Those Dazzling Dames from Ukraine
Exotic Ethnicity behind Hollywood’s Hottest
Posted: December 17, 2009
Beyond Oscar winners Walter Matthau (aka Вальтер Матущанскаяски - Walter Matuschanskayasky) and Jack Palance (aka Володимир Паланюк - Volodymyr Palanyuk), and despite a worldwide population roughly equivalent to the French, Ukrainians as an ethnic minority have gone largely unrepresented in Hollywood films. Prior to 1991, Ukraine had been partitioned and dominated by successively restrictive foreign governments for more than two centuries. Immigration to the West was limited.
But with the present Golden Globe nomination of Vera Farmiga for Best Supporting Actress in Up in the Air, ethnic Ukrainian leading ladies have clearly taken their place on the world stage with genuine star power. Besides Farmiga, their ranks include Mila Kunis, Olga Kurylenko, Milla Jovovich as well as multi-talented European pop diva Ani Lorak.
All five women speak both fluent English and Ukrainian.
Vera Farmiga (Вера Фарміґа)
The daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, Farmiga was born and raised inside an insular Ukrainian community in New Jersey. She did not learn English until age 6. Best known for her roles as the mother in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, as Matt Damon’s psychiatrist lover in The Departed, and as George Clooney’s last chance love-on-the-run in Up in the Air.
Mila Kunis (Мілена Марківна Куніс )
Born in Chernivtsi, in Western Ukraine, to a physics teacher mother and a mechanical engineer father, Kunis moved to Los Angeles with her family at age 8. Best known for her roles as Jackie on Fox-TV’s That ’70s Show, as Jason Segel’s sympathetic love interest Rachel in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and as lady assassin Mona Sax opposite Mark Wahlberg in Max Payne.
Olga Kurylenko (Ольга Костянтинівна Куриленко )
Kurylenko hails from Berdyansk in Southern Ukraine where she grew up with her art teacher divorced mother. At age 13, she was scouted by a Moscow modeling agency and, at 17, signed with the Madison modeling agency which moved her to Paris. Best known for her leading roles as love interest Nikita opposite Timothy Olyphant in Hitman, as James Bond’s ally Camille opposite Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace, and as Mila Kunis’ deceased sister in Max Payne. Kurylenko speaks English, Ukrainian, Russian, French and Spanish. She has acquired French citizenship, but currently resides in London.
Milla Jovovich (Милица Наташа Јововић)
The daughter of a Serbian doctor and a Russian actress, Jovovich was born in Kiev, Ukraine, under the Soviet regime. The family moved to the United States when she was 5. Best known for her leading roles as Leeloo opposite Bruce Willis in The Fifth Element, as Joan of Arc in The Messenger, as Katinka opposite Ben Stiller in Zoolander and as Alice in the Resident Evil series. She is fluent in English, Russian, French and Serbian.
Ani Lorak (aka Karolina Kuek - Кароліна Мирославівна Куєк )
Born in Kitsman, Western Ukraine, to a radio host mother and choir conductor father, Lorak was discovered by a music producer during a scholastic singing contest televised from Moscow. She took the stage name “Ani Lorak” on that occasion because another contestant also had the same given name Karolina. Ani Lorak is Karolina spelled backwards and it has stuck. Subsequently, she caught national attention at home from her participation in the 1996 Big Apple Music Competition in New York City, the publicity from which helped launch her first album and music video. She performed her English-language hit “Shady Lady” for the top-rated transnationally-televised 2008 Eurovision Song contest. Blessed with a strong voice, a charismatic stage presence and extraordinary cover girl good looks, Lorak was named the “Sexiest Woman in Ukraine” by a poll run in local popular magazines. She speaks English, Ukrainian and Russian.
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World's Favorite Films 2010
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World Favorite Foreign Language Films 2010
Yip Man 2 (Chinese)
My Name Is Khan (Bollywood)
Nodame Cantabile 2 (Japanese)
Blood Brothers: Secret Reunion (Korean)
L'arnacoeur (French)
Doraemon: Mermaid Adventure (Japanese)
Little Big Soldier (Chinese)
La rafle (French)
Io, loro e Lara (Italian)
Liar Game (Japanese)
Our Rossiya (Russian)
Younger Brother (Japanese)
Housefull (Bollywood)
Harmony (Korean)
Go Lala Go (Chinese)
Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf 2 (Chinese)
Chico Xavier (Portuguese)
Kandahar (Russian)
