Born and raised in Ukraine, Kurylenko moved to France at age 16 to pursue a modelling career. She refocused on acting in 2004 and had her breakthrough role in the action-thriller film Hitman (2007). She has also starred in the romantic drama film To the Wonder (2012), the satirical crime comedy-drama film Seven Psychopaths (2012), the post-apocalyptic action-adventure film Oblivion (2013), the political satire black comedy film The Death of Stalin (2017), the adventure-comedy film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018), the superhero film Black Widow (2021), the Netflix spy thriller miniseries Treason (2022) and the action thriller film Extraction 2 (2023).
Early life
Olga Kostyantynivna Kurylenko[1] was born on 14 November 1979[2] in Berdyansk, a port city in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.[3] Her father, Konstantin Kurylenko, is of Ukrainian origin, and her mother, Marina Alyabusheva—who teaches art and is an exhibited artist—was born in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia and is of Russian and Belarusian ancestry. Kurylenko's parents divorced when she was three years old, and she was raised by her mother. Kurylenko rarely had contact with her father, meeting him for the first time after the split at age eight and later at age thirteen.[4][5]
Kurylenko moved to Moscow at age 15. At age 16, she moved to Paris.[6] In 1996, Kurylenko signed a contract with the Paris-based Madison modelling agency where she met her publicist Valérie Rosen.[7] The following year, by the age of 18, she had appeared on the covers of Vogue and Elle magazines.[8] While working as a model in Paris, Kurylenko supported her mother in Ukraine.[9]
In 1998, she features in the music video of French Raï style singer Faudel called "Tellement Je T'aime".
One of her first acting appearances was in Seal's music video, "Love's Divine" in 2003,[13] but her film career truly began in France in 2004 when she shot her first feature film, The Ring Finger,[14] for which she received the certificate of excellence award at the 2006 Brooklyn International Film Festival for her performance. She next starred in the Paris, je t'aime (2006) 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.[15] She has appeared in all subsequent Kenzo Amour advertisements.[citation needed]
Kurylenko quit modelling in 2006, after over ten years of working in the industry and moved on to acting.[14]
She played Bond girlCamille Montes in the 2008 James Bond film, Quantum of Solace (after beating out Gal Gadot in the auditions).[16] In the film she plays the role of Bolivian Secret Service agent Camille Montes, who teams up with Bond to stop a terrorist organization and avenge the death of her parents.[17][18] Russian politician Sergey Malinkovich wrote an open letter to Kurylenko.[19] In it he said: "In the name of all communists we appeal to you ... deserter of Slavic world. The Soviet Union gave you free education, free medical care but nobody knew you would commit an act of intellectual and moral betrayal and become a movie girl of Bond, who in his movies kills hundreds of Soviet people and citizens of other socialist countries."[19]
She was featured on the cover of the December 2008 issue of the US edition of Maxim magazine[20] and on the cover of the February 2009 issue of the Ukrainian edition of Maxim.[21] In Ukraine the mayor of Berdyansk suggested naming a street after her in early 2008,[citation needed] and she and her mother met Ukraine's First LadyKateryna Yushchenko in President Victor Yushchenko's family country house.[7][8]
Kurylenko acquired French citizenship in 2001,[29] which she called "a practical decision" because it was easier to travel with a French passport without a visa, as opposed to travelling with a Ukrainian passport.[30] In 2000, Kurylenko married French fashion photographer Cedric van Mol, whom she divorced four years later.[31] In 2006, Kurylenko married American mobile phone accessory entrepreneur Damian Gabrielle, whom she divorced the next year.[32] She moved to London in 2009.[33][34][35]
^Kurylenko, Olga (24 February 2022). "#pleasestopthewar #ukraine". Instagram. Archived from the original on 6 March 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2022. Praying for Ukraine and the safety of its people
^"Sentinelle". Netflix. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
^Jo Ji-young (23 February 2022). "[공식] 유연석X올가 쿠릴렌코 韓·佛 프로젝트 '배니싱', 3월 개봉 확정" [[Official] Yoo Yeon-seok X Olga Kurylenko Korean-French project 'Banishing' confirmed for release in March] (in Korean). Sports Chosun. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022 – via Naver.
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