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 Early life and familyJovovich was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, (now Ukraine), the daughter of Bogdan Bogdanovic Jovovic, a Yugoslav pediatrician of Serbian extraction and Galina Loginova, a Soviet stage actress of ethnic Ukrainian-Russian descent. Jovovich's paternal family's estate was at Metohija in Zlopek near Pec. Her paternal great-grandfather, Bogic Camic Jovovic, was a flag-bearer of the Serbian Vasojevici clan and an officer in the guard of the King Nicholas I of Montenegro; his wife's name was Milena. Her paternal grandfather, Bogdan Jovovic, was a commander in the Priština 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. Bogich later joined Bodgan in Kiev, where he and his sister graduated in medicine. In 2000, her grandfather, Bogdan Jovovic, died in Kiev. In 1981, when Jovovich 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, California seven months later; Jovovich's parents divorced soon after. In 1988, as a result of her father's relationship with an Argentinan woman, Jovovich's half-brother Marco Jovovich, was born. 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 partaking in an illegal operation with medical insurance; he was given a twenty year sentence in 1994, but was released in 1999 after serving five years in an American prison. Jovovich has stated that "Prison was good for him. He's become a much better person. It gave him a chance to stop and think." Jovovich attended 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". At age twelve in seventh grade, Jovovich left school to focus on her growing career. As a young teenager, she claimed to be rebellious, engaging in drug use, shopping mall vandalism, and credit-card fraud. Early work (1985-1993)  Jovovich's mother had "raised her to be a movie star" and in 1985, enrolled Jovovich to 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) 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 lead 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 Lili, Jovovich 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.
Breakthrough (1997-2001)  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 "perfect 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 divorced in 1999. She took part in eight months of acting classes and karate practice prior to filming. Jovovich also co-created and mastered an over 800-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. 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". 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, Jovovich 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, she appeared in the music video for the song If You Can't Say No by Lenny Kravitz. 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 length 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 million world wide. Afterwards, 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 along side 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 celebrity cameo laced comedy Zoolander (2001).International success (2002-2006)  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 same name, she portrayed Alice, the film's hero 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, save for a scene that would involve her jumping to a cement platform, which her management deemed too dangerous, and had trained in karate, kick-boxing and combat-training. The film was commercially successful, grossing $17 million on its opening weekend, and gaining $40 million domestically and $102 million 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 Fangora ("Fanny") in Dummy (2003), and provided a guest voice on the television series King of the Hill. The role of Fangora in Dummy, allowed Jovovich to act in film with Oscar-winning Adrien Brody, who was a friend prior to filming. Jovovich found it easy to identify with this role because she felt Fangora, as opposed to previous characters, possessed similar qualities to the actress's own life.  In 2004, Jovovich reprised the role of Alice in the sequel to Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse. The role required her to do fight training for three hours a day, in addition to the three months prior to filming in which she had "gun training, martial arts, everything". 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 that her large action films take care of the commercial part of her career, while she acts in "independent little films that never come out" to appease her artistic side, 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, grossing $31 million world wide. That year Jovovich also starred in .45, as Kat, the revenge driven wife of a drug dealer.Recent and future roles (2007-present)
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 Summer of 2008. Also in 2008 Milla will star 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 who run into two hikers who turn out to be vicious killers. Filming is scheduled to begin Spring 2008.  Personal lifeJovovich currently resides in homes in Los Angeles and New York with her fiancé, film writer and director Paul W. S. Anderson. The two met while working on Resident Evil in which Anderson wrote and directed, and Jovovich starred. Anderson proposed to Jovovich in 2003, but the two separated for a period of time before becoming a couple again. The couple has stated that they "would love to get married], but maybe after the baby." On November 3, 2007, Jovovich gave birth to her and Anderson's first child, a daughter, Ever Gabo Anderson.84]85] The child was born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, one day before Jovovich's due date of November 4th. Ever, a male Scottish name, was given to reflect Anderson's Scottish heritage, while the middle name of Gabo (pronounced "Gabeau") was a combination of Jovovich's parent's names — the first two letters of mother Galina and the first two letters of father Bogie's. Wim Wenders, who directed Jovovich's film The Million Dollar Hotel, is the baby's godfather. Jovovich has stated that she would like to have three children, saying through means of adoption as well. She has two miniature Maltese dogs, Bubbles and Madness. 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 and lived with her then boyfriend, Jamiroquai ex-bassist Stuart Zender, in London from 1994 to 1996. 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; they 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 her "idol", Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante, for seven months in 2000. 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 she's] done". Jovovich has stated that she views publication as a way to "get it all into a book—like an autobiography", and it would have a "diary feel to it". However, she also commented that she was "…not sure how interested anyone would be in publishing it, or reading it, for that matter." In addition to being a smoker, Jovovich has advocated the legalization 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 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 also enjoys playing the guitar, writing in a diary, and writing poems and lyrics for songs. Jovovich is multilingual—she can speak English, French, her maternal Russian and her paternal Serbian.  "I am a strong Ukrainian girl, that is why I work a lot." ~Milla Jovovich | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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