Olga Kurylenko
Birthdate: November 14, 1979 (46 Years Old)
Birthplace: Berdyansk, Zaporozhye Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine]
Olga Kurylenko (birthname: Olga Kostyantynivna Kurylenko) belongs to a long line of model-turned-actors, but with the rags-to-riches twist of growing up in poverty in former Soviet-occupied Ukraine and becoming one of the fashion world’s hottest models in the late 1990s. Kurylenko made her acting debut as the lead in French director/writer Diane Bertrand’s The Ring Finger (2005), with Marc Barbe and Hanns Zischler, followed by Kurylenko appearing with Elijah Wood in the segment directed by Vincenzo Natali titled Quartier de la Madeleine for the compilation movie, Paris, Je T’aime (2006).
Olga Kurylenko was in a supporting role in director/co-writer Eric Barbier’s French thriller, Le Serpent (2006), starring Yvan Attal, Pierre Richard and Simon Abkarian, and then Kurylenko co-starred in another French-backed thriller, Hitman (2007), directed by Xavier Gens and produced by Luc Besson, with star Timothy Olyphant, and grossing a robust $101 million worldwide for 20th Century Fox/EuropaCorp.
Kurylenko made her big-screen breakthrough as a Bond girl in Quantum of Solace (2008), starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, with Mathieu Amalric, Giancarlo Giannini, Jeffrey Wright, and Judi Dench under Marc Forster’s direction, earning over $589 million for lead producers MGM/Columbia Pictures and distributor Sony Pictures Releasing.
Kurylenko co-starred with Michael Fassbender and Dominic West in director/writer Neil Marshall’s Roman Empire-set war movie, Centurion (2010), and then Kurylenko was recruited by American filmmaker Terence Malick to co-star opposite Ben Affleck in the semi-autobiographical romance, To the Wonder (2012), with Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem, premiering at the Venice Film Festival but bombing at the box office for Magnolia Pictures.
Kurylenko had one of the two top female roles in Martin McDonagh’s crime comedy-drama, Seven Psychopaths (2013), co-starring Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Christopher Walken, Tom Waits and Abbie Cornish, launching at the Toronto Film Festival and grossing a solid $33 million for CBS Films (U.S.)/Momentum Pictures (U.K.).
Olga Kurylenko joined the fine cast of Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Andrea Riseborough, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Melisa Leo in director Joseph Kosinski’s visually rich sci-fi adventure based on his unpublished graphic novel, Oblivion (2013), grossing nearly $288 million globally for Universal Pictures. Kurylenko’s next significant movies were The November Man (2014), starring Pierce Brosnan under Roger Donaldson’s direction, and the Australian-produced The Water Diviner (2014) in which Russell Crowe starred and made his directorial debut, with Jai Courtney, Cem Yilmaz, Yilmaz Erdogan, and Jacqueline McKenzie, and released in the U.S. by Warner Bros.
Kurylenko continued working with major international filmmakers, such as in director/co-writer/producer Fernando Leon de Aranoa’s Spanish comedy-drama, A Perfect Day (2015), co-starring Benicio del Toro, Tim Robbins, Melanie Thierry and Sergi Lopez, premiering in the Cannes Film Festival and released by Universal Pictures, and then co-starring with Jeremy Irons in Giuseppe Tornatore’s English-language, Italian-produced drama, The Correspondence (2016), notable for having the final film score composed by Ennio Morricone.
Kurylenko joined the striking cast of director/co-writer Armando Iannucci’s satire The Death of Stalin (2017), starring Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Jason Isaacs, Michael Palin, Jeffrey Tambor, Andrea Riseborough, Paddy Considine, and Rupert Friend, and launching at the Toronto Film Festival before being banned in Russia.
Olga Kurylenko worked with another major international filmmaker—Terry Gilliam—for his long-in-the-making The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018), co-starring Adam Driver, Jonathan Pryce, Stellan Skarsgård, Joana Ribeiro, Sergi Lopez, Rossy de Palma and Jordi Molla, and premiering at the Cannes Film Festival but earning only $2.5 million after over $18 million costs. Kurylenko shifted gears into spoofy comedy with star-producer Rowan Atkinson in the sequel, Johnny English Strikes Again (2018), with Ben Miller, Jake Lacy, and Emma Thompson under David Kerr’s direction, grossing a robust $159 million (against $25 million costs) for lead producers StudioCanal and Working Title Films and distributor Universal Pictures.
Kurylenko entered Disney/Marvel Studios’ Marvel Cinematic Universe as Taskmaster in Black Widow (2021), directed by Cate Shortland and co-starring Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, O-T Fagbenle, William Hurt and Rachel Weisz; Kurylenko returned as Taskmaster in the MCU Thunderbolts* (2025), under Jake Schreier’s direction and starring Pugh, Sebastian Stan and Wyatt Russell, but with both movies under-performing (by previous Marvel standards) at the box office.
Kurylenko co-starred opposite Don Johnson in the heist comedy, High Heat (2021), directed by Zach Golden and released by Saban Films, and then after appearing in a string of minor and streaming movies, Kurylenko returned to the big screen in wide release co-starring with Dave Bautista, Kristofer Hivju and Samuel L. Jackson in the post-apocalyptic sci-fi action movie, Afterburn (2025), based on the comic series and directed by J.J. Perry, and released wide by Saban Films.
Olga Kurylenko proceeded to star or co-star in such thrillers as Misdirection (date to be announced), starring Frank Grillo; Beneath (date to be announced), directed by Heidi Greensmith; Run (date to be announced), co-starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Johnathon Schaech under Steven C. Miller’s direction; and director/co-writer Jonathan Hopkins’ Unify (date to be announced), co-starring Kayne Lee Harrison.
Personal life
Olga Kurylenko was born and raised in the Ukrainian city of Berdyansk (when it was in the former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the former Soviet Union) by her Ukrainian-born father, Konstanti, and her Russian-born mother, er Marina (artist, art teacher). Kurylenko’s parents divorced when she was three years old, and she was then raised by her mother and grandmother, Raisa, and rarely saw her father. Kurylenko grew up in poverty, attending grade school and studying piano at a Berdyansk music school, and also studied ballet in Berdyansk and Moscow. Olga Kurylenko began training as a fashion model when she was discovered in Moscow at age 13. Kurylenko was married to French photographer Cedric Van Mol from 2000 to 2004, when they divorced. Kurylenko was married to entrepreneur Damian Gabrielle from 2006 to 2007, when they divorced. Kurylenko has a son with her ex-partner, actor/writer Max Benitz, named Alexander. Kurylenko’s height is 5 9¼ ”. Kurylenko’s estimated net worth is $18 million.
Olga Kurylenko Movies
Actor
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Previous (14)
- 2025 |
Thunderbolts*
asAntonia Dreykov
After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes must go on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.
- 2025 |
Turbulence
asJulia
A married couple embarks on a hot-air balloon adventure, but unforeseen circumstances lead to life-threatening situations that test their love and resilience as they fight for survival.
- 2024 |
Chief of Station
asKrystyna Kowerski
After learning that the death of his wife was not an accident, a former CIA Station Chief is forced back into the espionage underworld, teaming up with an adversary to unravel a conspiracy that challenges everything he thought he knew.
- 2021 |
Black Widow
asAntonia
Natasha Romanoff confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises.
- 2020 |
The Bay of Silence
asRosalind
Will believes his wife Rosalind is innocent of their son's suspected murder, only to discover the devastating truth behind her past links her to another unsolved crime.
- 2019 |
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
asJacqui
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
Toby, a disillusioned film director, is pulled into a world of time-jumping fantasy when a Spanish cobbler believes himself to be Sancho Panza. He gradually becomes unable to tell dreams from reality.
- 2018 |
Johnny English Strikes Again
asOphelia Bhuletova
After a cyber-attack reveals the identity of all of the active undercover agents in Britain, Johnny English is forced to come out of retirement to find the mastermind hacker.
- 2018 |
- 2018 |
The Death of Stalin
asMaria Veniaminovna Yudina
Moscow, 1953. After being in power for nearly 30 years, Soviet dictator, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, takes ill and quickly dies. Now the members of the Council of Ministers scramble for power.
- 2016 |
- -- | Oblivionas Julia
- -- | The November Manas Alice
- -- | Vampire Academyas Headmistress Kirova
- -- | Quantum of Solaceas Camille
Facts About Olga Kurylenko
Scouted: Olga Kurylenko was spotted when she was thirteen years old by a model talent scout in a Moscow subway station, and soon was training to be a model, which became extraordinarily successful by the time she was eighteen.
Fluent: Kurylenko fluently speaks Russian, Ukrainian, French, and English, and learned Turkish for her role in The Water Diviner.
Model: Olga Kurylenko was a very high-in-demand Paris-based fashion model from 1996 to 2006, appearing on the covers of Vogue, Elle, Madame Figaro, Maxim, Marie Claire, and was the face of Bebe, Kenzo, Clarin,s and Helena Rubenstein brands.
