The 2012 Olympic Games are right around the corner -- and for the athletes involved, these months of training are essential.
World record holder and five-time Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer Janet Evans, Olympic gold medalist in the decathlon Bryan Clay and 2010 USA Triathlon Elite Athlete of the Year Matt Chrabot gathered in New York on Wednesday to talk about how BMW is affecting their training methodology for the 2012 Olympics.
BMW is sponsoring the U.S. Olympic Team. These athletes make up three of the ten members of the BMW Performance Team. An eleventh athlete will be selected by fans. What these athletes share is a common goal -- they are training with hopes of coming home with gold from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
To enhance, what they are doing day in and day out, BMW engineers are contributing to a quantitative understanding of the athletes’ technique, using stereo-vision technologies to track and measure the velocity of an athlete’s motion with immediate analysis of data. What this means for athletes like Clay are less practice long jumps and more efficient use of precious training time.
I spoke to Chrabot, who was set to board a plane later that evening to contend at the Olympic Trials in London. He was particularly excited about the effect the technology would have on his training, including injury prevention, and the help of information about improving distance portions of his races. “We could actually use it in competition. A lot of other countries have cameras on the side and they’ll track our progress."
The idea of being physically deconstructed on a video screen was no cause for concern for Chrabot. “Once you reach the elite level, you’re poked and prodded on a fairly regular basis. It would be so helpful to know how to conserve more energy,” he said. “As human beings we can improve somewhere.”
BMW has been working with Phil Cheetham, a senior sport technologist for the United States Olympic Committee, based at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista just south of San Diego, Calif., where the athletes are incorporating the technology.
"We hope we get it to the point where they can be use it for immediate feedback,” said Darren Liccardo, Senior Advanced Technology Engineer, BMW Group Technology Office. "One thing we’re talking about is how best to take the results from this and show it to coach and athletes when they’re at the field. The default method would be a computer station, but imagine if they could just pull up on an iPad or other mobile device. It keeps them in their mobile training style."
Katherine Drachenberg (born March 8, 1982), known professionally as Kat Von D[1] and who has given her name as Katherine von Drachenberg in two German interviews[2][3] is an American tattoo artist and television personality. She is best known for her work as a tattoo artist on the TLC reality television show LA Ink, which premiered August 7, 2007 in the United States and November 11, 2007 in the UK.
[edit] Early life
Kat Von D was born in Nuevo Leon, Mexico,.[1] Her parents are Argentinean-Mexican.[1] Her father, René Drachenberg, is of German descent and her mother, Sylvia Galeano, is of Italian and Spanish descent.[4][5] Von D has a sister named Karoline and a brother named Michael.[1] She moved with her family to the Los Angeles area at age 4 and grew up in Colton, California.[1] Von D was classically trained in piano beginning at age 6.[6] She particularly appreciates Ludwig van Beethoven.[6]
She credits the prominent Black culture of New York City as being a major influence drawing tattoos in her art and style.[7] She began listening to the Ramones, Misfits and other punk rock bands at the age of 12. She got her first tattoo at 14 and quit school at 16 to become a tattoo artist.[8][9]Career
Von D was asked to work at Miami Ink when Darren Brass broke his elbow,[10] preventing him from tattooing. She appeared in the first four seasons of the same-name reality TV show taped there. She had a falling out with Ami James which led to her being asked to leave the shop. Kat has said she has not spoken with members of Miami Ink since her departure.[11]
She later acquired her own series, LA Ink, following her work at her tattoo shop, High Voltage Tattoo, in Hollywood, California. On the show, she gained the Guinness World Record of most tattoos given by a single person in 24 hours, with a total of 400.[12] This was broken shortly after by her ex-husband Oliver Peck with 415,[citation needed] then Robbie "Coon" Koch with 577,[citation needed] then Derek Kastning with 726.[13]
Her first book High Voltage Tattoo, compiling her artworks and tattoos, with a foreword by Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx, was released in January 2009 and reached #6 on The New York Times Best Seller list.[14] The book traces Von D's career as an artist, from early childhood influences to recent work, along with examples of inspirations, information about the show and her shop, sketches, and personal tattoos. Von D described the book as "not an autobiography, you know, 'cause I'm too young to do that. But this is just kind of like a picture-driven outline of my career as an artist. So, you see everything from my drawings when I was six to tattoos that have never before been seen."[15] Her second book, The Tattoo Chronicles, an illustrated diary following a year in her life, was released October 26, 2010, and reached #3 on The New York Times "Hardcover Advice & Misc." best-seller list.[16]
In 2008, Von D created and launched a make-up line for Sephora.[1] She has released new collections every year and has expanded her line to include fragrances. She is the creator of the MusInk Tattoo Convention and Music Festival,[17][18] which began in 2008.[19]
On September 2, 2010, Von D opened the art gallery and boutique Wonderland Gallery in the space next door to High Voltage Tattoo.[20]
Personal life
Von D was married to fellow tattoo artist Oliver Peck, but they were separated and preparing for divorce by August 2007.[21] She dated Nikki Sixx from 2008 to Jan 2010. She later began dating motorcycle customizer, West Coast Choppers CEO and reality-show star Jesse James.[21] On August 19, 2010, Von D confirmed media reports that she and James were dating, tweeting "I think it's pretty obvious that we're dating."[22] Von D and James announced their engagement on January 20, 2011.[23] Von D announced their split via Twitter on July 26, 2011.[24]
Von D has tattooed herself with the emblems of the bands Misfits, HIM, Turbonegro, ZZ Top, Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, Slayer, Mike Got Spiked and "Slutallica", a modified Metallica logo.[6] She appeared in the music video of Alkaline Trio's "Help Me", as well as HIM's Killing Loneliness. Other musical artists that Von D lists among her favorites include The Mars Volta and Selena.[25]
[edit] In other media
Von D was referred to in the Eagles of Death Metal song "High Voltage", which was named after her shop and is featured on their third album, Heart On. In an interview, Eagles of Death Metal's Jesse Hughes said, "I wrote that for Kat Von D, because that girl's bad ass."[26]
[edit] Television
As well as cameos and various chat show appearances, TV, film, and video game appearances include:
• Miami Ink, 2005–2006
• LA Ink, 2007–present
• MADtv, April 5, 2008
• The Bleeding as Vanya[27]
• Tony Hawk: Ride (video game) unlockable skater, November 17, 2009[citation needed]
[edit] References
1. ^ a b c d e f KatVonD.net (official site). Access date 2010-2-18
2. ^ "She gets under the skin (German)". Süddeutsche Zeitung. 2008-03-20. http://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/taetowiererin-kat-von-d-sie-geht-unter-die-haut-1.523622. Retrieved 2011-01-12.. Translation: Süddeutsche Zeitung: "Kat, your surname is von Drachenberg. That is a German name..." Kat von D: "Yes, there is a castle 'von Drachenberg' somewhere in South Germany, which is owned by some of my relatives. I've got a postcard, but I was never there."
3. ^ "Some guys find me disgusting (German)". Der Spiegel. 2008-01-04. http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/0,1518,525758,00.html. Retrieved 2011-01-12.. Translation: Der Spiegel: "Kat von D is the abbreviation of Katherine von Drachenberg..." Kat von D: "Yes, my father's mother is German. Somewhere in South Germany there is a castle with this name..."
4. ^ "Facts about Kat : LA Ink : TLC". Tlc.discovery.com. http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/la-ink/kat_corner/facts.html. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
5. ^ Loeffler, Shawn. "Interview: Kat Von D". AskMen.com. http://www.askmen.com/celebs/interview_250/288_kat_von_d_interview.html. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
6. ^ a b c Geist, Brandon. "Region of blood", Revolver, June 2008, p. 83.
7. ^ "Kat Von D Exclusive!". en.terra.com. http://en.terra.com/lifestyle/articles/html/hof1847.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-05.
8. ^ Life at the sharp end, The Guardian, July 11, 2008
9. ^ LA Ink, American Way
10. ^ Sharer, Lisa. "Kat Von D: Hot Ink", Prick, October 2006
11. ^ Interview with Kat von D by Chris Nieratko
12. ^ More tattoos on "LA ink", Vitamin Angels
13. ^ "Most Tattoos in 24 Hours", Guinness World Records
14. ^ The New York Times Best Seller list, Sunday, February 22, 2009. This was the book's second week on the chart, and its highest chart position.
15. ^ "Kat Von D segment". Anytime with Bob Kushell. 2009-01-29. No. 7, season 1.
16. ^ [http://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2010-11-14/overview.html The New York Times best-seller lists page, November 14, 2010.
17. ^ Jackson, Nate. "Live Review: Kat Von D's MusInk Tattoo and Music Festival on 02/23", OC Weekly, February 25, 2008. WebCitation archive.
18. ^ Spelled "MusInk" per official site.
19. ^ Reitz, Allison. "Motörhead, Social Distortion tour with Kat Von D's 2009 Musink Festival", TicketNews.com, November 4, 2008. WebCitation archive.
20. ^ WonderlandLA.com (official site)
21. ^ a b "'LA Ink' Star Sets the Record Straight About Her Relationship with Steve-O", BuddyTV.com, August 16, 2007
22. ^ "Kat Von D fréquente Jesse James". Canoe. http://fr.canoe.ca/divertissement/celebrites/nouvelles/2010/08/19/15074211-bum.html.
23. ^ Leonard, Elizabeth, and Jessica Herndon (January 20, 2011). "Jesse James & Kat Von D Are Engaged". People. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20459118,00.html. Retrieved January 20, 2011.. WebCitation archive.
24. ^ Leonard, Elizabeth (2011), "Jesse James and Kat Von D Split", People, http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20512929,00.html, retrieved 2011-07-26
25. ^ "TLC :: LA Ink :: Q&A with Kat". Tlc.discovery.com. http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/la-ink/qanda/kat.html. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
26. ^ Powers, Nicole (5 November 2008). "Eagles of Death Metal Part 2: Jesse Hughes". SuicideGirls.com. http://suicidegirls.com/interviews/Eagles+of+Death+Metal+Part+2%3A+Jesse+Hughes/. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
27. ^ McNary, Dave (2008-03-23). "Five Cut Teeth on 'Bleeding'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117982807.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&query=The+Bleeding. Retrieved 2008-10-09.. WebCitation ar
'Cash Cab' strikes and kills pedestrian in Canada A "Cash Cab" taxi struck and killed a pedestrian in Vancouver when a technical staff member was driving the replica cab back to the lot after filming on the Canadian version of the game show wrapped for the day.
The staff member crashed into a 61-year-old man crossing the street and the man died in the hospital soon after the accident Friday, police said. The family of the Surrey man has requested that his name not be released.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim and his friends and his family," said Andrew Burnstein, president of Castlewood Productions Inc., the production company behind the Canadian version of "Cash Cab."
"My heart also goes out to the driver of the vehicle, a member of our technical staff, who is shaken and devastated by this tragic accident, as is our entire team," he said.
There were no witnesses to the crash and charges had not been filed, according to the Vancouver Sun. The driver remained at the scene of the accident and the replica taxi is being held by investigators.
The trivia game show pays out cash to unassuming passengers who correctly answer questions for the duration of their commute. Adam Growe, a comedian and a licensed taxi driver, hosts the Canadian version of the mobile show. He was not driving the cab at the time of the accident, which is reportedly the worst in the show's history.
The American version of "Cash Cab" is filmed in New York and Chicago and broadcast on the Discovery Channel. Its host, Ben Bailey, has said that he never gets into fender benders.
For those of you into the beauty pageant scene, Miss Teen USA 2011 is currently being streamed live from their official website.
The pageant, a yearly contest for girls between the ages of 14 and 19, each standing for an individuals home state, was originally started in 1983 as a sister pageant to the Miss USA system.
This years victor, which will be crowned by Miss Teen USA 2010 Kamie Crawford, will be given the opportunity to live in New York City as a student of The New York Film Academy. In addition to corresponding her title, Miss Teen USA 2011, will work with multiple charitable alliances, including Best Buddies, Sparrow Clubs, Girl Talk, D.A.R.E. and Project Sunshine.
The contest, which has been broadcast live since 1983 on a succession of channels, aired its final televised event in 2007 on NBC, leaving aficionados the option of watching live streams via the Internet, and for a first time this year, giving viewers the opportunity to vote.
Notable past pageant winners include Bridgette Wilson (1990 – Oregon) and Vanessa Minnillo (1998 – South Carolina), who recently tied the knot with singer Nick Lachey in a secret tropical ceremony.
Nordegren was born in Stockholm, Sweden. Her mother, Barbro Holmberg, is a politician and the former Swedish migration and asylum policy minister, and the current Governor of Gävleborg County. Her father, Thomas Nordegren, is a radio journalist who served as a bureau chief in Washington, D.C.[2] She has an older brother, Axel, and a twin sister, Josefin.[3] Nordegren and her sister worked odd summer jobs and as cashiers in supermarkets to finance their studies.[4] She started modeling in 2000, and appeared on the cover of Cafe Sport magazine in the summer of 2000.
Marriage to Tiger Woods
Nordegren took a job in a Stockholm clothing store called Champagne, where she met Mia Parnevik, wife of Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik, who hired Nordegren as the nanny to their children, a job that required her to move to the U.S.[5] He introduced her to Woods during the 2001 Open Championship.Parnevik also is being quoted as having said, "I'm kind of filled with sorrow for Elin since me and my wife are at fault for hooking her up with him, and we probably thought he was a better guy than he is." [People Magazine] Previously, Woods had asked for a year to be introduced to Nordegren, who was seeing someone else at the time. "There was a big line of single golfers wanting to meet her. They were gaga over her."[6] She had hopes of becoming a child psychiatrist at the time. In November 2003, Woods and Nordegren attended the Presidents Cup tournament in South Africa and became officially engaged when Woods proposed at the luxury Shamwari Game Reserve.
They were married in October 2004, by the 19th hole of the Sandy Lane resort in Barbados. The 150 guests included Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Bill Gates. Woods rented the entire complex for a week, including three golf courses and 110 rooms, costing almost $2 million.[7]
Shortly after Nordegren's relationship with Woods became public, nude photographs purporting to be of Nordegren began circulating on the Internet, which were established to be fakes.[8][9] Despite the debunking, in 2006, Irish magazine The Dubliner published the nude photographs and stated they were of Nordegren.[10][11] On November 16, 2006, Nordegren filed a libel suit against The Dubliner.[12] Nordegren won the lawsuit, and as part of the settlement accepted by a Dublin court, The Dubliner was required to publish a lengthy apology in a variety of venues. Were the magazine to have failed to meet the conditions, the award would have been increased to $366,500 plus all of Nordegren's legal expenses.[12][13]
On June 18, 2007, Woods announced the birth of the couple's daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, a day after finishing second in the U.S. Open.[14] On September 2, 2008, Woods announced they were expecting another child in late winter.[15] Five months later it was announced that Nordegren had given birth to a boy, Charlie Axel, on February 8, 2009.[16]
In December 2009, her marriage to Woods was the subject of extensive media coverage after Woods admitted to infidelity, which had been revealed following his single-vehicle accident near the family's Florida home.[17] Woods subsequently announced he would take an "indefinite break" from golf to work on his marriage.[17] These efforts were unsuccessful, however, as Nordegren and Woods finalized their divorce in the Bay County Circuit Court in Panama City, Florida, on August 23, 2010.[18] Nordegren's legal team included her sister, Josefin (who is licensed to practice law in England and Sweden) and several of Josefin's U.S. colleagues at international law firm McGuireWoods.
Download now and enjoy all the pleasures of the sporting world from the comfort of your own living room. Enjoy your sports on your time - Watch what you want, when you want!
Mila Kunis was born in Chernivtsi in the Ukrainian SSR.[3][4] Her family moved to Los Angeles, California in 1991, when she was seven years old. Kunis is Jewish and has cited antisemitism in the former Soviet Union as one of several reasons for her family's move to the U.S.[4][5][6][7] Her mother, Elvira, is a physics teacher and drug store manager, and her father, Mark Kunis, is a mechanical engineer and cab company executive. She has an older brother, Michael.[8] Kunis has stated that a lottery system allowed her family to make the move: "It took about five years. If you got chosen the first time around, you went to Moscow, where there was another lottery, and you maybe got chosen again. Then you could come to the States." On her second day in Los Angeles, she was enrolled at Rosewood Elementary School not knowing a word of English. "I blocked out second grade," she says. "I don’t remember, but my mom tells me that I came home and cried every day. I wasn’t that traumatized. It was just a shock."[9] Kunis added: "I didn't understand the culture. I didn't understand the people. I didn't understand the language. My first sentence of my essay to get into college was like, 'Imagine being blind and deaf at age seven.' And that's kind of what it felt like moving to the States."[10] In Los Angeles, she attended Hubert Howe Bancroft Middle School. She was mostly taught by an on-set tutor for her high school years while filming That '70s Show.[11] When not on the set, she attended Fairfax High School, where she graduated in 2001.[6] She briefly attended UCLA and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.[8][12]
Career
Television
At age nine, Kunis' father enrolled her in acting classes[13] after school at the Beverly Hills Studios, where she met her first and still current manager Susan Curtis. Said Kunis: "My parents told her, 'Listen, we can’t afford head shots; we can’t afford anything. We can’t take her to auditions because we work full-time.' ... [Curtis] said, 'Don’t worry. I’ll fix everything,' and she did. I ended up getting the first thing I went out for, which was a Barbie commercial. All my parents said was, 'You can do whatever you want to do as long as you get A's and stay in school.'"[14] Kunis began appearing in print-ads, catalogues, and TV commercials for children's products like Lisa Frank products, Mattel's Barbie, and Payless Shoes. She also modeled for a Guess girls' clothing campaign. Her first TV role was as the young Hope Williams on an episode of the popular soap opera Days of our Lives.[15] She had a minor role on 7th Heaven and supporting roles in Santa with Muscles, Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, and the Angelina Jolie film Gia, as the young Gia Carangi. In 1998, Kunis was cast as Jackie Burkhart in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show. All who auditioned were required to be at least 18 years old; Kunis, who was 14 at the time, told the casting directors she’d be 18 but did not say when. Though they eventually figured it out, the producers still thought Kunis was the best fit for the role.[4][14]That '70s Show ran for eight seasons.[16] Kunis expressed some frustration with working on one show for so long. "Eight years of doing the same [show] felt like being behind a desk, and I lost my drive," she says. However, she quickly "had an epiphany. I decided I wasn't going to take my career so seriously and make my job who I am. I just want to be happy with my life."[8]
Kunis on a panel for Family Guy at the 2009 Comic Con in San Diego.
In 1999, Kunis replaced Lacey Chabert in the role of Meg Griffin on the animated sitcom Family Guy,[17] created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series starred MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green and Mike Henry. Kunis won the role after auditions and a slight rewrite of the character, in part due to her performance on That '70s Show.[18] MacFarlane called Kunis back after her first audition, instructing her to speak slower, and then told her to come back another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her.[18] MacFarlane added: "What Mila Kunis brought to it was in a lot of ways, I thought, almost more right for the character. I say that Lacey did a phenomenal job, but there was something about Mila – something very natural about Mila. She was 15 when she started, so you were listening to a 15-year-old. Which oftentimes with animation they'll have adult actors doing the voices of teenagers and they always sound like Saturday morning voices. They sound, oftentimes, very forced. She had a very natural quality to Meg that really made what we did with that character kind of really work."[19] Kunis was nominated for an Annie Award in the category of Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production in 2007.[20] She also voiced Meg in the Family Guy Video Game!. Kunis described her character as "the scapegoat."[21]
Film work, 2001–2008
In 2001, she appeared in Get Over It opposite Kirsten Dunst. She followed that up in 2002 by starring in the straight-to-DVD horror film American Psycho 2 alongside William Shatner, a sequel to the 2000 film American Psycho. American Psycho 2 was panned by critics,[22] and later, Kunis herself expressed embarrassment over the film.[23] In 2004, Kunis starred in Tony n' Tina's Wedding. Although the film was shot in 2004, it did not have a theatrical release until 2007.[24] Most critics did not like the film, which mustered a 25% approval from Rotten Tomatoes.[25]DVD talk concluded that "fans would be much better off pretending the movie never happened in the first place".[26] In 2005, Kunis co-starred with Jon Heder in Moving McAllister, which was not released theatrically until 2007.[27] The film received generally poor reviews and had a limited two week run in theaters.[28][29] She followed up with After Sex starring alongside her Get Over It costar Zoe Saldana.[30] In October 2006, she began filming Boot Camp (originally titled Straight Edge).[31] Although the film did not have a theatrical release in the United States, it was released on DVD on August 25, 2009.[32] Kunis starred as Rachel Jansen in the 2008 comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, co-produced by Judd Apatow. The role, which she got after unsuccessfully auditioning for Knocked Up,[33] entailed improvisation on her part.[34] The film garnered positive reviews,[35] and was a commercial success, grossing $105 million worldwide.[36] Kunis' performance was well-received; Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal praised her "fresh beauty and focused energy",[37] while James Berardinelli wrote that she is "adept with her performance and understands the concept of comic timing".[38] She was nominated for a Teen Choice Award.[39] In an interview, Kunis credited Apatow with helping her to expand her career from That ‘70s Show.[33] Also in 2008, she portrayed Mona Sax, a Russian assassin, alongside Mark Wahlberg in the action movie Max Payne, based on the video game of the same name. Kunis underwent training in guns, boxing, and martial arts for her role.[40][41]Max Payne was relatively successful at the box office, grossing $85 million worldwide[42] but was panned by critics,[43] with several reviewers calling Kunis miscast.[44][45][46] Director John Moore defended his choice of Kunis, saying, "Mila just bowled us over...She wasn't an obvious choice, but she just wears Mona so well. We needed someone who would not be just a fop or foil to Max; we needed somebody who had to be that character and convey her own agenda. I think Mila just knocked it out of the park."[41] She was nominated for another Teen Choice Award for her role in the film.[47]
2009–present
In 2009, she appeared in the comedy Extract with Ben Affleck and Jason Bateman. The film received mostly positive reviews,[48] and grossed $10.8 million at the box office.[49]Roger Ebert, while critical of the film itself, wrote that Kunis "brings her role to within shouting distance of credibility."[50] Director Mike Judge commented that part of what was surprising to learn about Kunis was her ability to make references to the cult animation film Rejected. Judge said: "As beautiful as Mila is, you could believe that maybe she would cross paths with you in the real world."[51] After seeing Kunis perform in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Judge wanted to cast her in the role of Cindy in Extract: "I just thought, 'Wow, this girl’s perfect.' And she really wanted to do it, which was fantastic." Said Kunis, "I’m a huge fan of Mike Judge's from Office Space, so I was, like, 'Okay, this is a very easy decision.' I told them I would do anything needed to be in this production – like craft service, or, say, acting."[52] In 2010, she starred alongside Denzel Washington in the action film The Book of Eli. Although the film received mixed reviews,[53] it performed well at the box office, grossing over $157 million worldwide.[54] Film critic Richard Roeper praised Kunis' performance, calling it a "particularly strong piece of work".[55] Several other reviews were equally positive of her performance, including Pete Hammond of Boxoffice magazine, who wrote that she's "ideally cast in the key female role"[56] Even reviewers who did not necessarily like the film complimented her performance, such as James Berardinelli, who stated that "the demands of the role prove to be within her range, which is perhaps surprising considering she has been thus far pigeonholed into more lightweight parts",[57] and Colin Covert of the Star Tribune, who wrote that she "generated a spark and brought a degree of determination to her character, developing an independent female character who’s not always in need of rescuing."[58] Some critics, however, called her miscast.[59][60][61] Kunis received another Teen Choice Award nomination for her performance.[62][63] Kunis was also cast in a minor role in the 2010 comedy Date Night, starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell.[64] She garnered several positive reviews for her performance.[65][66][67][68] She and Natalie Portman played rival ballet dancers in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. Kunis, who was cast in the film based on her performance in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and on the recommendation of costar Natalie Portman,[69] underwent a training regimen that included cardiovascular exercise, a 1,200-calorie a day diet (she lost 20 pounds that she regained after filming ended), and ballet classes for four hours a day, seven days a week.[70][71][72] During the demanding production, she suffered injuries including a torn ligament and a dislocated shoulder.[73]Black Swan has received widespread acclaim from critics[74] and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture.[75] The film has become Kunis’s most financially successful to date, including being the first film she has starred in that has grossed over $100 million (106.9 million to date) in the US and Canada[76] while currently grossing over 320 million worldwide.[77] Reviews of Kunis' performance have been positive,[78][79][80] with Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter stating, "Kunis makes a perfect alternate to Portman, equally as lithe and dark but a smirk of self-assurance in place of Portman's wide-eyed fearfulness."[81] Guy Lodge of In Contention also praised Kunis, saying, "it’s the cool, throaty-voiced Kunis who is the surprise package here, intelligently watching and reflecting her co-star in such a manner that we’re as uncertain as Nina of her ingenuousness."[82] Kunis' performance won her the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor or Actress at the 67th Venice International Film Festival,[83] and earned her Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. At the 37th annual Saturn Awards she was also honored with the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance.[84] Kunis was cast alongside Justin Timberlake in the romantic comedy Friends with Benefits, which filmed from July to September 2010 in New York City and Los Angeles.[85] Director Will Gluck stated that he wrote the story with Kunis and Timberlake in mind. "There were a couple of actors I wanted to work with, so I wrote it for Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis. I wanted to do more of an adult movie about sex, too, and about relationships."[86] Kunis has confirmed that her next project will be Ted, co-starring Mark Wahlberg, and directed and co-written by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.[87] She will follow up Ted with the upcoming Walt Disney Pictures' prequel, Oz, the Great and Powerful, where she will play Theodora, the youngest of three witches, opposite James Franco.[88]
Media publicity
Kunis was ranked No.54 in Stuff's "102 Sexiest Women in the World" (2002); Maxim named her No.47 on its 2006 Hot 100 list.[89] In 2008, she was ranked No.81 on the Maxim Hot 100 list. She was also ranked No.81 on the FHM U.S 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2008, although she is unranked in other FHM magazines from different nations. Kunis was also described as one of the "most attractive geeks" in 2008 by Wired.com due to her much-publicized affinity for World of Warcraft.[90] The same year, she was featured and on the cover of the October issue of Complex Magazine.[91] In 2007, Kunis participated in a video for the website Funny or Die appearing alongside James Franco. The video was a parody of the MTV show The Hills and was a huge success for the website, with well over one million views.[92]Shawn Levy, director of Date Night, stated that part of what made him decide to cast Kunis with James Franco in the film was the chemistry he felt they had in the Funny or Die video.[93] In December 2008, Kunis was featured in Gap's "Shine Your Own Star" Christmas campaign with other celebrities such as Jennifer Hudson, Jason Bateman, Mary-Louise Parker, and Jon Heder.[94] In 2009, she was ranked No.5 in "Maxim Magazine's Hot 100" list.[95] In addition, she won the award for "Hottest Mila" at the 2009 Spike Guys' Choice Awards beating out Milla Jovovich.[96] Also in 2009, Premiere.com ranked Mila the most beautiful woman in Hollywood.[97] In 2010, she was featured in the "Women We Love" segment in Esquire with an accompanied video.[98] For the 2010 "Maxim Magazine Hot 100", Kunis ranked #22,[99] and for the 2010 FHM Hot 100 list she ranked #17.[100] Kunis has kept this type of media attention in perspective, saying, "You've got to base your career on something other than being FHM's top 100 No. 1 girl. Your looks are going to die out, and then what's going to be left?"[10] In 2010, Kunis served with Randy Jackson as the Master of Ceremonies for the 9th Annual Chrysalis Foundation Benefit. The Chrysalis Foundation is a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization formed to help economically disadvantaged and homeless individuals to become self-sufficient through employment opportunities.[101][102] For the October 2010 Elle magazine 25th anniversary special edition, Kunis was one of the women chosen to be featured for their success at a young age. The honor included a photo and video presentation on the magazine's website.[103] Kunis was among several female stars photographed by Canadian singer/songwriter Bryan Adams in conjunction with the Calvin Klein Collections for a feature titled American Women 2010, with the proceeds from the photographs donated to the NYC AIDS foundation.[104] Also in 2010, Kunis was featured and on the cover of the December issue of Nylon.[105] In 2011, Kunis graced the cover of the February issue of Cosmopolitan[106] and the March issue of W magazine.[73] For the 17th Annual Hollywood Issue of Vanity Fair, Kunis was among the actors to be chosen to appear on the cover.[107] For the 2011 edition of the top 99 most desirable women, Askmen.com ranked Kunis #2.[108] Also in 2011 Kunis ranked No.5 on the Maxim Hot 100 list.[109] At the 2011 Spike Guys' Choice Awards Kunis received the Holy Grail of Hot award beating out Minka Kelly.[110]
Personal life
Kunis has spoken with affection about her parents and has credited them for being a positive influence and keeping her focused on what is important in life. "I had a normal upbringing and went to public school," she says. "If I ever, even for a second, started getting a big head, I was brought back to reality pretty quickly. My parents are why I'm pretty grounded."[8] Kunis began dating actor Macaulay Culkin in 2002.[111] At one time there were rumors of the couple getting married, but Kunis denied them, saying:
I've been engaged. I think I've already been married. And I'm sure I have a child somewhere. I'm waiting to have something else happen. No, I'm not married. And no, I'm not engaged. And no, I do not have a child. No one seems to listen. And next week I'll be engaged again. I think, at one point, they were like, 'Seen shopping in Beverly Hills for engagement rings.' We were in Japan working. What is wrong with these people? Half the time you can say they misconstrued facts. But, more often than not, they just make stuff up.[112]
In an interview with BlackBook Magazine Kunis stated that marriage is "not something that’s important to me".[113] Kunis said she tried her best to protect her and Culkin's privacy, noting that "We don't talk about it to the press. It's already more high profile than I want it to be."[114] When questioned if it was difficult to stay out of the tabloids and press, Kunis responded: "I keep my personal life as personal as I physically, mentally, possibly can." Asked if that is difficult she said, "I don't care. I will go to my grave trying. It is hard, but I'll end up going to a bar that's a hole in the wall. I won't go to the "it's-happening" place."[115] On January 3, 2011, Kunis' publicist confirmed reports that Kunis and Culkin had ended their relationship, saying "The split was amicable, and they remain close friends".[116] She has identified herself in interviews as a fan of the online computer game World of Warcraft and has received a certain amount of attention from the game's fan community as a result. She has not released what server she is in but says she is with her close friends in the Alliance.[117] In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, she said she does not use voice chat in the game after another player recognized her voice.[118] Although Kunis has described herself as a "computer nerd", she does not have a Myspace, Facebook or Twitter account.[119] In an interview with H Magazine Kunis stated that she does not devote as much time to World of Warcraft anymore, but enjoys hanging out with her friends when she can. "When we have ‘friends night’ and we all get together, we play board games like The Settlers of Catan." She also mentioned that she and her friends enjoy doing Murder Mystery tours, where they drive around the Los Angeles area exploring locations of famous murders that have taken place.[120] Kunis also enjoys traveling, and often goes on trips with her older brother, Michael. She and Michael have explored countries such as Fiji and Korea. "I like the way he travels," she explains. "He grabs a map, says, 'Let's walk,' and makes you explore."[8] When asked to describe her perfect day Kunis said: "It would be going for a swim, lazing around the house, playing with my dogs, drinking a root beer float, catching up on TiVo, having some food, a glass of wine and calling it a night."[119] In an interview Kunis elaborated: "I love to hang out with my friends....I love to sit home in my pajamas and watch TiVo. That brings me so much happiness. That's it. It's quiet and calm."[121] In January 2011, she revealed publicly for the first time her struggle with an eye condition called chronic iritis that had caused blindness in one eye. However, a couple of months earlier she had surgery that corrected the problem.[122]
