Milena Markovna Kunis was born on August 14, 1983, in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union. Her father Mark Kunis was a mechanical engineer and her mother Elvira was a physics teacher. The family, which is Jewish, emigrated to the United States in 1991 when Mila was seven, settling in Los Angeles. The transition — a new country, a new language, an entirely new social context — was navigated with the adaptability and social intelligence that would characterize her adult career. She learned English with remarkable speed, enrolled in acting classes, and began working as a child actress within years of arriving.
Kunis was cast as Jackie Burkhart in That '70s Show in 1998 at age fourteen, having told producers she was eighteen — she was the youngest member of the main cast. The show ran for eight seasons, providing her with a decade of professional development and a substantial fan base. She provided the voice of Meg Griffin on Family Guy from its premiere in 1999, a role she continues to hold. Her film career developed slowly during the That '70s Show years, with supporting roles that demonstrated her range without yet defining her as a leading actress.
Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan (2010) transformed Kunis's career. Cast as Lily, the dark counterpart to Natalie Portman's perfectionist Nina, she delivered a performance of physical intensity and psychological complexity that drew near-universal critical praise — she won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress and received multiple additional nominations. The role demonstrated a seriousness and technical capability that her sitcom background had obscured. Friends with Benefits (2011) and Ted (2012) explored her comedic range; Bad Moms (2016) established her as a comedy leading lady with genuine star power.
Kunis's relationship with her That '70s Show co-star Ashton Kutcher — they began dating in 2012, married in 2015, and have two children — has been the subject of significant public interest. Both have been protective of their family's privacy while remaining public figures in their professional lives. She has spoken publicly about growing up in the Soviet Union and the United States as an immigrant, about her experience of anti-Semitism, and about her decision in 2022 to raise money for Ukrainian refugees following Russia's invasion of Ukraine — a cause made deeply personal by her family's origins in Chernivtsi.
