Mila Kunis
Kunis at the premiere of Max Payne (2008)
Born	Milena Markovna Kunis (Milena Markivna Kunis) August 14, 1983 (1983-08-14) (age�26) Chernivtsi, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Occupation	Actress/Voice artist
Years active	1994–present
Domestic partner(s)	Macaulay Culkin (2002–present)

Milena "Mila" Kunis (born Milena Markovna Kunis; Russian: Милена Маркοвна Кунис; Ukrainian: Мілена Марківна Куніс, Milena Markivna Kunis; born August 14, 1983) is an American actress. Her television work includes the role of Jackie Burkhart on That '70s Show and the voice of Meg Griffin on the animated series Family Guy. She has also played roles in film, such as Rachel Jansen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Solara in The Book of Eli.

Early life

Mila Kunis was born in Chernivtsi, in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union, to a Jewish family. Her mother, Elvira, is a physics teacher and drug store manager, and her father, Mark Kunis, is a mechanical engineer and cab company executive. She also has an older brother. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1991. She has heterochromial eye colours, one hazel, and one green .

Kunis has explained that a lottery system allowed her family to make the move: “It took about five years. If you got chosen the first time around, you went to Moscow, where there was another lottery, and you maybe got chosen again. Then you could come to the States.” On her second day in Los Angeles, she was enrolled at Rosewood Elementary School not knowing a word of English. “I blocked out second grade,” she says. “I don’t remember, but my mom tells me that I came home and cried every day. I wasn’t that traumatized. It was just a shock.”

Despite reports to the contrary, Kunis did not learn English from watching The Price Is Right. In Los Angeles, she attended Hubert Howe Bancroft Middle School. She was mostly taught by an on-set tutor for her high school years while filming That '70s Show. When not on the set, she attended Fairfax Senior High School. She briefly attended Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Her brief time at the university was influenced by the frustration of the industry and working on the same show for years. "Eight years of doing the same [show] felt like being behind a desk, and I lost my drive," she says. However, she quickly "had an epiphany. I decided I wasn't going to take my career so seriously and make my job who I am. I just want to be happy with my life."

Career

Early career

At age nine, Kunis took acting classes after school at the Beverly Hills Studios, where she met her first and current manager Susan Curtis. She began appearing in print-ads, catalogues, and TV commercials for children's products like Lisa Frank products, Mattel's Barbie, and Payless Shoes. She also modeled for a Guess girls' clothing campaign. Her first TV role was as the young Hope Williams on an episode of the popular soap opera Days of our Lives. She had a minor role on 7th Heaven as Lucy's nemesis and supporting roles in Santa with Muscles, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, and the Angelina Jolie film Gia, as Gia Carangi's younger self, prior to her breakthrough role on That '70s Show.

Kunis was cast as Jackie Burkhart in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show in 1998. During the auditions, all people auditioning for the roles in the show were required to be at least 18 years old, so Kunis told the casting staff at the audition that she was going to be 18 "on her birthday" not specifying to which birthday she was referring. She was actually 14 at the time of the audition and after receiving the part, she was able to continue in the role despite having misled the directors. She had been considered the best fit for the character and was thought to have been creative in her way of gaining the audition despite her age. That '70s Show ran for eight seasons, becoming the second longest-running live-action sitcom on Fox.

Family Guy

Kunis on a panel for Family Guy at the 2009 Comic Con in San Diego.

In 1999, Kunis replaced Lacey Chabert in the role of Meg Griffin on the animated television sitcom Family Guy, created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series plot centers on a family called the Griffins, a dysfunctional family. The series starred MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green and Mike Henry. Kunis won the role after auditions and a slight rewrite of the character, in part due to her performance on That '70s Show. MacFarlane called Kunis back after her first audition, instructing her to speak slower, and then told her to come back another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her.

Kunis described her character as "the scapegoat." She further explained, "Meg gets picked on a lot. But it's funny. It's like the middle child. She is constantly in the state of being an awkward 14-year-old, when you're kind of going through puberty and what-not. She's just in perpetual mode of humiliation. And it's fun."

Kunis was nominated for an Annie Award in the category of Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production in 2007. She also voiced Meg in the Family Guy video game.

Early film work

In 2001, she appeared in Get Over It opposite Kirsten Dunst. She starred in the 2002 straight-to-DVD horror film American Psycho 2 alongside William Shatner which was a sequel to the 2000 film American Psycho starring Christian Bale. American Psycho 2 was panned by critics; later, Kunis herself expressed embarrassment over the film. In 2007, she appeared in After Sex alongside Zoe Saldana (who also appeared in Get Over It), as well as in Boot Camp and Moving McAllister alongside Jon Heder.

Breakthrough (2008–present)

Kunis' breakout film role was Rachel Jansen in the 2008 movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall, co-produced by Judd Apatow. She had originally auditioned for Apatow for the film Knocked Up. Although she did not get the part, the audition led to the role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Kunis said that the improvisation in the film was challenging, but "the best kind of challenging [...] a great exercise". The film garnered positive reviews and was a commercial success, grossing $105 million worldwide. Kunis's performance was well-received; Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal praised her "fresh beauty and focused energy", while James Berardinelli wrote that she is "adept with her performance and understands the concept of comic timing". She was nominated for a Teen Choice Award. In an interview, Kunis stated: "I give Judd Apatow so much love for hiring me and letting me do something different, letting me break free of That ‘70s Show, letting me show that I could do something outside of Jackie."

Also in 2008, she starred alongside Mark Wahlberg in the action movie Max Payne, portraying Mona Sax, a Russian assassin. The film is based on the popular video game of the same name. Kunis underwent gun training for her role. Max Payne was relatively successful at the box office, grossing $85 million worldwide but was panned by critics with several reviewers calling Kunis miscast. However, in 2009, she was nominated for another Teen Choice Award for her role in the film.

In 2009, she appeared in the comedy Extract with Ben Affleck and Jason Bateman. The film received mostly positive reviews and grossed $10.8 million at the box office. Justin Chang of Variety called Kunis "fine", while Roger Ebert, otherwise criticizing Extract for not being believable, wrote that she "brings her role to within shouting distance of credibility". Director Mike Judge commented that part of what was surprising to learn about Kunis was her ability to make references to the cult animation film Rejected. Judge said: "As beautiful as Mila is, you could believe that maybe she would cross paths with you in the real world."

In 2010, she starred alongside Denzel Washington in the action film The Book of Eli. Although the film received mixed reviews it has performed well at the box office grossing over $152 million worldwide to date. Film critic Richard Roeper praised Kunis's performance calling it a "particularly strong piece of work". Several other reviews were equally positive of her performance including Pete Hammond of Boxoffice magazine, who wrote that she's "ideally cast in the key female role" Even reviewers that did not necessarily like the film, complimented her performance, such as James Berardinelli who stated that "the demands of the role prove to be within her range, which is perhaps surprising considering she has been thus far pigeonholed into more lightweight parts". and Colin Covert of the Star Tribune who wrote that she "generated a spark and brought a degree of determination to her character, developing an independent female character who’s not always in need of rescuing." Some critics, however, called her miscast.

Kunis was also cast in a minor role in the comedy Date Night starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell. She has garnered several positive reviews for her performance. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that she plays her role "with enjoyable comic relish".

She and Natalie Portman will play rival ballet dancers in Darren Aronofsky's upcoming Black Swan scheduled for release in late 2010. Kunis took ballet training to prepare for her role. The training was grueling, requiring one hour of cardio followed by 4 hours of ballet seven days a week. Kunis stated that she was also restricted to a 1200-calorie a day diet - "because I have to have bones sticking out" - so she was just looking forward to the final day of production. Aronofsky spoke highly of her, and explained that he cast her in the role after seeing her performance in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, "she electrified me and made the screen sizzle. I instantly knew I wanted to work with her."

Kunis was cast alongside Justin Timberlake in the romantic comedy Friends with Benefits about two friends who try to take their relationship to the next level. The film is set to begin production in July, 2010. Kunis is also slated to star in Cover Girl , the latest romantic comedy from Donald Petrie. The production is expected to begin shooting in Cambridge, England in September.

Media publicity

Kunis was ranked #54 in Stuff's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002); Maxim named her #47 on its 2006 Hot 100 list. In 2008, she was ranked #81 on the Maxim Hot 100 list. She was also ranked #81 on the FHM U.S 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2008, although she is unranked in other FHM magazines from different nations. Kunis was also accredited to be one of the "most attractive geeks" in 2008 by Wired.com due to her much-publicized affinity for World of Warcraft. The same year she was featured and on the cover of the October issue of Complex Magazine.

In 2007 Kunis participated in a video for the website Funny or Die playing alongside James Franco. The video was a parody of the MTV show The Hills and was a huge success for the website with well over one million views. Shawn Levy, director of Date Night, stated that part of what made him decide to cast Kunis with James Franco in the film was the chemistry he felt they had in the Funny or Die video.

In December 2008, Kunis was featured in Gap's "Shine Your Own Star" Christmas campaign with other celebrities such as Jennifer Hudson, Jason Bateman, Mary-Louise Parker, Jon Heder, and others.

In 2009 she was ranked #5 in "Maxim Magazine's Hot 100" list. In addition, she won the award for "Hottest Mila" at the 2009 Spike TV's Guys Choice Awards beating out Milla Jovovich. Also in 2009 Premiere.com ranked Mila the most beautiful woman in Hollywood. In 2010 she was featured in the "Women We Love" segment in Esquire with an accompanied video. For the 2010 "Maxim Magazine Hot 100" Kunis ranked #22.

Personal life

Kunis has spoken with affection about her parents and has credited them for being a positive influence and keeping her focused on what is important in life. "I had a normal upbringing and went to public school," she says. "If I ever, even for a second, started getting a big head, I was brought back to reality pretty quickly. My parents are why I'm pretty grounded."

Kunis has been dating actor Macaulay Culkin since 2002. Although there have been rumors of the couple getting married, Kunis has denied this, saying:

"I've been engaged. I think I've already been married. And I'm sure I have a child somewhere. I'm waiting to have something else happen. No, I'm not married. And no, I'm not engaged. And no, I do not have a child. No one seems to listen. And next week I'll be engaged again. I think, at one point, they were like, 'Seen shopping in Beverly Hills for engagement rings.' We were in Japan working. What is wrong with these people? Half the time you can say they misconstrued facts. But, more often than not, they just make stuff up."

In an interview with BlackBook Magazine Kunis stated that marriage is "not something that’s important to me". Regarding her relationship with Culkin she said she tries her best to protect their privacy. "We don't talk about it to the press. It's already more high profile than I want it to be." Questioned if it was difficult to stay out of the tabloids and press Kunis responded: "I keep my personal life as personal as I physically, mentally, possibly can." Asked if that is difficult she said, "I don't care. I will go to my grave trying. It is hard, but I'll end up going to a bar that's a hole in the wall. I won't go to the "it's-happening" place."

She has identified herself in interviews as a fan of the online computer game World of Warcraft and has received a certain amount of attention from the game's fan community as a result. She has not released what server she is in but says she is with her close friends in the Alliance. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, she said she does not use voice chat in the game after another player recognized her voice. Although Kunis has described herself as a "computer nerd" she does not have a Myspace, Facebook or Twitter account.

In an interview with H Magazine Kunis stated that she does not devote as much time to World of Warcraft anymore, but enjoys hanging out with her friends when she can. "When we have ‘friends night’ and we all get together, we play board games like The Settlers of Catan." She also mentioned that she and her friends enjoy doing Murder Mystery tours, where they drive around the Los Angeles area exploring locations of famous murders that have taken place. Kunis also enjoys traveling, and often goes on trips with her older brother, Michael. She and Michael have explored countries such as Fiji and Korea. "I like the way he travels," she explains. "He grabs a map, says, 'Let's walk,' and makes you explore."

When asked to describe her perfect day Kunis said: "Oh, that's easy," she says with relish. "It would be going for a swim, lazing around the house, playing with my dogs, drinking a root beer float, catching up on TiVo, having some food, a glass of wine and calling it a night."

Roles

Awards and nominations

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mila Kunis

• Mila Kunis at the Internet Movie Database
• Mila Kunis at TV.com
• Biography from the That '70s Show website