Milla Jovovich (born Milica Jovović; December 17, 1975) is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Milla was born in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, the daughter of Bogdan Bogdanović Jovović (Богдан Богдановић Јововић), a Serbian pediatrician, and Galina Mikhaylovna Loginova (Галина Михайловна Логинова), a Russian stage actress. Milla attended public schools shortly after arriving in the United States, and became fluent in 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 : "I was called a commie and a Russian spy. I was never, ever, ever accepted into the crowd." At age 12 in seventh grade, Milla left school to focus on modeling. She claims to have been rebellious during her early teens, engaging in drug use, shopping mall vandalism, and credit-card fraud. 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 began modeling at age 11, when photographer Gene Lemuel discovered her and convinced Herb Ritts to shoot her for the cover of Lei magazine. Richard Avedon featured her in Revlon's "Most Unforgettable Women in the World" advertisements, and she continued her career with other campaigns for L'Oréal 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 appearances such as the "Fair Exchange" (1989) and a 1989 role as a French girl (she was 14 at the time) on a Married with Children episode and film roles, she gained notoriety with the romance film Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991). She appeared in 1993's Dazed and Confused alongside Ben Affleck and Matthew McConaughey. Jovovich then acted alongside 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 spawned three sequels: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) and Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010). In addition to her modeling and acting career, Jovovich released a music album, The Divine Comedy in 1994. She continues to release demos for other songs on her official website and contributes to film soundtracks; Jovovich has yet to release another album. In 2003, she and model Carmen Hawk created the clothing line Jovovich-Hawk, which ceased operations in early 2008. In its third season prior to its demise, the pieces could 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 has been nominated for numerous awards. In 1992, she was nominated for Young Artist Best Young Actress Starring In A Motion Picture Award for her role in Return to the Blue Lagoon. In 1997, she was nominated for the Saturn Best Supporting Actress award, the Blockbuster Entertainment Favorite Newcomer Award, the MTV Movie Best Fight Scene Award (between her and aliens), for her role as Lee-Loo in The Fifth Element. In 2002, she received a nomination for the Saturn Best Actress Award for her role as Alice in Resident Evil and won Best Actress in a sci-fi/action film for Resident Evil: Extinction from the Scream Awards in 2008. She has also been nominated for Best Horror Actress for playing Dr. Abigal Tyler in The Fourth Kind for Scream Awards 2010 and won the Hollywood Spotlight Award at the 14th Annual Hollywood Awards Gala for her role as Lucetta in Stone.
