Milla Jovovich

By
Susan Giles
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Milla Jovovich

Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich is an American actress who starred in many action and science fiction movies, such as the Resident Evil franchise and The Fifth Element with the famous American actor Bruce Willis. Such roles earned her the title “Reigning Queen of Kick-Butt” in 2006 by the music channel VH1.

Besides her incredible acting career, she is also a singer and a model who, according to Forbes, was the highest-paid model in 2004. In this article, we’re going to delve into Milla’s early life before stardom and take a look at her astonishing career as a superstar.

Early Life

Jovovich was born on December 17th, 1975, in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. Her mother, Galina Jovovich, is a Russian actress, and her father, Bogdan Jovovich, is a Serbian doctor. Having spent her early life in Moscow, Jovovich emigrated with her parents to London in 1980 when she was 5 years old.

They emigrated to Sacramento, California afterward, and 7 months later, they settled in Los Angeles, California. After Jovovich’s parents’ divorce, her father had a son with an Argentinian woman. Her mother struggled to find acting jobs in the US and, therefore, resorted to cleaning houses for money.

Acting Career

- Early Roles

Milla’s mother, raised her to be a star. So, she enrolled her in acting classes at the age of 10, and the young star attended an acting school for children. Embarked on her acting career, Jovovich made her first appearance in 1988 in the romantic thriller Two Moon Junction, then in The Night Train to Kathmandu.

She also made appearances in multiple TV series, such as Paradise, Married… with Children, and Parker Louis Can’t Lose. At the age of 15, Jovovich was the lead star in Return to the Blue Lagoon, which led to her nomination at the Young Artist Awards for “Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture" in 1991 alongside "Worst New Star" at the 1991 Golden Raspberry Awards.

After playing roles in Kuffs, Chaplin, and Dazed and Confused, Jovovich was frustrated with her roles and moved to Europe.

- Breakthrough and International Success

In 1997, Milla returned to the screens with a lead role with Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman in the science fiction film The Fifth Element. She played the role of an alien called Leeloo, and she helped create a fictional language for the character consisting of over 400 words.

The character’s costume that is made of medical bandages became popular and known as the “ACE-bandage” costume. A video game with the character Leeloo was inspired by the film, and an action figure was planned; however, owing to licensing issues, the figure was never released.

Despite her limited dialogue in the film, Milla was nominated for "Favorite Female Newcomer" at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and "Best Fight" at the MTV Movie Awards.

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/revyou.com/uploads/thumbnail-960/1614420520892Hellboy-Milla-Jovovich.png Milla Jovovich

A year later, she appeared with Denzel Washington in the drama film He Got Game. In 1999, she also appeared in Lenny Kravitz’s music video “If You Can’t Say No”. In the same year, she played a lead role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc.

In 2002, she played Eloise in The Million Dollar Hotel in addition to providing the vocals for the soundtracks of the film. The same year, she played Lucia in the British film The Claim. In 2001, she played the evil Katinka in Zoolander.

Starting her legendary role as Alice in the franchise Resident Evil in 2002, Milla trained for hours to master karate and kickboxing alongside taking gun training and martial arts classes. In 2004, she returned as our beloved heroine in the sequel Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

Unfortunately, the sequel wasn’t favored by critics as the first film; however, it did manage to rank number one at the box office. Reprising Alice’s role in the film series, Milla starred in the third film, Resident Evil: Extinction, in 2007. The film topped the box office for a week grossing almost 24 million USD. In 2010, Milla returned with her fourth sequel to the franchise Resident Evil, Afterlife.

Despite her astonishing role in Resident Evil, the critics weren’t always positive about her role. Milla, however, stated that she starred in such films to enhance her commercial presence and that she plays other underrated roles that are less-known to the masses in order to satisfy the artist within her.

Having said that, in 2002, she portrayed Erin, who is a manipulative woman in No Good Deed, and Nadine in the romantic comedy You Stupid Man. In 2003, she played a punk rocker called Fanny in the film Dummy, which helped her act with Adrien Brody, the Oscar-winning actor.

She also played other roles in films like Ultraviolet (2006), The Perfect Getaway (2009), and The Fourth Kind (2009) in which she depicted the role of a psychologist who uses hypnosis to reveal her patient’s alien abduction memories.

Personal Life

- A Sneak Peek Into Jovovich’s Most Significant Relationships

Milla is currently married to the British film writer and director Paul W. S. Anderson. They got married in 2009, and they have residences in Los Angeles as well as in New York City. Jovovich and Anderson have been engaged on and off for years until she gave birth to their first daughter, Ever Gabo, in 2007.

In 2015, they had their second daughter Dashiel Edan, and in 2020, they had their third daughter Osian Lark Elliot. Before Jovovich got married to Anderson, she was married to Shawn Andrews- her boyfriend on-screen, during the filming of Dazed and Confused. Milla was only 16 when she married Andrews who was 21 at the time, hence, her mother annulled the marriage after only 2 months.

- Lifestyle and Advocacy

Having been a former smoker, Milla advocated helping legalize cannabis, appearing on the cover of the American magazine and cannabis brand High Time. She likes to maintain a healthy lifestyle by refraining from junk food and cooking herself alongside practicing yoga and meditation. Moreover, some of her hobbies are playing the guitar as well as writing songs and poems.