Friends With Benefits , Family Guy , Black Swan , and That ’70s Show star, Mila Kunis , has come such a long way from her iconic character, Jackie. Nowadays, she’s a mother, a philanthropist, and of course, a wildly talented and experienced actress.
But there is a lot more to Mila than meets the eye! Here are some interesting facts about her that you may not know.
1. She was born in Ukraine.
At the age of seven, she and her family moved from Chernivtsi Ukraine to the United States.
Because she and her family are Jewish, they felt unsafe in Ukraine due to the rising anti-Semitic tide at the time.
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2. Her family struggled with life in America at first.
“My parents went through hell and back,” Mila told Glamour . “They came to America with suitcases and a family of seven and $250, and that’s it. My parents, for years, worked full-time and went to college full-time. They would go to night school to learn English .”
“My mom started working at Thrifty in Culver City as a box lady. That’s what she did until she learned English; then she became a cashier.”
“My dad worked—[expletive] if I know—seven jobs? He painted a house. He would deliver toilets. He drove a cab, delivered pizzas. Whatever he could do, he did .”
3. Mila is not actually her first name.
While we’ve come to know her by her stage name, so to speak, “Mila” is not her given, legal name.
Her full name is actually Milena Markovna Kunis. Definitely sounds more in line with her heritage!
4. She doesn’t usually wear makeup or wash her hair every day.
“I don’t wear makeup. I don’t wash my hair every day. It’s not something that I associate with myself,” she told Glamour . “I commend women who wake up 30, 40 minutes early to put on eyeliner. I think it’s beautiful.”
“I’m just not that person,” she added.
“So to go to a shoot and have my makeup artist put on face cream and send me off to do a photo, I was like, ‘Well, this makes life easy.’ And you’re still protected. Nobody’s there to make you look bad. “
5. She never auditioned for *Black Swan*, the role virtually landed in her lap.
She was offered the job after being referred by Black Swan alum, Natalie Portman, and one very important Skype conversation!
Talk about good luck!
6. Her *That ’70s Show* co-star, Wilmer Valderrama, taught her how to drive.
Mila was 14 years old when she auditioned for the show, so by season two, she was 16 and in need of a decent driving instructor.
Thankfully, her older castmate, Wilmer, stepped up to the plate!
7. She credits Judd Apatow for helping her career take off after *That ’70s Show*.
“I give Judd Apatow so much love for hiring me and letting me do something different, letting me break free of That ‘70s Show , letting me show that I could do something outside of Jackie,” she told Orlando Sentinel .
“The hardest thing, after ending a show you’ve been on for eight years is you get pigeon-holed into that character or that type of humor. The character and the show you played her on IS you, to Hollywood.”
8. Before landing her big break on *That ’70s Show*, she wanted a role on an NBC soap opera.
It was called Sunset Beach . “I wanted that one [ Sunset Beach ] because it had cute guys in it,” she told George Lopez.
She ended up being offered both roles, and ultimately, with the help of her manager, she made the right choice !
9. She prioritizes her family over her career.
“I’d rather be in love and have a baby than have a movie,” she told Glamour . “I got—knock on wood—very lucky. But I did choose. I took a chunk of time off. If it were up to [Ashton], we would have had kids much sooner. But I had contracts for films I had to do.”
“I was like, ‘Let me finish this last thing, *Jupiter Ascending*, and we’re a go. I’m going to take a solid break from acting.'”
“And let me tell you, when I would get a call with an offer, I wouldn’t even flinch. I was like, ‘No, I’m pregnant.’ ‘No, I have a baby.’ I wasn’t ready to go back. I was so happy saying no that I knew it was the right decision .”
10. She met her husband, Ashton Kutcher, nearly 20 years before getting together on the set of *That ’70s Show*, and because of that she believes the foundation of their relationship is incredibly solid.
“We can’t [expletive] each other. I literally can’t lie to him. He can call me out on everything, and I can do the same, because there’s nothing about the other person’s face that we don’t know. We know when they’re acting , thus we know when they’re lying. Sometimes he’ll look at me, be like, ‘Really?’ And I’m like, ‘[expletive],'” she told Glamour .
Their relationship initially began as being “friends with benefits”.
Ironically, Mila stars in a movie called Friends With Benefits and Ashton stars in a movie called No Strings Attached , and yet, they still thought they could pull it off without accidentally falling in love .
11. She finds acting in serious films and comedies equally challenging.
“It’s weird. It doesn’t matter if you’re play-pretending crying or play-pretending laughing, you’re still play-pretending,” she told Glamour .
“It’s equally as hard or easy. It’s not like, “Oh man, I’m doing a movie where I have to cry, that means I’m working really hard.”
