Galina Jovovich is a Russian-American actress and mother of Milla Jovovich.
She was born Galina Loginova in 1950 in Russia, Tuapse, Soviet Union. Her father was a Red Army officer, her mother was a homemaker. Her parents divorced and she was raised by a single mother. She studied acting in Dnepropetrovsk, then moved to Moscow and attended the prestigious acting school at VGIK (Soviet State Institute of Cinematography). In 1971, while still a student, she made her film debut in popular TV series 'Teni ischezayut v polden'. In 1972, Loginova graduated from VGIK as an actress, from the master-class of V. Belokurov. She worked on stage as well as in film and on television in the Soviet Union. Her most notable works were such roles as Beatrice in Mnogo shuma iz nichego (1973), a film adaptation of the Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing', and as Molly in criminal drama Milliony Ferfaksa (1980).
In 1973, she left Moscow and returned to Ukraine on assignment as a staff actress with Dovzhenko Film studio in Kiev. There, in a popular Ukrainian restaurant 'Libed', she met a Serbian medical doctor, Bogdan Jovovich, and they fell in love with each other. At that time she was interrogated by the KGB officers, who threatened to destroy her career and insisted that she must quit her romance with a foreigner. However, Galina Loginova and Bogdan Jovovich became married, and on December 17th of 1975, in Kiev, Galina Loginova-Jovovich gave birth to their daughter, Milla Jovovich.
In 1980, Galina Loginova-Jovovich, together with her family, emigrated from the Soviet Union. The Soviet authorities immediately banned all films with Galina Loginova-Jovovich, so that she could hot have any income from her works made in the Soviet Union. For a few years she lived with her family in London, England, then moved to Sacramento, and eventually settled in Los Angeles, California, United States. There she invested all her talent and energy in raising her daughter, Milla. During the 1980s she also worked as a housekeeper at the home of Hollywood director Brian De Palma. Eventually, Galina Loginova became the agent for her daughter, Milla Jovovich, and was instrumental in building her successful career. She also played in several Russian and American films during the 2000s.
