Film and
television actress Mila Kunis came to fame on the sitcom That '70s Show. In
film, she's co-starred in such hits as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Black
Swan.
“Teens are
dealing with the same problems now in the '90s as they did back in the '70s.
The only real difference is the clothes we wear!”
—Mila Kunis
Synopsis
Actress Mila
Kunis was born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, in 1983. At the age of 7 she immigrated
with her family to Los Angeles, where she began taking acting lessons. After
appearing in several television commercials, Kunis landed a co-starring role in
the Fox sitcom That '70s Show in 1998. She also did voice work for the
cartoon series Family Guy. Kunis has since branched out into films.
She's co-starred in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), Black Swan
(2010), Friends with Benefits (2011) and Ted (2012).
Early Life
Mila Kunis was born
Milena Kunis in the Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi on August 14, 1983. At the age
of 7, Kunis immigrated to the United States with her parents, Mark and Elvira,
as well as her older brother, Michael, and eventually settled in Los Angeles.
It proved to be
a rough start for the Kunis family, who arrived in their new country with just
$250 in their pocket. But Kunis's parents, who both gave up professional
careers to uproot themselves, were determined to make a better life for their
children. Mark, a former mechanical engineer, soon found work as a cab driver,
while Elvira, who had taught physics in Ukraine, wound up running a pharmacy.
"I didn't
understand the culture," Kunis has said about first arriving in the United
States. "I didn't understand the people. I didn't understand the language.
My first sentence of my essay to get into college was like, 'Imagine being
blind and deaf at age 7.' And that's kind of what it felt like moving to the
States. But I got over it pretty fast."
Commercial Success
In an effort to
help their young daughter meet other kids, Mark and Elvira Kunis enrolled
Milena in a children's acting program at the Beverly Hills Studio. There, she
met Susan Curtis, a talent manager, who took the reins of Kunis's career and
soon landed the young actress in a number of high-profile TV commercials.
Other
opportunities quickly followed, with spot work on a host of television
programs, from NBC's The John Larroquette Show to The WB Television
Network's 7th Heaven.
In 1998, Kunis
(who had simplified her first name to Mila) caught her first big break when, at
14, she landed the role of Jackie Burkhart in the new Fox sitcom That '70s
Show. She was cast as a whiny, self-absorbed rich girl, allowing her to
perfect and showcase her comic timing. Her work on the program soon led her to
Fox's Family Guy cartoon, where she supplied the voice for the character
Meg Griffin.
Even while she
managed a busy television career, Kunis also branched out into film. She
co-starred with Kirsten Dunst in the drama Get Over It (2001). A year
later, the actress was cast alongside Macaulay Culkin in American Psycho II:
All American Girl. As a result of working together, Kunis and Culkin began
dating; the couple stayed together until 2010.
Following the
end of That '70s Show in 2006, Kunis started taking on more film work.
In 2008 she landed a breakout role as a hotel concierge named Rachel in the
comedy hit Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which also starred Jason Segel and
Russell Brand. Audiences and critics raved about her performance.
More critical
acclaim came her way for the 2010 thriller Black Swan, in which she
co-starred with Natalie Portman. Her performance earned Kunis, who dropped 20
pounds and trained for seven weeks as a ballerina, Golden Globe and Screen
Actors Guild award nominations for best supporting actress. That same year, she
teamed up with Denzel Washington in the post-apocalyptic Book of Eli.
In 2011, Kunis
was back giving audiences a laugh with the comedy Friends with Benefits,
which paired the actress with Justin Timberlake. In 2012, she co-starred with
Mark Wahlberg in another comedy film, Ted, directed by Seth MacFarlane,
whom she's worked with for years on the set of Family Guy (MacFarlane
created the show).
In between
pregnancies, Kunis released the comedy Bad Moms (2016), opposite Kristen Bell, which became a box office hit,
grossing over $125 million on a $25 million dollar budget.
Despite all of
her success, Kunis, who didn't know a word of English when she first arrived in
the United States, says she hasn't forgotten her roots. She lives in Los
Angeles, not far from her parents, and when she visits, often speaks Russian
with them.
"We came
to this country with literally nothing, and so any level of success is
important to us," Kunis has said. "[My parents] never wanted me to
become an actress because it's such an unstable and unpredictable profession.
When you're immigrants, and you have to work hard for everything just to
survive, it's only natural that you worry about having a stable job and income.
But I think now they're more or less convinced that I'm doing pretty well and
they don't have to worry about my career prospects any more."
Personal Life
Kunis dated fellow
child actor and Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin for eight years, but the
couple split in 2011.
In 2012, Kunis
began dating actor Ashton Kutcher, her longtime co-star—as well as,
coincidentally, on-screen boyfriend—from That '70s Show. In March 2014,
media outlets began reporting that Kunis, 30, and Kutcher, 36, were engaged and
Kunis confirmed they were expecting a baby in an appearance on The Ellen
DeGeneres Show in May. The couple welcomed their baby daughter, Wyatt
Isabelle Kutcher, on September 30, 2014. In 2015, Kunis and Kutcher were
married over the Fourth of July weekend at the Secret Garden at Parrish Ranch
in Oak Glen, California, according to People magazine. On November
30, 2016, Kunis gave birth to their second child, a son named Dimitri Portwood
Kutcher.
Source : www.biography.com
