MILLA JOVOVICH

Elemental spirit…

MODEL BEHAVIOUR

Born in Ukraine and raised in Los Angeles, Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich rose to fame as a model, taking on assignments from the age of 12. Her first major acting credit was as co-lead of Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991), a film notorious for its teenage nudity (and 0% Rotten Tomatoes rating). Disappointed at much of her work being cut from Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused (1993), she took a hiatus from acting and moved to Europe.

BESSON EFFORTS

Jovovich returned to acting with a star-making turn in Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element (1997), earning a number of awards nominations (including, unjustly, a Razzie nod). She reunited with Besson (to whom she was briefly married) for biopic Joan of Arc (1999). As her action-hero credentials began to stack up, she showcased range in the likes of Spike Lee’s He Got Game (1998) and Michael Winterbottom’s The Claim (2001).

ALICE SPRINGS

‘I thought it was the coolest, darkest most underground thing ever – a female-driven video game with zombies,’ Jovovich said of the 1996 survival horror on which Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil (2002) is based. To play Alice – a character who doesn’t appear in the games – Jovovich trained extensively in karate, kickboxing and gunplay. She became the face of the franchise, starring in five sequels (2004-16).

FACING THE MUSIC

Before resuming her film career, Jovovich found modest success in the music industry. In 1994, she released her debut album,

The Divine Comedy, which brought a modern pop feel to Ukrainian folk songs. Breakout track

Gentlemen Who Fell featured in 2002’s The Rules of Attraction; Jovovich has also contributed music to some of her own films, including Wim Wenders’

The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) and Dummy (2002).

COURSE OF ACTION

Jovovich retained her genre crown by starring in Ultraviolet (2006) and Survivor (2015) while branching out with villain roles in Neil Marshall’s Hellboy (2019) and Zoolander 2

(2016). The star has also continued to collaborate with husband Paul W.S. Anderson on popcorn action films The Three Musketeers (2011) and Monster Hunter (2020). She remains as active as ever, appearing in this year’s Breathe

and the upcoming World Breaker,

alongside Luke Evans.