine Comedy, which she had written when she was 15 and recorded when she was 16.

She appeared on the cover of The Face, which led to new commissions and covers in Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Since then, Jovovich has appeared on over 100 covers for, among others, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Harper's Bazaar and InStyle magazines.

During her modeling career she has worked in campaigns for Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Donna Karan, Gap, Versace, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Giorgio Armani, H&M, and Revlon. She has been an International Ambassador for L'Oréal since 1998.

Milla Jovovich was also the face of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Berlin in 2011 and the protagonist of the 2012 Campari calendar. In 1998 and 2012 she graced the Pirelli calendar.

In 1988, she landed her first professional role in the TV movie The Night Train to Kathmandu as Lily McLeod. That same year she had a small role as Samantha Delongpre in the feature film Two Moon Junction. This was followed by roles in the television series Paradise (1988), in the fourth season of Married with Children (1989) and Parker Lewis Can't Lose (1990). A year later, she landed a starring role in Return to the Blue Lagoon.

In 1992, she starred opposite Christian Slater in the comedy Kuffs and landed a small role in the biopic Chaplin. The following year, she starred in the cult film Dazed and Confused as Michelle Burroughs.

In 1997 she married Luc Besson, the director of the sci-fi film The Fifth Element, in which Jovovich made her breakthrough role as the female lead opposite Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman. Jovovich helped develop and learn an alien language for the role.

In 1998, she had a role in Spike Lee's drama He got Game, playing abused prostitute Dakota Burns. In 1999, she played the French national heroine and Saint Joan of Arc in the film of the same name, directed by Luc Besson.

In 2000, she played Eloise in Wim Wenders' thriller The Million Dollar Hotel. She then played bar owner Lucia in the British western Empire and Glory (2000) and the devilish Katinka in the comedy Zoolander (2001).

In 2002, Jovovich starred in the film Resident Evil, based on the video game series of the same name.

In 2004, Jovovich reprized the role of Alice in the Resident Evil sequel called Resident Evil: Apocalypse. In 2006, she starred in the science fiction Ultraviolet. She starred as Violet Song jat Shariff in this action movie where she had to deal with many fight scenes.

Jovovich directed the third installment in the Resident Evil franchise, Resident Evil: Extinction, in 2007.

In 2009, the feature film A Perfect Getaway was released, in which Jovovich co-starred with Kiele Sanchez, Timothy Olyphant, and Steve Zahn. She then played Lucetta, the wife of an incarcerated arsonist opposite Robert De Niro in Stone (2010).

In 2010, Jovovich returned as Alice in the fourth installment of the Resident Evil saga. Resident Evil: Afterlife, produced by her husband Paul W.S. Anderson. She also stars in Dirty Girl, which premiered September 12, 2010 at the Toronto International Film Festival.

In 2011, Jovovich starred as Milady de Winter in The Three Musketeers, also produced and directed by her husband.

Another part of the Resident Evil saga followed in 2012 with Resident Evil: Retribution. Again her husband took over the direction. In the following year she did not appear as an actress, since 2014 she has acted in at least one film every year.

In 2016 she again played the main role in the last part of the Resident Evil series and completed it as the protagonist in all six parts.

From 1997 to 1999 Jovovich wasmarriedtoLuc Besson, who worked with her in 1997 and 1999 as a director on the filmsThe Fifth Elementand Joan of Arc.

In March 2003, she becameengagedto director Paul W.S. Anderson, whom she met while filming the first Resident Evil film, and have beenmarriedto him since August 22, 2009. On November 3, 2007 their daughter Ever Anderson was born, who is also an actress and model. On April 1, 2015, the couple welcomed another daughter, Dashiel. The third daughter Osian was born on February 2, 2020.

In addition to English and Russian, Jovovich also speaks Serbian.