Milla Jovovich

Milica Bogdanovna Jovović, known professionally as Milla Jovovich, is an American actress and former model born on December 17, 1975. Recognized for her prominent roles in science fiction and action films, she was named the "reigning queen of kick-butt" by VH1 in 2006. Forbes also determined that she was the world's highest-paid model in 2004.

Jovovich was born in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, to Russian actress Galina Loginova and Serbian doctor Bogdan Jovović. She spent most of her early childhood in Moscow before her family moved to London and later to California, eventually settling in Los Angeles. Jovovich learned English quickly in public school and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1994. Having begun modeling at age nine, she left seventh grade at age 12 to focus on her modeling career.

Her early modeling included covers photographed by Herb Ritts for Lei magazine in 1987 and Revlon advertisements shot by Richard Avedon. In 1988, Jovovich made her professional acting debut in the television movie The Night Train to Kathmandu and her feature film debut in Two Moon Junction. She gained significant attention starring in Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991), followed by appearances in Kuffs (1992), Chaplin (1992), and Dazed and Confused (1993), after which she took a temporary hiatus from acting in Europe.

Jovovich achieved her career breakthrough in 1997 playing Leeloo in Luc Besson's science-fiction action film The Fifth Element, for which she co-created an alien language. She married Besson in 1997, though they soon divorced, and later starred in his historical film The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999). During this period, she also appeared in He Got Game (1998), The Million Dollar Hotel (2000), The Claim (2000), and Zoolander (2001).

In 2002, Jovovich began portraying Alice in the action horror film Resident Evil, adapted from the video game franchise. The series became the highest-grossing film series based on video games, and she reprised her role in several sequels, including Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Extinction (2007), and Afterlife (2010), the latter directed by her husband Paul W. S. Anderson. Her other film projects during the 2000s included Dummy (2003), Ultraviolet (2006), A Perfect Getaway (2009), and The Fourth Kind (2009).

Jovovich continued her film work with roles in Stone (2010), Dirty Girl (2010), The Three Musketeers (2011), Faces in the Crowd (2011), Bringing Up Bobby (2011), and Lucky Trouble (2011). Beyond acting and modeling, she released her debut music album, The Divine Comedy, in 1994, followed by The People Tree Sessions in 1998, and frequently contributes to film soundtracks. She also co-created the clothing line Jovovich–Hawk with Carmen Hawk, which ran from 2003 until 2008.