Role Model

In-demand actress and Versace muse, doting mother and ruthless zombie slayer, MILLA JOVOVICH still finds time, she assures KAVITA DASWANI, to make her own jeans

RECENT TUESDAY MORNING at the Beverly Hills home of Milla Jovovich and the actress and supermodel is cheerfully multitasking, overseeing various obligations around her daughters — Ever Gabo, nine, and Dashiel Edan, who will be two in April — and also in the middle of packing for a quick trip to London, where she will host a virtual-reality event on behalf of Toyota. “I’ve got all cylinders firing,” Jovovich laughs. “There’s always a lot going on.”

And that’s no exaggeration. The preceding weekend saw the US release of Jovovich’s latest film, and the sixth and final instalment in the billion-dollar sci-fi horror Resident Evil franchise (in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, she reprises her role as a hardcore and kickass zombie basher), and she still has premieres in Moscow and Beijing to attend. What’s more, she has recently come off filming two new movies: Future World with James Franco; and Shock and Awe with Woody Harrelson and Jessica Biel.

Indeed, the Ukranian-born 41-year-old has rarely been idle in decades. As well as caring for her family, she has appeared in three dozen movies, from The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc to the two Zoolander films . Jovovich has also been a long-time muse for the house of Versace, ever since she began modelling in its Milan catwalk shows when she was barely in her teens. And Versace, of course, is now in the throes of a renaissance all its own (it also just opened a new Hong Kong flagship store in Central).