Milla Jovovich

Birthname: Milla Natasha Jovovich
Date of birth: 1975-12-17
Birthplace: Kiev, Ukraine
Height: 5' 8.5"
Nationality: Russian
Profession: actress, singer, and model

Milla (Militza) Jovovich (Serbian Милица Јововић/Milica Jovović, Ukrainian Cyrillic: Мілла Йовович/; born December 17, 1975) is a Ukrainian-born American supermodel, actress, musician, singer, and fashion designer.
Jovovich has been described by Paul W.S. Anderson, director of her film Resident Evil, as a "rare combination of a good actress who could kick ass and look beautiful doing it."

Biography

Family and Early life

Jovovich (pronounced "Yo-vo-vitch" ( in IPA)) was born in Kiev, Ukraine to Bogdan Jovović, a Serbian medical doctor, and Galina Loginova, a Russian actress. Her paternal family is from Montenegro, their estate being at Metohija in Zlopek near Peć. Her paternal great-grandfather, Bogić Camić Jovović, was flag-bearer of the Montenegrin Serb Vasojevići clan and officer of 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 Pristina military area, and later investigated finances in military areas of Skopje and Sarajevo, where he uncovered massive gold embezzlement. He was punished for refusing to convict his friend for the crime. Later, the communist government imprisoned him on 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 to have taken the gold. Milla's father, Bogić Jovović, later joined her grandfather in Kiev, where he and his sister graduated in medicine. She will appear in the third film in the Resident Evil series titled .
piece, from the upcoming film .]]

Singing

In 1994, Jovovich, billed under her first name, released her critically acclaimed first musical album, The Divine Comedy. Featuring unique-sounding songs that fused pop with traditional Russian folk music influences, the album led to comparisons with musicians Tori Amos and Kate Bush. Jovovich also lead a band called Plastic Has Memory, that played about a dozen shows in Los Angeles and New York City, in 1999. Though Plastic Has Memory was featured on Hollywood Goes Wild, a benefit celebrity compilation CD, the group never formally released a record and are no longer together.
1998 saw the release of The Peopletree Sessions, a cd of "electronic folk music", against Milla's consent. Only available from the Peopletree website, the cd featured electronic beats merged with scattered lyrics, a big change from her whistful first release.
Jovovich's vocals appeared on the 2004 album Legion of Boom by The Crystal Method. She also recorded the single Rocket Collecting, which appeared on the soundtrack for the film Underworld. Milla continues to write songs, which she calls "demos". These demos are provided for free in MP3 format on her website. Jovovich provides license to freely download and remix the tracks, but reserves the right to sell and issue the tracks.

Fashion design

Jovovich and fellow model Carmen Hawk have launched a line of clothing called Jovovich-Hawk in 2003. The two also opened a showroom in New York City's Greenwich Village on September 13, 2005. The line is currently in its third season and pieces can be found at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Harvey Nichols, and over 50 stores around the world. The pieces were sold exclusively at Fred Segal stores, where the line sold out almost instantly. The line's second season was equally, if not more successful, with Fred Segal reordering its stock midway through the season.Jovovich-Hawk, with Jovovich modeling select pieces, was featured on the cover of the May 2006 issue of C (California Style) Magazine.

Personal life

Jovovich married actor Shawn Andrews (actor) in October of 1992, while filming Dazed and Confused together; the marriage was annulled (by her mother) a month later. She married The Fifth Element director Luc Besson in 1997, but the two divorced in 1999. 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. Most recently she has appeared in public with Japanese soccer star Hidetoshi Nakata, but is purported to be engaged to writer/director Paul W. S. Anderson.
Jovovich is also planning to publish her private diaries as an autobiography. Jovovich says, "I've been keeping a diary ever since I was a little girl. I've written about all the places I've been to and all the mad things that I've done, so it would be good to get it all into a book - like an autobiography, but with more of a diary feel to it. I'm not sure how interested anyone would be in publishing it, or reading it, for that matter."
Jovovich is a polyglot - she fluently speaks Russian, French, English and Serbian (possibly to a lesser extent).