Mila Kunis

Mila Kunis Bio

Milena Markovna Kunis, known professionally as Mila Kunis, is an American actress born on August 14, 1983, in Chernivtsi, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. After her family moved to the United States when she was a child, she rose to fame as Jackie Burkhart on the long-running Fox sitcom That ’70s Show and has voiced Meg Griffin on the animated series Family Guy since 1999. Kunis transitioned from television to film in the late 2000s and earned widespread critical acclaim for her role in the psychological thriller Black Swan in 2010. Over the course of her career, she has appeared in comedies, action films, and dramas, establishing herself as one of the most recognizable actresses of her generation.

Kunis has built a reputation for balancing mainstream commercial projects with dramatic work, appearing in films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Ted, and Oz the Great and Powerful. She has also moved into producing, founding Orchard Farm Productions in 2014. She has been married to actor Ashton Kutcher since 2015, and the couple have two children together.

Early Life and Background

Mila Kunis was born on August 14, 1983, in Chernivtsi, a city in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, into a Jewish family. Her mother, Elvira, was a physics teacher who also ran a pharmacy, while her father, Mark Kunis, was a mechanical engineer who later worked as a cab driver after the family emigrated. Kunis has stated that her family ethnicity has been described as overwhelmingly Ashkenazi Jewish through genealogical testing. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors, and she has an elder brother named Michael. The family’s primary language was Russian, and she has noted that children were not taught Ukrainian in school until the second grade.

In 1991, when Kunis was seven years old, her family left the Soviet Union under a religious-refugee visa, citing antisemitism and a lack of opportunity. They arrived in New York with very little money and soon moved to Los Angeles, where Kunis enrolled in Rosewood Elementary School despite speaking no English. She later attended Hubert Howe Bancroft Middle School and, after a brief stint at Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, transferred to Fairfax High School, graduating in 2001. She went on to briefly attend the University of California, Los Angeles, and Loyola Marymount University.

Kunis has often spoken about the difficulty of adjusting to a new country and language at such a young age. Her parents, who had given up established careers in the Soviet Union, worked hard to support the family in their new life. The experience shaped her perspective and fueled her determination to succeed in her new home.

Path to Celebrity

At age nine, Mila Kunis was enrolled by her father in acting classes at the Beverly Hills Studios, where she met her future manager, Susan Curtis. Her first audition landed her a role in a Barbie commercial, and she quickly followed that with a commercial for the Lisa Frank product line. Her first television appearances came in 1994, when she had small roles on Days of Our Lives and Baywatch. Throughout the mid-1990s, she took on minor parts in shows such as 7th Heaven and Walker, Texas Ranger, as well as small roles in films including the Angelina Jolie vehicle Gia.

In 1998, Kunis auditioned for the role of Jackie Burkhart on the Fox sitcom That ’70s Show. Although all auditioners were required to be at least 18, Kunis was only 14; she told the casting directors she would be 18 but did not specify when, and the producers eventually cast her regardless. The show ran for eight seasons and turned Kunis into a household name. She won two consecutive Young Star Awards for Best Young Actress in a Comedy TV Series in 1999 and 2000.

In 1999, Kunis also took over the voice role of Meg Griffin on the animated series Family Guy from Lacey Chabert, after being recommended by the show’s creators based on her work on That ’70s Show. The role has remained a constant throughout her career, allowing her to balance live-action work with long-running voiceover commitments.

Mila Kunis Career

Early Career (1994-2007)

During the early 2000s, Mila Kunis took on a series of small film roles while continuing to appear on That ’70s Show and Family Guy. In 2001, she appeared in Get Over It opposite Kirsten Dunst, and in 2002 she starred in the straight-to-DVD horror sequel American Psycho 2. In 2004, she filmed Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding, which was not released theatrically until 2007, and in 2005 she co-starred with Jon Heder in Moving McAllister, which also received a delayed release in 2007.

Although many of her early film roles received poor critical notices, Kunis continued to build her resume. In 2007, she was nominated for an Annie Award for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production for her work on Family Guy, demonstrating her versatility across both live-action and animation.

Breakthrough (2008-2013)

In 2008, Mila Kunis landed her breakout film role as Rachel Jansen in the romantic comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, produced by Judd Apatow. The film was a commercial success, grossing around $105 million worldwide, and earned Kunis a Teen Choice Award nomination. Also in 2008, she portrayed Mona Sax alongside Mark Wahlberg in the action film Max Payne, based on the video game of the same name. The film earned around $85 million worldwide but received mixed reviews, with several critics questioning Kunis’s casting.

In 2009, she co-starred with Ben Affleck and Jason Bateman in the comedy Extract, which received mostly positive reviews. The following year, she appeared opposite Denzel Washington in the post-apocalyptic action film The Book of Eli, which grossed over $157 million worldwide. Her performance drew praise from several critics, including Richard Roeper, who called it a particularly strong piece of work.

Kunis achieved her greatest critical recognition for her role in Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller Black Swan in 2010, where she played a rival ballet dancer to Natalie Portman’s character. To prepare, she underwent rigorous cardiovascular exercise, a strict diet, and four hours of ballet training daily. The film received widespread acclaim, was nominated for five Academy Awards, and grossed over $329 million worldwide. Kunis won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress at the 67th Venice International Film Festival and earned nominations for the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She continued her rise with Friends with Benefits in 2011 alongside Justin Timberlake, and in 2012 she co-starred with Mark Wahlberg in Ted, directed by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. Ted became her highest-grossing film at the time, earning $549 million worldwide, and earned her a Critics’ Choice Award nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy. In 2013, she played Theodora, the youngest witch, opposite James Franco in Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful, which grossed over $493 million worldwide.

Notable Works and Milestones

Among Mila Kunis’s most celebrated works are That ’70s Show, Family Guy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Black Swan, Ted, and Oz the Great and Powerful. Her performance in Black Swan remains her signature dramatic role, earning her a Golden Globe nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She has also enjoyed major commercial success with comedies such as Ted and the Bad Moms franchise.

Mila Kunis Award Nominations

Mila Kunis has received multiple high-profile award nominations across her career in television and film. Her first major nomination came in 1999 with a Young Star Award for That ’70s Show, followed by nominations for a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actress for Black Swan in 2010. She has also been nominated for Critics’ Choice Awards, Teen Choice Awards, and an Annie Award for her voice work on Family Guy. In 2022, she was nominated for The Drama Movie Star of the Year at the People’s Choice Awards for her role in Luckiest Girl Alive.

Mila Kunis Awards Won

Mila Kunis won two consecutive Young Star Awards for Best Young Actress in a Comedy TV Series in 1999 and 2000 for her performance in That ’70s Show. She won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress at the 67th Venice International Film Festival for her performance in Black Swan. She was also honored with the Best Supporting Actress award at the 37th Saturn Awards for Black Swan.

Mila Kunis Family

Mila Kunis was born to Mark Kunis, a mechanical engineer who later worked as a cab driver, and Elvira Kunis, a physics teacher who ran a pharmacy. She has one elder brother named Michael. Both of her grandparents were Holocaust survivors, and the family emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1991. Her mother tongue and the primary language within the family is Russian.

Personal Life

Mila Kunis began dating actor Macaulay Culkin in 2002, and their relationship lasted until January 2011, when the split was confirmed as amicable. She then began dating her former That ’70s Show co-star Ashton Kutcher in 2012. The couple became engaged in February 2014 and married in July 2015 in Oak Glen, California. Together they have two children: a daughter born in October 2014 and a son born in November 2016. The family resides in Beverly Hills.