Olga Kurylenko

Olha Kostiantynivna Kurylenko (Ukrainian: Ольга Костянтинівна Куриленко, Russian: Ольга Константиновна Куриленко; born November 14, 1979) better known as Olga Kurylenko, is a Ukrainian 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. Born in Ukraine, she became a French citizen in 2001.

Early life and background

Olga Kurylenko was born in Berdyansk, Ukraine. Her father Konstantin is Ukrainian and her mother, Marina Alyabusheva, is an art teacher of Russian and Belarusian descent, who was born in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.

She grew up in a typical Soviet household, in an apartment she shared with her aunt and uncle, grandparents, and cousin. She never had any fancy clothes, often wearing hand-me-downs, babushkas, and re-sewing torn sweaters instead of buying new ones. "I couldn't have anything, basically," she has said of her childhood. "I couldn't have any clothes I wanted, shoes, beds, clothes for school — because my mum couldn't buy them."

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.^[10] When she was 17, she signed a contract with the Paris-based Madison modeling agency.^[11] 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 appeared on the covers of Madame Figaro and Marie Claire.

She became the face of Triumph lingerie, Lejaby lingerie, Bebe, Clarins, and Helena Rubinstein.^[14] 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.^{[citation needed]} In 2007, Kurylenko starred in Hitman alongside Timothy Olyphant, in which she did a full nude scene. 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.^[17] The film was released in the United States on her 29th birthday.

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)^[20][21] (Kurylenko considered that a PR move,). In Ukraine the then-mayor of Berdyansk suggested early 2008 naming a street after her 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.

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 Damian Gabrielle.They divorced in late 2007. Kurylenko lived in Paris after leaving Ukraine in 1996 to pursue her modeling career, but moved to London in 2009.In 2001, she was granted French citizenship.

In an October 2009 chat session with Komsomolskaya Pravda Ukraine, she stated that she does not intend to move back to Ukraine, or to remarry.

Kurylenko speaks Ukrainian,Russian, English, French; she also claims she can speak Spanish and can understand Italian.

Kurylenko is a philanthropist noted for her work for the underprivileged, focusing on children in her native Ukraine. In an interview with the December 2009 edition of Alliance Magazine, she outlined her goal of using her profile to draw attention to her chosen causes, saying: "I have this fame now, I have to use it. If you can at least spread the word it's already good."

Filmography

• L'Annulaire (2005)
• Paris, je t'aime (2006)
• Le Porte-bonheur (2006) (TV)
• The Serpent (2006)
• Suspectes (2007) (TV mini-series)
• Hitman (2007)
• Max Payne (2008)
• Tyranny (2008)
• Quantum of Solace (2008)
• Kirot - The Assassin Next Door (2009)
• Centurion (2010)
• Land of Oblivion (2011) [in post-production]
• Empires of the Deep (2011) [in post-production]
• There Be Dragons (2011) [in post-production]
• Untitled Terrence Malick Project (2011) [in post-production]
• Terre Outragée (2011) [filming]
• Singularity (2011) [filming]