Biography of Milla JovovichMilla Jovovich (Serbian: Ìèëèöà £îâîâèž/Milica Jovović, Ukrainian: ̳ëëà Éîâîâè÷; Russian: Ìèëëà Éîâîâè÷; born Milica Nataša Jovović on December 17, 1975) is an American supermodel, actress, musician, singer, and fashion designer. Jovovich has been featured in numerious 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, 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.
Jovovich (pronounced "Yo-vo-vitch" was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union to Bogdanovitch "Bogich" Jovović, a Serbian medical doctor, and Galina Loginova (after marriage, Galina Jovović), a Soviet actress of Russian origin.
Her paternal family's estate was at Metohija in Zlopek near Peć. Her paternal great-grandfather, Bogić Camić Jovović, was a flag-bearer of the Montenegrin Serb Vasojevići clan and an officer in the guard of the King Nicholas I of Montenegro; his wife's name was Milica. Her paternal grandfather, Bogdan Jovović, 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 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." As a teenager before age 14, she claimed to be rebellious, engaging in drug-taking, shopping mall vandalism, and credit-card fraud. 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. She also has a brother named Marco Jovovich, born in 1988.
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 wrote. She is pregnant with his child, a girl, expected in November 2007. 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 god father. 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 several months in 2000 and was linked to actor Stephen Dorff. She also 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."
Despite being a smoker, Jovovich practices yoga and meditates often in attempts to live a healthy lifestyle; although not affilating with a certain religion, she prays and considers herself a "spiritual person". She avoids junk foods and prefers to cook for herself. 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.
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