Olga Kurylenko

14 Nov, 1979 | Berdyansk

Actress

Biography

Olga Kostyantynivna Kurylenko is a Ukrainian model and actress. She is perhaps best known as the Bond girl in the 22nd James Bond film, Quantum of Solace and for portraying the character of Nika Boronina in the movie adaptation of the video game Hitman. Early life Olga Kurylenko was born in Berdyansk, Ukraine. Her father, Kostyantyn Kurylenko, is Ukrainian. Her mother, Marina Alyabusheva, an art teacher of Russian descent, was born in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. She grew up living a poor lifestyle; she shared an apartment with her aunt and uncle, grandparents and cousin. She never had any fancy clothes, often wearing hand-me-downs and re-sewing torn sweaters instead of buying new ones. Her discovery led to a drastic change in lifestyle, "I couldn`t have anything, basically. I couldn`t have any clothes I wanted, shoes, beds, clothes for school - because my mum couldn`t buy them (Olga, on her childhood)". When Kurylenko was three years old her parents divorced, leaving her to be raised by her mother. Kurylenko rarely had contact with her father, meeting him for the first time when she was 8 years old, and later again when she was 13. Career Kurylenko was discovered by a female model scout while on vacation in Moscow at the age of thirteen. When she was 17 she signed a contract with the Paris-based Madison modeling agency. By the age of 18 she had already appeared on the covers of Vogue and Elle. While working as a model in Paris, Kurylenko supported her mother back home in Ukraine. She also dazzled the covers of Madame Figaro and Marie Claire. Also, she became the face of Lejaby lingerie, Bebe clothing, Clarins and Helena Rubinstein. Furthermore, she modelled for Roberto Cavalli and KENZO, and briefly appeared in the Victoria's Secret catalog. In 2005, Kurylenko began her film career in France. 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. The same year, she was selected to be the face of Kenzo's new fragrance, Kenzo Amour. She has appeared in all subsequent Kenzo Amour ads. In 2007, Kurylenko starred in Hitman alongside Timothy Olyphant. She played Bond girl Camille Montes in the 2008 James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. The film was released in the United States on her twenty-ninth birthday. Kurylenko was featured on the cover of the December 2008 issue of the US edition of Maxim magazine 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 post-Soviet countries. 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), but the mayor of Berdyansk has suggested naming a street after her and she met Ukraine's First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko in President Yushchenko's family country house. Personal Life 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 Demian Gabriel Neufeld. They divorced in late 2007. Kurylenko has lived in Paris since leaving Ukraine in 1996 to pursue her modeling career. In 2001, she was granted French citizenship.