Olga Kurylenko
Encyclopedia
Olha Kostyantynivna Kurylenko , better known as Olga Kurylenko, is a French
actress and model. She is perhaps best known as the Bond girl
, Camille Montes, in the 22nd James Bond
film, Quantum of Solace. She also portrayed Nika Boronina in the movie adaptation of the video game
Hitman
. She became a French citizen in 2001.
, Russia.
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 eight years old, and later again when she was 13.
and Elle
. 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
.
She became the face of Triumph lingerie, Lejaby lingerie, Bebe
, Clarins
, and Helena Rubinstein
, Furthermore, she modelled for Roberto Cavalli
and Kenzo
, and appeared in the Victoria's Secret
catalog.
Kurylenko's first acting appearance was in Seal
's music video, 'Love's Divine
' in 2003, but her film career 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 ads. In 2007, Kurylenko 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. 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.
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.
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.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
actress and model. She is perhaps best known as the Bond girl
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...
, Camille Montes, in the 22nd James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film, Quantum of Solace. She also portrayed Nika Boronina in the movie adaptation of the video game
Hitman (series)
Hitman is a stealth game series developed by the Danish company IO Interactive. The series is available on PC as well as several video game consoles, including the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Xbox 360. The game series has since expanded into a novel, Hitman: Enemy Within written by...
Hitman
Hitman (2007 film)
Hitman is a 2007 film directed by Xavier Gens and based on the video game series of the same name. A gun-for-hire "Hitman" is a genetically-engineered assassin known as Agent 47. He is hired by a group, 'The Organization' and becomes ensnared in a political conspiracy. He finds himself pursued by...
. She became a French citizen in 2001.
Early life
Olga Kurylenko was born in Berdyansk, Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union). Her father, Konstantin, is Ukrainian, and her mother, Marina Alyabusheva, is an art teacher of Russian and Belarusian descent, who was born in Irkutsk OblastIrkutsk Oblast
Irkutsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of Angara River, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The administrative center is the city of Irkutsk. Population: -History:...
, Russia.
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 eight 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 13. When she was 17, she signed a contract with the Paris-based Madison modeling agency. By the age of 18, she had appeared on the covers of VogueVogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
and Elle
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
. While working as a model in Paris, Kurylenko supported her mother in Ukraine.
She also appeared on the covers of Madame Figaro
Le Figaro
Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...
and Marie Claire
Marie Claire
Marie Claire is a monthly women's magazine first published in France but also distributed in other countries with editions specific to them and in their languages. While each country shares its own special voice with its audience, the United States edition focuses on women around the world and...
.
She became the face of Triumph lingerie, Lejaby lingerie, Bebe
Bebe stores
bebe stores are an American clothing retailer founded in 1976. The name was inspired by, and is pronounced as in, the phrase "to be or not to be" from the play Hamlet. Manny Mashouf, who emigrated to the United States in the early 1970s, opened the first bebe store in San Francisco during a time...
, Clarins
Clarins
Clarins is a French cosmetics company specializing in skincare products and fragrances.The family company was founded in 1954 by the medical student Jacques Courtin-Clarins, who died in 2007...
, and Helena Rubinstein
Helena Rubinstein
Helena Rubinstein , a Polish born Australian-American business magnate. She is the founder and eponym of Helena Rubinstein, Incorporated, which made her one of the world's richest women.-Early life:...
, Furthermore, she modelled for Roberto Cavalli
Roberto Cavalli
Roberto Cavalli is an Italian fashion designer from Florence.-Biography:Roberto Cavalli was born in Florence, Tuscany. His grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, was a member of the Macchiaioli Movement, whose work is exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery. Cavalli decided to enroll at the local Art Institute,...
and Kenzo
Kenzo Takada
Kenzo Takada is a Japanese fashion designer. He is also the founder of Kenzo, a worldwide brand of perfumes, skincare products and clothes....
, and appeared in the Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
catalog.
Kurylenko's first acting appearance was in Seal
Seal (musician)
Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an...
's music video, 'Love's Divine
Love's Divine
"Love's Divine" is a song by Seal. It was released as the second single from his fourth studio album Seal IV. The official music video marks the first occasion that Ukrainian model and actress Olga Kurylenko appears in an acting role....
' in 2003, but her film career began in France during 2005. She received the certificate of excellence award at the 2006 Brooklyn International Film Festival
Brooklyn International Film Festival
The Brooklyn Film Festival ', prior to 2011 called the Brooklyn International Film Festival ' is an independent film festival held every June in Brooklyn, New York...
for her performance in L'Annulaire
L'Annulaire
L'Annulaire is a French film released on June 8, 2005. It was written and directed by Diane Bertrand. The film is referred to as The Ring Finger in Australia.-Plot:...
, and also starred in the Paris, je t'aime
Paris, je t'aime
Paris, Je t'aime is a 2006 anthology film starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities. The two-hour film consists of eighteen short films set in different arrondissements...
segment Quartier de la Madeleine opposite Elijah Wood
Elijah Wood
Elijah Jordan Wood is an American actor. He made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II , then landed a succession of larger roles that made him a critically acclaimed child actor by age 9. He is best known for his high-profile role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's...
. 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 ads. In 2007, Kurylenko starred in Hitman
Hitman (2007 film)
Hitman is a 2007 film directed by Xavier Gens and based on the video game series of the same name. A gun-for-hire "Hitman" is a genetically-engineered assassin known as Agent 47. He is hired by a group, 'The Organization' and becomes ensnared in a political conspiracy. He finds himself pursued by...
alongside Timothy Olyphant
Timothy Olyphant
Timothy David Olyphant is an American actor whose notable roles in television drama series include Deadwood as Seth Bullock, Justified as Raylan Givens, The Office as Danny Cordray, and Damages as Wes Krulik...
. She had a minor role in Max Payne
Max Payne
Max Payne is a BAFTA Award–winning third-person shooter video game developed by Finnish developers Remedy Entertainment and published by Gathering of Developers in July 2001 for Microsoft Windows. Ports created later in the year for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the GameBoy Advance were published by...
as Natasha. She played Bond girl
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...
Camille Montes in the 2008 James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film, Quantum of Solace. 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.
Kurylenko was featured on the cover of the December 2008 issue of the US edition of Maxim
Maxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
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
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
based Communist group KPLO has accused her of "moral and intellectual betrayal" in starring in a film about the "enemy of the Soviet people
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
" (meaning James Bond) (Kurylenko considered that a PR
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
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
First Lady
First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...
Kateryna Yushchenko in President
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
Yushchenko's family country house.
Kurylenko will appear in Terrence Malick's
Terrence Malick
Terrence Frederick Malick is a U.S. film director, screenwriter, and producer. In a career spanning almost four decades, Malick has directed five feature films....
sixth feature, shot in fall 2010 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma
Bartlesville, Oklahoma
Bartlesville is a city in Osage and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 43,070 at the 2010 census. Bartlesville is located forty-seven miles north of Tulsa and very close to Oklahoma's northern border with Kansas. It is the county seat of Washington County, in...
. Also starring Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...
, Javier Bardem
Javier Bardem
Javier Ángel Encinas Bardem is a Spanish actor. In 2007 he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as sociopathic assassin Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, and has also garnered critical acclaim for roles in films such as Jamón, jamón, Carne trémula, Boca a boca, Los...
and Rachel McAdams
Rachel McAdams
Rachel Anne McAdams is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre program at York University, Toronto in 2001, she worked steadily as an actress until finding fame in 2004 with starring roles in teen comedy Mean Girls and romantic drama The Notebook...
, the film is currently in post-production.
Personal life
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.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Largo Winch Largo Winch (TV series) Largo Winch is a television program based on the Belgian comic book series of the same name by Philippe Francq and Jean Van Hamme that first aired on January 26, 2001 in France on M6, and May 3, 2001 in Germany on ProSieben... |
Carole | TV series: 1 episode |
| 2005 | Iris | ||
| 2006 | Paris, je t'aime Paris, je t'aime Paris, Je t'aime is a 2006 anthology film starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities. The two-hour film consists of eighteen short films set in different arrondissements... |
La Vampire | Segment: Quartier de la Madeleine |
| 2006 | Sophia | TV | |
| 2006 | Sofia | ||
| 2007 | Secrets | Eva Pirès | TV mini-series: 7 episodes |
| 2007 | Hitman Hitman (2007 film) Hitman is a 2007 film directed by Xavier Gens and based on the video game series of the same name. A gun-for-hire "Hitman" is a genetically-engineered assassin known as Agent 47. He is hired by a group, 'The Organization' and becomes ensnared in a political conspiracy. He finds himself pursued by... |
Nika Boronina | |
| 2008 | À l'est de moi | The Russian prostitute | |
| 2008 | Quantum of Solace | Camille Montes | Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 2008 | Max Payne Max Payne (film) Max Payne is a 2008 noir action film based on the 2001 video game of the same name by Remedy Entertainment. It was written by Beau Thorne and was directed by John Moore. The film stars Mark Wahlberg in the title role as Max Payne, Mila Kunis as Mona Sax, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Jim Bravura and... |
Natasha | |
| 2009 | Kirot – The Assassin Next Door Kirot (film) Kirot released in the United States as The Assassin Next Door is an Israeli Action-Drama film directed by Danny Lerner in 2009. The primary language is English with many scenes in Russian and Hebrew with English subtitles.... |
Galia | |
| 2010 | Tyranny Tyranny (TV series) Tyranny is an American drama and political thriller web series that premiered on March 11, 2010 on KoldCast TV. Written and directed by John Beck Hofmann, the series is centered on a man who, after volunteering for a neurological experiment at UC Berkeley in 1999, finds himself having visions of a... |
Mina Harud | TV series: 5 episodes Also writer |
| 2010 | Centurion Centurion (film) Centurion is a 2010 British action thriller film directed by Neil Marshall, loosely based on the supposed disappearance of the Roman Ninth Legion in Caledonia in the second century CE. The film stars Michael Fassbender, Olga Kurylenko and Dominic West.... |
Etain | |
| 2011 | There Be Dragons There Be Dragons There Be Dragons is a historical epic written and directed by Roland Joffé, a British filmmaker well known for directing The Mission, The Killing Fields and Captivity. It is a drama set during the Spanish Civil War which features themes such as betrayal, love and hatred, forgiveness, friendship,... |
Ildiko | |
| 2011 | Land of Oblivion | Anya | Post-production |
| 2011 | Empires of the Deep Empires of the Deep Empires of the Deep is a colossal 3D action-adventure fantasy motion picture. It is said to be the biggest US-China co-production in the history with its production budget reaching $100 million and is currently in production in Beijing under the working title Mermaid Island USA.-Plot:The story... |
Post-production | |
| 2011 | Coronet | Maryska | Pre-production |
| 2012 | Elektra Robertson | Filming | |
| 2012 | Untitled Terrence Malick Project | Marina | Post-production |
| 2012 | Magic City Magic City (TV series) Magic City is an upcoming television drama series starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan scheduled to begin filming in 2011 and premiere on the network Starz in 2012.... |
Filming |