Born in Kiev and raised in Los Angeles, Jovovich began modeling when Herb Ritts photographed her for the cover of the Italian magazine Lei in 1987.

Milica Bogdanovna Jovovich was born on December 17, 1975, in Kiev in what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic,[4] the daughter of Galina (née Loginova), a Russian actress, and Bogdan Jovović, a Serbian doctor.

[14] In Los Angeles, her mother tried to get acting jobs but found little success because of language barriers, and eventually resorted to cleaning houses to earn money.

Jovovich returned to acting in 1997 with a lead role in the French science-fiction action film The Fifth Element, alongside Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman.

[33] In 1998, Jovovich appeared in Spike Lee's drama He Got Game, as abused prostitute Dakota Burns; she acted with Denzel Washington and Ray Allen.

That year she returned to the action genre playing the title role in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, under direction of Luc Besson.

[34] In 2000, Jovovich appeared as the troubled Eloise in The Million Dollar Hotel, a film based on a concept story by Bono of the band U2 and Nicholas Klein.

In 2002, Jovovich starred in the horror-action film Resident Evil, released in the United States on March 15, 2002, and based on the Capcom video game series of the same name.

[35] Jovovich had trained in karate, kickboxing, and combat-training, and had performed all the stunts required in the film, except for a scene that would involve her jumping to a cement platform, which her management deemed too dangerous.

[38] Later, she portrayed the manipulative gang wife Erin in No Good Deed (2002), Nadine in the romantic comedy You Stupid Man (2002), punk rocker Fangora ("Fanny") in Dummy (2003), and provided a guest voice on the television series King of the Hill.

Reviews for the film were mostly positive; while The Hollywood Reporter felt that Jovovich gave a "fairly subtle performance",[45] The Globe and Mail noted that she and "[...]Kiele Sanchez manage to bring some dramatic tension to the frightened-girlfriend moments".

[49] In 2010, Jovovich returned as Alice[50] in the fourth movie of the Resident Evil series, Afterlife, which was directed by her husband, Paul W. S. Anderson,[51] and portrayed the mother of a promiscuous and troubled high school student in the independent coming-of-age dramedy Dirty Girl, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, opposite Juno Temple, William H. Macy, Mary Steenburgen, and Tim McGraw.

In its review for the latter film, The Hollywood Reporter found Jovovich to be "terrific" in what it described as a "sweet [and] sassy period comedy with a Juno sensibility and the soul of a Little Miss Sunshine".

[56] Jovovich starred in Paul W. S. Anderson's romantic action adventure film The Three Musketeers, as Milady de Winter, in 2011, alongside Matthew Macfadyen, Logan Lerman, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, and Christoph Waltz.

Time Out in its review for the film noted: "While the franchise has slackened into dependably dumb post-apocalyptic thrills, star Milla Jovovich has only gotten better, seasoning her long-legged athleticism with a commanding stare".

[71] In Shock and Awe (2017), Jovovich played the wife of an investigator working on the reasons behind the Bush Administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq, starring opposite Woody Harrelson and Tommy Lee Jones.

"[80] After it was initially presented by SBK strictly as a pop album, Jovovich protested, insisting on using her personal poetry for lyrics and recording her own instrumental material.

"[79] The Divine Comedy was well received by critics, and features pop-infused traditional Ukrainian folk songs that led to comparisons with Tori Amos and Kate Bush.

[15] John McAlley of Rolling Stone called the album "remarkable", "strikingly mature and rich in invention", and as featuring "angst-laced poetry with vivid melodies and arrangements that find a common spirit in synth pop, European folk and psychedelic dream rock".

Jovovich toured the United States and Canada during most of 1994 to promote the album, opening for Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Philosopher Kings, and Crash Test Dummies, as well as playing smaller acoustic sets.

[21][22] In May 1999, Jovovich, along with Chris Brenner, formed an experimental band called "Plastic Has Memory", in which she wrote and composed the songs, sang, and played electric guitar.

[83] The band was "[m]uch heavier and darker than the vaguely Ukrainian folk-sounding elements of her first album", and it had a similar sound to a grunge and trip hop Portishead.

[84] "Plastic Has Memory" played about a dozen shows in Los Angeles and New York City for a potential Virgin Records album release,[85] one of which Mick Jagger had attended.

She has appeared as guest vocalist on the song "Former Lover" on Deepak Chopra's album, A Gift of Love II: Oceans of Ecstasy (2002) and Legion of Boom (2004) by The Crystal Method.

Beginning in 2003, Jovovich worked with musician Maynard James Keenan, of Tool and A Perfect Circle, on his Industrial side project Puscifer,[88] contributing vocals to the track "REV 22:20", which was featured on various film soundtracks in its original or a remixed form.

[91] Jovovich's early work with Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon, and Peter Lindbergh led to her success in advertising, bringing the young model contracts.

She has been part of campaigns for Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Jimmy Choo, Prada, Isabel Marant, Celine, Guess?, Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger, Tiffany & Co., Roberto Cavalli, Damiani, Donna Karan, Gap, Versace, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Coach, Giorgio Armani, H&M, and Revlon.

[105] Later, Jovovich-Hawk signed a deal to design a diffusion collection for Target's Go International campaign, following in the footsteps of Luella, Paul & Joe, and Proenza Schouler.

[117] Shortly after the annulment, Jovovich moved to Europe with her friend and musician Chris Brenner where she met and lived with her new boyfriend, ex-Jamiroquai bassist Stuart Zender, in London from May 1994 to October 1995.

[77] In 2000, she briefly dated Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante saying she fell in love with him after hearing his album Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt six years earlier.