When she auditioned for That '70s Show, Mila Kunis was just fourteen years old. Even then, she blew the producers' minds, and later on, charmed the audience with her talent. Her character, Jackie Burkhart, was a turning point in her career, and she became the favorite of many.
It's been years since then, and she's still going strong. Her work in Black Swan, Friends With Benefits, and many other incredible projects, have positioned her as not only a sit-com actress but also a movie star. She's had a very interesting professional and personal life, so here are some things to know about her.
10 She Was Born In Ukraine
Although Mila Kunis lived most of her life in the US, she was born in Ukraine, where she lived until she was seven years old. Mila has spoken several times about how grateful she was of the effort her parents made to give her a better life, even if it was hard for her at first to adapt to a new culture.
"Ultimately, I adjusted fairly quickly and fairly well,” she said. “But it must have been hard, because I blocked out second grade completely. I have no recollection of it. I always talk to my mom and my grandma about it. It was because I cried every day."
9 She Had To Fight Anti-Semitism Her Whole Life
Mila comes from a Jewish family, and her grandparents were Holocaust survivors, while other family members died during World War II. During her childhood in Ukraine, she had to hide her Jewish faith, as it wasn't allowed in the Soviet Union. She said her parents secretly raised her to know and be proud of her religion, even if she couldn't publicly display it in their country.
"When I was in school you would still see anti-Semitic signs," Mila said. "One of my friends who grew up in Russia, she was in second grade. She came
home one day crying. Her mother asked why and she said on the back of her
seat there was a swastika. This is a country that obviously does not want you.”
8 She Started Acting At A Very Young Age
Mila received full support from her parents on her acting career. In fact, it was them that enrolled her in drama classes when she moved to the US at age seven. It was in one of those classes that she met Susan Curtis, who would eventually become her manager.
She was essential in her career, Mila said, because since her parents didn't have the money or the time to help her with auditions, it was her manager that took care of her. By the time she was nine, Mila was already working professionally.
7 Her First Job
Although Mila got famous with That '70s Show, she had her fair share of work before the sit-com. The first audition she went on when she was nine years old was a Barbie commercial, and she got it thanks to her manager. Her parents only put one condition.
"I ended up getting the first thing I went out for, which was a Barbie commercial. All my parents said was, 'you can do whatever you want to do as long as you get A’s and stay in school.'"
6 She Was In Baywatch
When she was eleven years old, Mila got a job as a supporting character in the TV series Baywatch. Her debut on the show was in 1994, in an episode titled Aftershock. She played a schoolgirl called Annie, who went on a trip to the beach with her class. She did very well, so the following year they contacted her again and she went back to play another character named Bonnie, a blind girl who gets lost in the forest that is next to the beach.
5 How She Got Cast In That '70s Show
When Mila auditioned for That '70s Show, she had to get a little creative to get the part. She was the youngest of the cast, but she didn't say how young. The rules for the audition stated that the actors had to be at least eighteen years old, and Mila was just fourteen, so when asked about her age, she told a small lie.
"I told them I was going to be 18. But I didn't tell them when I was going to be 18!" she explained. The producers found out soon enough, but Mila had already bought them with her talent, so she got the part.
4 Her First Kiss With Ashton Kutcher On The Show
As readers probably know, Mila Kunis married her screen boyfriend, Ashton Kutcher, and the two of them have two children. They were together on the show for a long time, but at first, it was very uncomfortable for Ashton to play scenes with her. He was 19 at the time, and Mila was just 14.
"It was really weird. I was like, 'Isn't this illegal?'" Ashton said about it. "It was really awkward. She was 14! She was like my little sister."
3 She Worked A Lot To Be In Black Swan
Mila starred in Black Swan with Natalie Portman, and it was the role that gave her the status of movie star. She'd been in other movies before, but they hadn't been as successful. So, needless to say, the project meant a lot to her. She loved the script and she sacrificed a lot to make a great performance. She had no experience dancing, so she trained every day for four months. She lost a lot of weight and even dislocated a shoulder and tore a ligament, but she said it was all worth it.
2 How She And Ashton Kutcher Reconnected
Both Mila and Ashton had their own serious relationships before getting married, and they were nothing but friends for years. They ran into each other at the Golden Globe Awards, and Mila recalled the exact moment she started seeing him differently.
"I was looking around, and there was a really beautiful man from the back. I was literally like, ‘Oh, he's kinda hot.' And then he turned around, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, it's Kutch.' I thought it was the weirdest thing that I was checking this guy out, and it was someone that I had known forever."
Ashton invited her to a party that night, and everyone knows the rest.
1 She Started A Production Company
In 2014, along with Cami Curtis, Lisa Sterbakov, and her manager Susan Curtis, Mila launched a production company called Orchard Farm Productions. The four of them signed a first-look deal with ABC Studios. The agreement stated that the team would be in charge of developing and producing TV projects for broadcast and cable. It was a new approach to her profession, and it allowed her to bring to life many interesting projects. Through this company, Mila teamed up with Rob Zombie to make the horror movie Trapped.