Few Hollywood stars have a journey as remarkable as Mila Kunis. She arrived in America at the age of seven with almost nothing, unable to speak a word of English, and went on to become one of the most recognisable actresses of her generation. From her breakout role as Jackie Burkhart on That ’70s Show to her Golden Globe-nominated turn in Black Swan, she has built a career that spans television, film and voice acting. In this biography, we look at her early life, career highlights, personal life, net worth and 15 fascinating facts you may never have heard about her.
Mila Kunis: Quick Facts
| Full Name | Milena Markovna Kunis |
| Birth Date | 14 August 1983 |
| Birthplace | Chernivtsi, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine) |
| Occupation | Actress, voice actress and producer |
| Known For | That ’70s Show, Family Guy, Black Swan, Forgetting Sarah Marshall |
| Net Worth (est.) | ~$75 million |
Mila Kunis: Early Life and Ukrainian Roots
Mila Kunis was born Milena Markovna Kunis on 14 August 1983 in Chernivtsi, a city in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. She was raised in a Jewish family alongside her older brother Michael. Her mother Elvira was a physics teacher who also ran a pharmacy, while her father Mark worked as a mechanical engineer. Her grandparents were Holocaust survivors, and the family spoke Russian at home — Kunis has confirmed that Russian was her main language as a child and that she did not speak Ukrainian.
Life in the Soviet Union was not easy for the family. Despite her parents having what Kunis later described as “amazing jobs”, they felt they saw no future for their children there, partly because of antisemitism. In 1991, when Mila Kunis was seven years old, the family emigrated to the United States under a religious-refugee visa with just $250 — all they were allowed to take. Her parents gave up their careers and degrees, which did not transfer to America, and her father worked as a cab driver after the move.
They arrived in New York on a Wednesday, and by Friday morning Mila and her brother were already in school in Los Angeles. It was a baptism of fire: she spoke no English, and she later described feeling “blind and deaf” in those early months. She attended Rosewood Elementary School and later graduated from Fairfax High School, briefly attending both the University of California, Los Angeles and Loyola Marymount University. The resilience she learned as a young immigrant would serve her well in Hollywood.
Mila Kunis: Career Highlights
Mila Kunis enrolled in acting classes as an after-school activity at the age of nine and was soon discovered by an agent. Small roles in television series and commercials followed, and before long she was a working child actress in Los Angeles. Her big break arrived in 1998, when she was cast as Jackie Burkhart in That ’70s Show, a role she held through the show’s entire run until 2006. A year later she took over the voice of Meg Griffin on Family Guy, a role she still performs today.
Her film breakthrough came in 2008 with the romantic comedy-drama Forgetting Sarah Marshall, in which she played Rachel Jansen. Critics praised her charm and comic timing, and it opened the door to a string of successful films: Max Payne (2008), The Book of Eli (2010), the romantic comedy Friends with Benefits (2011) opposite Justin Timberlake, the hit comedy Ted (2012), the fantasy Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) as the Wicked Witch of the West, and the comedy blockbusters Bad Moms (2016) and A Bad Moms Christmas (2017). Her performance as Lily in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan (2010) earned her worldwide acclaim, including the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actress at the Venice Film Festival and nominations for the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards. More recently she appeared in The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018), the Netflix thriller Luckiest Girl Alive (2022), and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025).
15 Fascinating Facts About Mila Kunis
1. She was born Milena Markovna Kunis in Soviet Ukraine
Long before she was a Hollywood star, she was Milena Markovna Kunis, born on 14 August 1983 in Chernivtsi in the Ukrainian SSR. Her family shortened her name to Mila after settling in America. She is of 96 to 98 per cent Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, according to a genealogical DNA test she once took.
2. Her family emigrated with just $250
When the Kunis family left the Soviet Union in 1991, they carried only $250 — all they were permitted to take. They arrived in New York on a Wednesday and, astonishingly, Mila was sitting in a Los Angeles classroom by Friday morning. Her parents sacrificed promising careers to give their children a future.
3. She started school in America speaking no English
Imagine being dropped into a classroom where you understand nothing. That was her reality at the age of seven. She later said the experience left her feeling “blind and deaf”, and she cried every day in her first months. She learned English quickly, however, and adapted to her new life with remarkable speed.
4. Her acting career began with a Barbie commercial
After enrolling in acting classes as an after-school activity at the age of nine, she was quickly discovered by an agent. She landed her first professional job — a Barbie commercial — after her very first audition, and soon picked up guest roles in television series such as Days of Our Lives, Baywatch and 7th Heaven.
5. She fibbed about her age to land That ’70s Show
When she auditioned for the role of Jackie Burkhart at just 14, producers required actors playing high school students to be at least 18. Her solution was pure Jackie: she told them she would be 18, without mentioning when. The deception worked, and she became one of the show’s six teenage leads, starring opposite her future husband Ashton Kutcher from 1998 to 2006.
6. Her first kiss was with Ashton Kutcher — on the show
Years before they became one of Hollywood’s most beloved couples, she shared her first-ever kiss with Ashton Kutcher during the filming of That ’70s Show. The two played on-screen love interests Jackie and Kelso, and life would eventually imitate art when they began dating in real life in 2012.
7. She replaced Lacey Chabert as Meg on Family Guy
Since 1999, she has voiced Meg Griffin on Family Guy, taking over from the original voice actress Lacey Chabert. She was only 15 when she won the role, and she has remained the show’s longest-serving Meg through hundreds of episodes over more than 25 years.
8. She played the young Gia opposite Angelina Jolie
In 1998, a young Kunis portrayed the teenage version of supermodel Gia Carangi in the HBO film Gia, with Angelina Jolie playing the adult role. Jolie went on to win a Golden Globe for her performance, while Kunis’s early dramatic work hinted at the serious actress she would become.
9. She trained intensely in ballet for Black Swan
For her role as the alluring Lily in Black Swan, she underwent months of gruelling ballet training and followed a strict diet to transform into a professional dancer opposite Natalie Portman. The effort paid off: her performance earned her the Marcello Mastroianni Award at the Venice Film Festival plus Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations.
10. Her two eyes are different colours
One of her most distinctive features is her heterochromia — one eye is green and the other is brown. She also suffered for years from chronic iritis, an inflammation of the iris that at one point caused temporary blindness in one eye. She later had surgery to correct the condition.
11. She was named Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive in 2012
Her combination of wit, warmth and striking looks made her a magazine favourite. In 2012, Esquire named her the Sexiest Woman Alive, and in 2013 she topped FHM’s list of the 100 Sexiest Women in the World. She took the attention in her stride, joking that she did not understand what all the fuss was about.
12. She became a Dior muse and Jim Beam’s first female global partner
Beyond acting, she built a lucrative career as a brand ambassador. She fronted campaigns for Dior, Gemfields and Gap, and in 2014 she became Jim Beam’s first-ever female global partner — a landmark deal for the bourbon brand that recognised her broad appeal.
13. She co-founded her own production company
In 2014, she founded Orchard Farm Productions, stepping behind the camera to develop her own projects. The company produced the 2018 action-comedy The Spy Who Dumped Me, in which she starred alongside Kate McKinnon, as well as other film and television ventures, giving her creative control over her career.
14. She co-founded a charity fighting child exploitation
With her husband Ashton Kutcher, she co-founded Thorn, a non-profit organisation that develops technology to combat child sexual exploitation online. It is a cause both are deeply committed to, and Kunis has used her platform to raise awareness of the issue for over a decade.
15. She helped raise over $37 million for Ukrainian refugees
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Mila Kunis — who was born in the country — and Ashton Kutcher launched a GoFundMe campaign called “Stand With Ukraine”, matching donations up to $3 million of their own money. The appeal raised more than $37 million to support refugees, a powerful reminder of how far her journey had come since arriving in America with $250.
Mila Kunis: Personal Life
Mila Kunis was in a long-term relationship with former child star Macaulay Culkin from 2002 until they amicably parted ways in 2011. She then reconnected with her former That ’70s Show co-star Ashton Kutcher, and the couple began dating in 2012. They married in July 2015 in a private ceremony and share two children: daughter Wyatt Isabelle Kutcher and son Dimitri Portwood Kutcher. The couple are famously private and low-key, raising their family away from the Hollywood spotlight in the Los Angeles area.
Kunis remains proud of her Ukrainian heritage and is a naturalised US citizen. Despite her fame and fortune, she is known in Hollywood for her down-to-earth personality, dry humour and devotion to her family — qualities that have made her one of the industry’s most likeable stars.
Mila Kunis: Net Worth
Mila Kunis’s net worth is estimated at ~$75 million. She built this fortune through decades of steady, high-earning work: her long-running roles on That ’70s Show and Family Guy, leading roles in box-office hits such as Ted, Friends with Benefits and Bad Moms, lucrative endorsement deals with brands including Dior and Jim Beam, and her production company Orchard Farm Productions. Along with her husband, she has also made savvy investments through their venture interests in companies such as Uber, Airbnb and Spotify. Her story is a remarkable one — from arriving in America with $250 to building a $75 million fortune — as chronicled on our Mila Kunis net worth page. For readers interested in how other Hollywood stars built their wealth, see our profiles of Kat Dennings and Kendall Jenner.
Mila Kunis: Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Mila Kunis?
Mila Kunis is an American actress and voice artist best known for playing Jackie Burkhart on That ’70s Show, voicing Meg Griffin on Family Guy, and starring in films such as Black Swan, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Bad Moms.
How old is Mila Kunis?
She was born on 14 August 1983, which makes her 43 years old as of October 2026. Her birth name is Milena Markovna Kunis.
Where was Mila Kunis born?
She was born in Chernivtsi in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union (now Ukraine). She emigrated to Los Angeles with her family at the age of seven in 1991.
Who is Mila Kunis married to?
She has been married to actor Ashton Kutcher, her former That ’70s Show co-star, since July 2015. They have two children together, daughter Wyatt and son Dimitri.
What is Mila Kunis’s net worth?
Mila Kunis’s net worth is estimated at ~$75 million, earned through her acting career, voice work on Family Guy, film salaries, endorsements and production ventures.
Mila Kunis: Conclusion
The story of Mila Kunis is one of Hollywood’s most inspiring. A girl who arrived in America at seven speaking no English has become an award-nominated actress, a successful producer, a philanthropist and a mother of two. Whether making audiences laugh as Jackie Burkhart, voicing Meg Griffin for over 25 years, or delivering a haunting performance in Black Swan, she continues to reinvent herself. For more on her financial journey, read our detailed Mila Kunis net worth breakdown. If you found this biography interesting, you may also enjoy our profiles of fellow actresses Kat Dennings and Kendall Jenner.