Biography

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.

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, and several others (see "Picture Gallery" dropdown menu above). Milla has been an international spokesmodel for L'Oréal cosmetics since 1998. Currently, she can be seen in ads for Mango and Etro.

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), and a faux trailer for a non-existent remake of Caligular (2005).

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.

Milla and fellow model Carmen Hawk launched a line of clothing, Jovovich-Hawk in 2003. They opened a showroom in New York City's Greenwich Village in September 2005. The line can be found at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Harvey Nichols, and over 50 stores around the world. Jovovich-Hawk was a finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award in November 2006.

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