Early life

Kurylenko was born in Berdiansk, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. Her father, Konstantin, is Ukrainian, and her mother, Marina Alyabysheva, who teaches art, was born in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, and is of Russian and Belarusian ancestry.

Her parents divorced when she was three and she was raised by her mother. Kurylenko rarely had contact with her father, meeting him for the first time after the split when she was eight, and later when she was thirteen.

Career

Kurylenko was discovered by a female model scout while on holiday in Moscow at the age of 13. Aged 15 she moved from Ukraine to Moscow. At the age of 16 she moved to Paris. In 1996, she signed a contract with the Paris-based Madison modelling agency. The following year, by the age of 18, she had appeared on the covers of Vogue and Elle magazines. While working as a model in Paris, Kurylenko supported her mother in Ukraine.

She also appeared on the covers of Madame Figaro and Marie Claire magazines. She became the face of brands Bebe, Clarins, and Helena Rubinstein. She has also modeled for Roberto Cavalli and Kenzo and appeared in the Victoria's Secret catalogue.

One of her first acting appearances was in Seal's music video, "Love's Divine" in 2003, but her film career truly began in France during 2005. She received the certificate of excellence award at the 2006 Brooklyn International Film Festival for her performance in L'Annulaire, and also starred in the Paris, je t'aime segment "Quartier de la Madeleine" opposite Elijah Wood. That same year, she was selected to be the face of Kenzo's new fragrance, Kenzo Amour. She has appeared in all subsequent Kenzo Amour advertisements.

In 2007, she starred in Hitman alongside Timothy Olyphant. She had a minor role in Max Payne as Natasha. She played Bond girl Camille Montes in the 2008 James Bond film, Quantum of Solace (after beating out Gal Gadot in the auditions). In the film she plays the role of a Bolivian Secret Service agent named Camille, who teams up with James Bond to avenge the death of her parents.

She was featured on the cover of the December 2008 issue of the U.S. edition of Maxim magazine and on the cover of the February 2009 issue of the Ukrainian edition of Maxim. In Ukraine the mayor of Berdyansk suggested naming a street after her in early 2008, and she and her mother met Ukraine's First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko in President Yushchenko's family country house.

Kurylenko appeared in Terrence Malick's To the Wonder, shot in fall 2010 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. She also appeared in Oblivion, a science fiction film starring Tom Cruise and directed by Joseph Kosinski. Kurylenko played Alice Fournier who is the main subject of the spy thriller, November Man.

Personal life

Kurylenko acquired French citizenship in 2001. She married French fashion photographer Cedric van Mol in 2000, but the couple divorced four years later. She married American mobile phone accessory entrepreneur Damian Gabrielle in 2006, but that marriage ended in divorce in late 2007. Kurylenko moved to London in 2009.

She dated Magic City co-star Danny Huston for approximately a year. Kurylenko and partner Max Benitz have one son, Alexander Max Horatio, born on October 3, 2015.

Kurylenko is a philanthropist noted for her work for the underprivileged, focusing on children in her native Ukraine.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Director	Notes
2001	Largo Winch	Carole		TV series (1 Episode : "Contessa Vanessa")
2005	L'Annulaire	Iris	Diane Bertrand
2006	Paris, je t'aime	The Vampire	Vincenzo Natali	Segment : Quartier de la Madeleine
2006	Le porte-bonheur	Sophia	Laurent Dussaux	TV movie
2006	The Serpent	Sofia	Eric Barbier
2007	Suspectes	Eva Pirès		TV miniseries (7 episodes)
2007	Hitman	Nika Boronina	Xavier Gens
2008	À l'est de moi	The Russian prostitute	Bojena Horackova
2008	Max Payne	Natasha Sax	John Moore
2008	Quantum of Solace	Camille Montes	Marc Forster
2009	Kirot	Galia	Danny Lerner
2010	Tyranny	Mina Harud	John Beck Hofmann	TV series (5 episodes); also writer
2010	Centurion	Etain	Neil Marshall
2011	There Be Dragons	Ildiko	Roland Joffé
2011	Land of Oblivion	Anya	Michale Boganim
2012	Erased	Anna Brandt	Philipp Stölzl
2012	To the Wonder	Marina	Terrence Malick
2012	Seven Psychopaths	Angela	Martin McDonagh
2012	Magic City	Vera Evans	Mainly Ed Bianchi Simon Cellan Jones	TV series (16 episodes)
2013	Oblivion	Julia Rusakova	Joseph Kosinski
2014	Vampire Academy	Ellen Kirova	Mark Waters
2014	The November Man	Alice Fournier/Mira Filipova	Roger Donaldson
2014	Mission Control	NASA broadcasting news	Will Ferrell	Episode 13: Go Home
2014	The Water Diviner	Ayshe	Russell Crowe
2015	A Perfect Day	Katya	Fernando León de Aranoa
2015	Momentum	Alex Farraday	Stephen S. Campanelli	Completed
2015	Empires of the Deep		Michael French Scott Miller	Post-production, filmed in 2010
2016	The Correspondence	Amy	Giuseppe Tornatore

Awards and nominations

Year	Awards	Category	Recipient	Outcome
2005	Brooklyn international film festival	Best actress	L'Annulaire	Won
2008	Saturn Award	Best Supporting Actress	Quantum of Solace	Nominated
2009	Empire Awards	Best Actress		Nominated
2012	Boston Society of Film Critics Award	Best Cast	Seven Psychopaths	Won
2012	San Diego Film Critics Society Award	Best Performance by an Ensemble		Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]