Background:

A Polish born ballerina turned actress, Izabella Miko rose to fame in early 2000s after her performance in the box office hit “Coyote Ugly” (2000). She has since starred in a number of films, including “The Forsaken” (2001), “Bye Bye Blackbird” (2005), “Park” (2006), “Flakes” (2007), “Dark Streets” (2008), “Double Identity” (2009), “Clash of the Titans” (2010) and “Age of Heroes” (2011). On the small screen, Miko played recurring roles in HBO’s “Deadwood” (2005) and NBC's “The Cape” (2011). 

The blue eyed beauty speaks Polish, English and French fluently, and is currently learning to speak Italian. She is a passionate environmentalist and has established an eco foundation called EkoMiko. The blonde haired who enjoys reading has been romantically involved with actor Scoot Caan and music manager Johnny Podell (reportedly dated in 2001).     
       

Izabella Anna Mikolajczak

Childhood and family:

Izabella Miko was born Izabella Anna Mikolajczak on January 21,1981 in Lodz, Poland, to Polish performer parents, Grazyna Dylag and Alexsander Mikolajczak. With the hope of becoming a ballerina, she attended Chopin Music School in Poland at age 7, where she studied ballet, voice, and piano. When she was 15, she was invited to come to New York City to study at the School of American Ballet on a full scholarship. However, she was forced to leave ballet after knee and ankle injuries and returned to Poland. It was not long before she discovered acting. By the mid 1990s, she had headed back to the Unites States to pursue her acting career. Izabelle was trained at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in Manhattan, New York City. 


Two Jack

Career:

An aspiring ballerina, Izabella Miko was on her way to the NYC Ballet and the spotlight of her dreams when knee and ankle injuries suddenly cut short her dancing career and sent her back to her native country for recovery. While in Poland, a casting director offered her a part in a TV movie, “Lithuania You’re My Motherland,” which she received, and she subsequently fell in love with acting. In the mid 1990s, she decided to return to the United States to try her luck as an actress

After completing her training at NYC's Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, Miko made her American film debut opposite Piper Perabo, Sanford Adam Garcia, John Goodman and Maria Bello in David McNally’s “Coyote Ugly” (2000), where she played the heartbreaker Cammie. The film was a box office success, while Miko herself emerged as an instant star. She soon appeared in a lot of magazine covers and billboards. 

Miko starred with Kerr Smith and Brendan Fehr in her second film, “The Forsaken” (2001), a horror movie directed and penned by J.S. Cardone. The film was not a success at the box office. In the following year, she co-starred with Cristián de la Fuente and Henry Marshall in the Gregory J. Corrado multiple award winning film “Minimal Knowledge.” After a short absence, Miko was back in 2004 when she filmed the role of Sophie Mansour on “Gramercy Park,” an unsold pilot about affluent New Yorkers living in an upscale apartment building, seen through the eyes of the three nannies that care for their children. She remained on the small screen by playing the recurring role of Carrie in the HBO series “Deadwood” (3 episodes, 2005). Still in 2005, she starred as Kaliope in the mystery/thriller movie “The Shore,” written and helmed by Dionysius Zervos, and co-starred with enormously accomplished actors Derek Jacobi and Michael Lonsdale in the drama film “Bye Bye Blackbird,” by Robinson Savary.

2006 saw Miko star as Sara Johnson in “Save the Last Dance 2, the direct to video sequel to the 2001 theatrical feature “Save the Last Dance.” Co-stars in the film included  Columbus Short, Jacqueline Bisset, Aubrey Dollar and Ne-Yo. She played Krysta in the independent film “Park,” which received the Audience Award at the 8th Annual CineVegas Festival where it premiered in June 2006, starred with Austin Nichols and Beth Grant in the thriller movie “The House of Usher” (2006), based on the Edgar Allan Poe story, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” supported David Cross, Caleigh White and Campbell Scott in Gary Walkow's drama, “Crashing” (2007), appeared with Aaron Stanford and Zooey Deschanel in the Michael Lehmann directed comedy “Flakes” (2007). She also starred with Richard Schiff and W. Earl Brown in the short film “Waiting” (2007).

The beautiful performer next could be seen in such films as “Skip Tracer” (2008, TV), the based on play “Dark Streets” (2008), where she played the mysterious and seductive chanteuse Madelaine, the Polish romance “Love and Dance” (“Kochaj i tancz,” 2009) and “Double Identity” (2009, with Val Kilmer and Julian Wadham). She played Athena, goddess of warfare, battle strategies, wisdom and justice in the fantasy action remake of “Clash of the Titans” (2010) and Timmy in “Repo” (2010), a comedy/drama film directed and written by and starring Benjamin Gourley.

In 2011, Miko played the recurring role of Raia, a tempting acrobat in Max's circus and a member of the Carnival of Crime in the short lived NBC superhero drama series “The Cape,” starring David Lyons and Keith David, and made guest appearances in “Chaos” (as Greta), “Love Bites” (as Audrey) and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (as Lena). The same year, she also starred with Sean Bean and Danny Dyer in action/thriller movie “Age of Heroes,” directed and co-written by Adrian Vitoria.   

Miko is set to play Dana in the upcoming comedy/drama film “Two Jacks,” directed by Bernard Rose and starring Sienna Miller and Danny Huston. It will be released in the US later in 2012. She also will play Tatianna in the upcoming musical film “Cobu,” helmed and written by Duane Adler.   


Awards:

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