"Olga Kurylenko"

Name: Olga Kurylenko
Date of Birth: November 14, 1979
Place of Birth: Ukraine

Olga Kurylenko mini-bio:
Olga Konstantinovna Kurylenko is a Ukrainian actress and model who was born in 1979 to a Russian mother and a Ukrainian father in Berdyansk, Ukraine, where she grew up in utter poverty. As a child she studied art, languages, and attended 7 years of musical school where she learned to play the piano and attended a ballet studio until the age of 13.

At age 13, Olga was on vacation with her mother in Moscow, where she was scouted by an agent who offered her a job as a model. By age 16, she moved to Paris and was signed by the Madison agency. At age 18, Olga appeared on the cover of Glamour and later graced the magazine covers of Elle, Madame Figaro, Marie Claire, and Vogue. Eventually, she became the face of Lejaby lingerie, Bebe clothing, Clarins and Helena Rubinstein cosmetic companies.

Her film career began in 2005 and, soon after, Olga received the certificate of excellence award at the 2006 Brooklyn International Film Festival for her performance in L'Annulaire. In the same year, she also appeared in the Paris, je t'aime segment of Quartier de la Madeleine, opposite Elijah Wood. In 2007, Olga starred in Hitman alongside Timothy Olyphant. In 2008, she will appear in Max Payne, which stars Mark Wahlberg. Her biggest role yet comes next, however, as she becomes the newest Bond girl, Camille, opposite Daniel Craig in the next 007 film, Quantum of Solace.

Kurylenko was featured on the cover of the December 2008 issue of the US edition of Maxim and on the cover of the February 2009 issue of the Ukrainian edition of Maxim magazine.



The fact that she is the first Bond girl from a post-Soviet state received mixed reactions in Russia. The Saint Petersburg based Communist group KPLO has accused her of "moral and intellectual betrayal" in starring in a film about the "enemy of the Soviet people" (meaning James Bond) (Kurylenko considered that a PR move). In Ukraine the then-mayor of Berdyansk suggested naming a street after her in early 2008, and Kurylenko and her mother met Ukraine's First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko in President Yushchenko's family country house.

Kurylenko will appear in Terrence Malick's sixth feature, shot in fall 2010 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Also starring Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem and Rachel McAdams, the film is currently in post-production.

Kurylenko acquired French citizenship in 2001.

In 2000, Kurylenko married French fashion photographer Cedric van Mol, but the couple divorced four years later. In 2006, she married American mobile phone accessory entrepreneur Damian Gabrielle. They divorced in late 2007. She moved to London in 2009.

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