Welcome to the Deep Dive. We take the sources
you send us, sift through them, and try to get
to the heart of the story. Exactly. And today,
we're looking at someone you definitely know,
or think you know, Mila Kunis. Right. Instantly
recognizable. You know, Jackie from that 70s
show, Meg from Family Guy. She's been around
seemingly forever on our screens. But the materials
we looked through paint a much deeper picture.
It's not just the sitcom star. It's a story about,
well... Huge upheaval, immigration, cultural
clashes, and a really deliberate, sometimes difficult,
shift in her career and public image. So we're
going beyond the surface. We're looking at Milena
Markovna Kunis, the journey from refugee to,
well, this major Hollywood player. That's the
plan. Our mission today is to kind of unpack
it all based on these sources. Her roots, that
shock of moving, how she built that early TV
career sometimes with a bit of strategic maneuvering.
And then that big pivot, right, moving into film,
the disappointments, the huge successes like...
Black Swan and then becoming a producer, a philanthropist,
a really complex figure. Absolutely. And if there's
one core thing to keep in mind throughout this,
it's her origin. Born Milena Markovna Kunis,
August 14th, 1983, in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, which
was then part of the Soviet Union. And she moved
to Los Angeles when she was just seven. A move
that, as the sources show, cost her family pretty
much everything they had. And that really seems
to fuel everything that comes later. OK, let's
start there. Chernivtsi, Ukrainian SSR, born
into a Jewish family. The sources suggest life
was, you know, OK professionally, but restrictive.
Definitely restrictive. Her family was educated.
Her mom, Elvira, a physics teacher and pharmacist.
Her dad, Mark, a mechanical engineer. These were
good jobs. But they decided to leave in 1991.
She was seven. And it wasn't just an economic
decision, was it? It was about the future. Right.
The sources are clear. They saw no future for
their kids, Mila and her brother Michael, in
the Soviet Union. And a big part of that calculation
was anti -Semitism. That's explicitly mentioned
as a reason for seeking religious refugee status
to get to the U .S. It suggests a level of, well,
fear or at least deep concern about discrimination.
It must have been immense to make them give up
everything, those amazing jobs, as the sources
call them, and degrees that just weren't transferable
in the US. Imagine being a respected engineer
and suddenly you're driving a cab in LA, which
is what her father did initially. That's a huge
professional and personal blow. And then the
money aspect. It's just staggering. They arrived
with only $250. Wow. And, you know, that wasn't
like their savings plan. That was the legal limit.
All the Soviet government would let them take
out. So they landed in L .A. with basically nothing.
completely over. You can only imagine what that
felt like for seven -year -old Milena, plucked
from everything she knew, dropped into L .A.
and, crucially, not speaking the language. No
English at all. And her family language, her
mother tongue, is Russian. That's important.
The sources point out she actually doesn't speak
Ukrainian. Oh, really? Why is that? Well, back
then in her region, kids didn't start learning
Ukrainian in school until the second grade. And
that's exactly when she left. So she revived
speaking Russian, facing this massive English
barrier. And the impact was immediate. She was
enrolled in elementary school, Rosewood Elementary,
just two days after landing. She's talked about
basically blocking out that whole year. Yeah,
she said she cried every single day, didn't understand
the culture, the language, anything. It was complete
alienation. There's that quote from her college
essay, isn't there? It really sums it up. It
does. The first sentence was, imagine being blind
and deaf at age seven. that captures the intensity
of it right you can see and hear but you can't
process or connect just overwhelming sensory
input without meaning yet somehow she pushed
through the education path shows that Hubert
Howe Bancroft Middle School, then even a brief
stint at Lace's Los Angeles Center for Enriched
Studies, which is known for being pretty academically
challenging. That drive is incredible. You see
that immigrant determination, maybe feeling the
weight of her parents' sacrifice, needing to
make it work, to assimilate, to succeed. Although
her acting career eventually took precedence,
right? She transferred to Fairfax High School
and relied mostly on an onset tutor to graduate
in 2001. Yes. But she got it done. She's a naturalized
U .S. citizen. And it all comes back to that
initial journey, that identity. The sources even
mention a genealogical DNA test. Oh, yeah. What
did it show? It described her ethnicity as 96
to 98 percent Ashkenazi Jewish, which, you know,
connects directly back to why her family felt
they had to leave the Soviet Union in the first
place. It really grounds her later advocacy work.
So that drive, that discipline we talked about,
it seems like a channel directly into acting
pretty quickly. But it wasn't initially the plan,
was it? Not really. It sounds like it was almost
an accident of assimilation. Her dad enrolled
her in acting classes at Beverly Hills Studios
when she was nine, maybe just to help her with
English, build confidence. But she met her manager
there, Susan Curtis. Yeah. And things took off
almost immediately. It's kind of amazing, actually.
The sources say she landed her first audition,
a Barbie commercial. That's insane. Luck or talent
or both. Right. And then another big one for
kids back then, a Lisa Frank commercial. So bam,
she's a working child actor almost straight away.
Then came the TV spots in 94. Days of Our Lives,
Baywatch. Building that resume. Little parts
here and there. Some family movies like Santa
with Muscles, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves. And
then a slightly more serious role in 1998 playing
young Gia Karangi in an HBO movie, Gia. Opposite
Angelina Jolie. That's a step up. She was, what,
14 or 15 then? Yeah, just laying the groundwork.
But the absolute game changer, the role that
defined her early career, was just around the
corner. That 70s show. Jackie Burkhardt. Iconic.
But there was that whole issue with her age,
right? They wanted someone older. They specifically
wanted actors 18 or over. And Mila was 14 when
she auditioned in 1998. So how did she swing
it? This is where that hustle comes in again.
Total hustle. According to the sources, she told
the casting directors she would be 18. She just
conveniently left out the win. That's brilliant.
Strategic ambiguity, you called it. Exactly.
It showed she was determined to get that shot.
And apparently when the producers figured out
she was only 14. They kept her anyway. Because
she was just perfect for Jackie. She nailed that
spoiled, funny, sharp -tongued character. The
fate was just too good to pass up, even with
the age thing. And that show was massive. Eight
seasons. It cemented her place. She even won
awards for it, right? Yep. Two Young Star Awards
back to back in 99 and 2000. It was her foundation.
Right around the same time, 1999, she picks up
another huge long -running gig, voice acting,
Meg Griffin on Family Guy. Yeah. She replaced
Lacey Chabert. And it's fascinating why Seth
MacFarlane chose her. What was his reasoning?
He said her voice sounded very natural for a
teenager. He felt adult actors often sounded
forced trying to do teen voices. Kunis, being
15 or 16 then, just sounded authentic. There
was that specific direction he gave her too,
wasn't there, during the audition process. Right.
He reportedly told her to come back, but this
time speak slower and enunciate more clearly.
Which makes sense for animation, I guess. Timing.
Clarity for jokes? Exactly. It's a technical
skill. And clearly she mastered it. She's been
Meg ever since and even got an Annie Award nomination
for it. It's funny. The contrast between Jackie
and Meg couldn't be bigger. One's the queen bee,
the other's, well, the punching bag. Totally.
Jackie is all confidence and dominance. Meg's
the scapegoat, as Kunis herself described her.
It shows even early on she had this range within
comedy. She could play completely different types.
Okay, so she's got these two huge... TV successes
running concurrently. The logical next step is
film, right? But the sources make it clear that
transition was rocky. Yeah, the early 2000s looked
tough. Trying to break out of that Jackie Burkhart
box seems like it was really hard. Her first
few attempts didn't really land. Get Over It
in 2001 was just another teen comedy. But then
came American Psycho 2 in 2002. Oh boy. Straight
to DVD sequel territory. That's usually not a
great sign. And this one was apparently particularly
bad. The reviews were terrible. And crucially,
the sources mentioned Kunis herself later expressed
real embarrassment about doing it. That's got
to sting. You're trying to build a serious film
career and you end up in this poorly received
sequel that people kind of mock. Exactly. It
reinforces that TV actress label in a negative
way. And a couple other films around that time,
like Tony and Tina's Wedding and Moving McAllister,
also didn't do well critically or commercially.
They just sort of disappeared. So it felt like
she was maybe stuck for a bit there. For a few
years, yeah. But then comes 2008. And this seems
like the real turning point, the start of that
strategic pivot we talked about. Forgetting Sarah
Marshall. Ah, yes. The Judd Apatow effect. She
auditioned for Knocked Up First, right? Didn't
get it. Didn't get it, but clearly made an impression.
They cast her as Rachel Jansen in Sarah Marshall.
And this was different. It involved improvisation.
Which is a different muscle than scripted sitcom
work. Totally. And the film was a hit. made over
$100 million. But more importantly, the reviews
for her started to change. What were critics
saying? Things like fresh beauty and focused
energy, praising her comic timing. People were
finally seeing her potential on the big screen.
She herself credited Apatow's team for helping
her break out. And then she immediately swerves
in a completely different direction. Yeah. Action
movie, Max Payne. Also in 2008. Yeah, playing
the assassin Mona Sax from the video game. Yeah.
And she really committed physically, training
in guns, boxing, martial arts, showing that discipline
again. How did that one go over? Financially,
pretty well. Made about $85 million, critically.
Mixed. Some reviewers felt she was miscast, still
maybe struggling to see her outside of comedy.
But the industry must have been noticing her
range or her willingness to try different things.
Seems like it. Because director Mike - Mike Judge
cast her in Extract in 2009. He specifically
said he liked her because she could make the
character feel credible, real. And then 2010
felt like a real consolidation year for her.
Two significant films. Huge year. First, The
Book of Eli, opposite Denzel Washington, big
post -apocalyptic action film, made a ton of
money, over $157 million. And the reviews for
her performance. Really strong. Richard Roper
called it a particularly strong piece of work.
Critics were noting that she was actively choosing
roles to challenge that earlier image and proving
she could handle them. She also had a smaller
part in Date Night that year, didn't she? Yeah,
a supporting role, but apparently memorable.
One critic said she gave the film a shot in the
arm. So momentum was building. All leading up
to the big one, the critical peak, Black Swan,
also 2010. This was it, the film that completely
redefined her image, directed by Darren Aronofsky.
How did she get cast? Was it Aronofsky seeking
her out? He apparently saw her in Forgetting
Sarah Marshall, which is kind of amazing, going
from that broad comedy to this intense psychological
thriller. And Natalie Portman, who was already
starring, recommended her. And the preparation
for this? Yeah. It's legendary. It sounds absolutely
grueling. Oh, it was brutal. The sources detail
it vividly. A super strict diet, only 1 ,200
calories a day. She lost 20 pounds. Which she
said she gained right back afterward. Immediately.
And then the physical training. Four hours of
ballet practice, seven days a week. Non -stop.
That level of commitment is insane. Did she get
hurt? Yeah, she suffered injuries, a torn ligament,
a dislocated shoulder. This wasn't just learning
a few steps. It was pushing her body to the absolute
limit. And you could see that effort on screen.
The transformation was incredible. And the world
noticed. The film was a massive critical success.
Five Oscar nominations. And Kunis herself started
racking up awards. What did she win? She won
the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young
Actor at the Venice Film Festival, a huge honor,
and the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Plus, she got nominated for the Golden Globe.
and the Screen Actors Guild Award. So Black Swan
basically proved she wasn't just a comedy actress.
She was a serious dramatic force. Completely.
It gave her that critical validation, that industry
respect she'd been working towards for years.
It changed everything. And what's interesting
is what she did next. She didn't just stay in
serious drama land. Nope. She pivoted again back
to comedy. But now with this newfound credibility.
In 2011, she starred with Justin Timberlake in
Friends with Benefits. Which is a pretty big
hit, right? Rom -com success. Huge hit. Made
almost $150 million worldwide. And critics loved
her in it. One called her a gift that keeps giving
to mainstream romantic comedy. It showed she
could do both and do them well. And then came
the absolute monster hit, Ted, in 2012. Reuniting
with Seth MacFarlane, this movie just exploded.
Grossed over half a billion dollars worldwide,
$549 million. Still her biggest commercial success.
Wow. So that period, roughly 2010 to 2012, Black
Swan giving her the critical cred, then Friends
with Benefits, and Ted giving her massive box
office clout. That's the pivot fully realized.
Perfectly executed. She proved she could handle
drama, comedy, action, and that she was a genuine
movie star who could open a film. So her professional
career is hitting this incredible peak. But alongside
that, her public persona is also becoming much
more prominent, much more complex. Definitely.
The media certainly noticed her. She was getting
those big sexiest woman type accolades around
then. Esquire in 2012, GQ the year before, number
one on FHM's list in 2013. But she seemed kind
of dismissive of that, didn't she? The sources
mentioned a quote where she basically says, looks
fade, you need something more substantial for
a career. Yeah, it's that interesting paradox,
acknowledging the reality of how Hollywood values
looks, maybe even leveraging it, but also publicly
stating it's not what defines her or her career
longevity. And she definitely leveraged that
visibility for big endorsements. Oh, yeah. She
was the face of Dior's fashion campaign in 2012,
became a global ambassador for Jem Fields, the
jewelry company, in 2013, even visited their
mine in Zambia. And then that big Jim Beam bourbon
campaign starting in 2014. That visibility translates
to influence and money. Forbes had her on their
powerful celebrities list in 2013, right? Yep.
Ranked high for marketability, earning an estimated
$11 million that year alone. She was a major
commercial force. Okay, before we get into the
heavier stuff, let's quickly cover the personal
life milestones mentioned in the sources. Sure.
She had that long relationship with Macaulay
Culkin from 2002 to 2011, apparently an amicable
split. And then she started dating her old That
70s Show co -star Ashton Kutcher in 2012. Right.
They got married in 2015, have two kids, a daughter
born in 2014 and a son in 2016. And they live
in that much talked about sustainable farmhouse
in Beverly Hills. There were also some interesting
health details revealed. Something about her
eyesight. Yeah, she spoke about having chronic
iritis, which is an inflammation of the iris.
It actually caused temporary blindness in one
eye at one point, but she had surgery to correct
it. And she has that distinctive eye color difference,
doesn't she? Heterochromia iridum. One brown
eye, one green eye. It's quite striking. OK,
so shifting back to her public actions. Beyond
the endorsements, there's a clear pattern of
using her platform for other things. Absolutely.
Like attending the Marine Corps Ball in 2011
after Sikonit Scott Moore invited her via YouTube
while serving in Afghanistan. That got a lot
of positive attention. And more recently, that
charity wine initiative during the pandemic.
Yeah. Quarantine Wine in 2020 and then Outside
Wine in 2021 co -developed with Kutcher. They
raised money for COVID relief and organizations
like THORN, which combats child sexual exploitation
online. That shows a consistent philanthropic
focus. And then there's her political engagement,
which the sources indicate is pretty direct.
She's a clear supporter of the Democratic Party.
Very clear. There is a quote from 2012 where
she criticized the Republican Party, specifically
saying she felt they were attacking women and
focusing too much on religion. She wasn't shy
about her views. Which leads us to that Planned
Parenthood donation controversy in 2017. That
was... Unusual. Highly unusual and very deliberate.
She publicly revealed she was making monthly
donations to Planned Parenthood in the name of
then Vice President Mike Pence. Who was, of course,
known for his strong anti -abortion stance. So
this was intended as a direct protest. Exactly.
And it blew up. Supporters of Planned Parenthood
cheered it, but it caused immediate and intense
backlash from anti -abortion groups. And that
led to the hashtag Boca Jim Beam campaign, right?
Directly targeting her sponsors. Yes. It was
a very clear example of how taking a specific,
provocative political stance can have immediate
real world consequences for your commercial endorsements.
It put Jim Beam in a difficult position. Then
fast forward to 2022. Russia invades Ukraine.
This must have hit incredibly close to home for
her, given her origins. Deeply personal. And
her response was massive and very public. The
GoFundMe campaign with Kutcher. That raised an
incredible amount, didn't it? They set a goal
of $30 million for refugee aid, matched $3 million
themselves, and ended up exceeding the goal.
It was a huge effort. And she spoke very powerfully
about it. Saying she was so proud to be from
Ukraine. really connecting her current platform
back to her roots as a refugee from Chernivtsi.
That whole effort, her visibility on the issue,
it led to Time magazine naming her one of their
100 most influential people in the world in 2022.
It recognized that global impact. She's also
been active against anti -Semitism, which again
ties back to her family's reasons for leaving
the Soviet Union. Right. The sources mention
her signing letters supporting a Tel Aviv film
festival against boycott attempts and calling
for Amazon to remove an anti -Semitic film. Consistent
advocacy there. OK, now we need to address the
most recent and arguably most difficult public
issue mentioned in the sources. The Danny Masterson
situation. Yeah, this is complex. In 2023, after
her former That 70s Show co -star Danny Masterson
was convicted on two counts of rape, it came
out that both she and Kutcher had written character
support letters to the judge before his sentencing.
And these weren't public statements, right? They
were intended for the judge only? Correct. Private
correspondents reportedly describing Masterson
in positive terms, mentioning things like decency
and generosity, part of the sentencing consideration
process. But when the letters became public knowledge,
the reaction was intense. Huge backlash. The
core issue for many critics was the perceived
hypocrisy. Here are two people heavily involved
with Thorne. A charity fighting child sexual
exploitation. Writing letters of support for
a convicted rapist. Even if intended privately,
the public conflict was stark. Exactly. It seemed
irreconcilable to many. How could they advocate
for victims of sexual abuse while seemingly vouching
for someone convicted of such crimes? The fallout
was immediate. They had to respond. They released
a video apology fairly quickly. They explained
the letters were meant just for the judge as
character references and weren't intended to
question the verdict or hurt the victims. How
was the apology received? According to the sources,
not well by everyone. It was widely criticized
in media reports as feeling performative and
insincere. It didn't seem to quell the controversy.
It really highlights that tightrope walk for
public figures, doesn't it? Private loyalties
versus public expectations and the image tied
to their advocacy work. It's incredibly difficult
terrain to navigate, especially now. The sources
really underscore how blurred the lines are and
how quickly public opinion can turn based on
perceived inconsistencies. OK, so despite that
very public controversy and the ongoing scrutiny,
her career on screen and behind the scenes continues
moving forward. Yes, she's remained very active.
Looking back a bit, commercially, she had that
huge success with the Bad Moms movies. Right.
2016 and the Christmas sequel in 2017. did really
well, didn't they? Hugely well. The first Bad
Moms made something like $184 million on a $20
million budget, a massive return. And critics
praised her comedy chops in them, her correct
comedic timing. It showed she still had that
reliable commercial comedy pull. But she also
kept pursuing challenging dramatic roles. The
sources single out four good days from 2020.
Yeah, playing opposite Glenn Close as a woman
battling severe opioid addiction, it was a really
gritty, demanding role. And her performance was
acclaimed. Highly acclaimed. Critics called it
a revelation, maybe her finest work. It proved
Black Swan wasn't a fluke. She could consistently
deliver that level of dramatic intensity. And
a really key development around this time, or
slightly earlier, was her move into producing,
wasn't it? Huge step. She launched her own production
company, Orchard Farm Productions, back in 2014.
What does having your own company like that allow
you to do? It gives you control. Instead of just
waiting for roles, you can develop your own projects,
shape the narrative, choose the stories you want
to tell. tell, it's about taking power within
the industry. And she got a deal with a major
studio right away. Yeah. First look deal with
ABC Studios for television projects. That means
ABC got the first crack at anything Orchard Farm
developed. It's a significant foothold. And we
saw that producer role combined with her acting
in that Netflix film, Luckiest Girl Alive in
2022. Exactly. She starred and produced playing
a woman dealing with past trauma. And again,
her performance got rave reviews. What were critics
saying about that one? Collider called it a career
best performance, hypnotic. It really showed
the power of that combination, finding material
through her production company that plays to
her strengths as an actress. She's controlling
the quality and depth of her roles now. So what's
next? The sources mention a few upcoming things.
She's keeping busy. She recently co -starred
with Michael Keaton in a film called Goodrich,
which apparently got good reviews when it premiered.
And she's producing and starring in another film.
A romance called The 47 Night Stand for Skydance.
Still developing her own projects through Orchard
Farm. And then there's the big franchise news.
Ah, yeah, the Knives Out sequel. She's officially
joined the cast for the next Rian Johnson mystery,
Wake Up Deadman. That's a huge ensemble. joining
a really hot franchise. It absolutely is. It
shows she's still very much in demand, seen as
a versatile, bankable star who can fit into these
major Hollywood productions. It's a long, long
way from worrying about straight -to -DVD sequels.
Hashtag tag outro. So when you synthesize everything
from these sources, what's the core takeaway
about Mila Kunis? It's not just a simple Hollywood
story, is it? Not at all. It's a story fundamentally
about adaptation, about pivoting, driven by that
initial profound experience of immigration and
displacement. You see that thread running through
everything, the hustle to get the 70s show roll
by bending the truth about her age. The discipline
to endure those early film struggles and then
commit so intensely to roles like Black Swan
or Four Good Days to reshape her image. And that
same drive seems present in her public life,
too. Using her platform for causes she believes
in, whether it's Ukraine aid, Planned Parenthood
or fighting anti -Semitism. It seems very connected
to her own identity in history. Absolutely. She's
clearly someone who uses her influence intentionally,
even when it courts controversy like the Jim
Beam boycott or more recently, the intense scrutiny
over the Masterson letters. She seems to operate
in that space where the personal, the professional
and the political constantly intersect. and often
clash under a very bright public spotlight. And
she's experienced both the power and the peril
of that position, the ability to raise millions
for a cause, but also the vulnerability to significant
public backlash when private actions conflict
with public persona. Which brings us to our final
thought, something for you, the listener, to
chew on. We've seen how Kunis' life has been
shaped by navigating identity, assimilation,
and public perception from a very young age.
So the question becomes, how does someone in
that position manage the inevitable tension between
personal loyalties like loyalty to a longtime
friend and colleague and the immense moral expectations
placed on them as a public figure, especially
one deeply involved in advocacy work? Where do
we, as the audience, draw the line when the person,
the performer and their public stance seem to
collide? Is there room for nuance or does the
platform demand absolute consistency? That challenge,
navigating the gap between private relationships
and public responsibility in this incredibly
scrutinized era, might just be the biggest, most
complex pivot Malikounis has yet to fully navigate.
Definitely something to think about. That's all
the time we have for this deep dive. Thanks for
joining us. We'll see you next time.