Milena "Mila" Kunis (born Milena Markovna Kunis; (Russian: Милена Маркοвна Кунис, Ukrainian: Мілена Марківна Куніс; Milena Markivna Kunis); 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 as Mona Sax in Max Payne.Early life:
Kunis was born in Chernivtsi, Ukrainian SSR, 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. 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 taping That '70s Show. When not on the set, she attended Fairfax Senior High School. She briefly attended Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.
CareerEarly 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 television series 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.
Family Guy:Kunis went in to the casting of an animated television sitcom called 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. She auditioned for the character Meg Griffin, Peter and Lois Griffin's unpopular teenage daughter, who is frequently the butt of the family's jokes. 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." She replaced Lacey Chabert, who voiced Meg Griffin for the first production season (15 episodes).
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 Videogame.
Further career:She appeared in Get Over It opposite Kirsten Dunst. She starred in the straight-to-DVD horror film American Psycho 2 alongside William Shatner which was a sequel to the 2000 film American Psycho starring Christian Bale. She appeared in After Sex alongside Zoe Saldana as well as in Boot Camp and Moving McAllister alongside Jon Heder. Kunis' breakout movie performance was in the role of Rachel Jansen in the 2008 movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The performance won her rave reviews and a Teen Choice Award nomination. Also in 2008, she starred alongside Mark Wahlberg in the action movie Max Payne, portraying character Mona Sax. The film is based on the popular video game of the same name. 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 starred alongside Ben Affleck and Jason Bateman in the comedy Extract. She has been confirmed to star alongside Denzel Washington in the action film The Book of Eli. She has also been confirmed to join the comedy Date Night starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell. She will also play Lilly, Natalie Portman's rival, in Darren Aronofsky's upcoming Black Swan in late 2010.
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. She is ranked #5 on Maxim's 2009 Hot 100 list. 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.
Personal life: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."
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 says she does not use voice chat with other players in response to claims that some people had recognized her voice.
