Background:

A Polish-born actress who began career as a ballerina, born Izabella Anna Mikolajczak, Izabella Miko moved between Poland and America before launching herself in the Hollywood scene with roles in such well-liked features as Coyote Ugly (2000, playing Cammie) and The Forsaken (2001), and is popular to TV audiences as Carrie in HBO’s “Deadwood” (2005). She also played roles in films like Minimal Knowledge (2002), Bye Bye Blackbird (2005), The Shore (2005) and Steppin’ Up: Save the Last Dance 2 (2006). Miko’s admirers should look forward to her performances in the upcoming The House of Usher, Flakes (2006), Crashing (2006) and Park (2006).

The blue-eyed beauty speaks Polish, English and French fluently. Loving learning new languages, Miko is currently learning Italian language. As for her private life, the blonde-haired, who has a dog named Layla, has been linked to actor Scoot Caan and music manager Johnny Podell (reportedly dated in 2001).


Ballerina

Childhood and family:

In Lodz, Poland, Izabella Anna Mikolajczak, who would later be famous as Izabella Miko, was born on January 21, 1981, to Polish performer parents, Grazyna Dylag and Alexsander Mikolajczak. Wanting to become a ballerina, 7-year-old Izabella attended Chopin Music School in Poland, where she studied ballet, voice, and piano. This young girl was so good that a choreographer invited her to come to New York City on a full scholarship and study at the School of American Ballet when she was 15. After knee and ankle injuries, she moved back to her native country, switched gears into acting career, and later headed back to the United States to pursue acting career. Izabelle was trained at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.


Park

Career:

An aspiring ballerina, Poland-born 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 that sent back the16-year-old girl to her native country for recovery. While in Poland, a casting director offered this aimless teenager a part in TV movie Lithuania You’re My Motherland and she received the offer. She soon found a click with acting and then made her way back to America in the mid ‘90s, this time as an actor.

After finishing her acting training, Miko made her Hollywood debut with a much sought after role in director David McNally’s Coyote Ugly (2000), playing the heartbreaker Cammie. The film was a hit and, as for Miko, she became an instant star. In addition to securing more film roles, she was featured on numerous magazine’s covers and billboards. The musical film also starred Piper Perabo, Sanford Adam Garcia, John Goodman and Maria Bello.

The actress’ sophomore effort came in the following year when she was tapped by director J.S. Cardone to star opposite Kerr Smith and Brendan Fehr in the horror movie The Forsaken, as Megan, while in 2002, she was able to add Minimal Knowledge (2002), written and directed by Gregory J. Corrado, to her burgeoning acting resume.

Disappearing from the screen for a few years, Miko returned to make her Hollywood TV acting debut in 2005 with a memorable recurring role, playing Carrie in the HBO western series “Deadwood,” which starred Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane. The beautiful actress also found herself costarring with hugely accomplished actors Derek Jacobi and Michael Lonsdale in the drama film Bye Bye Blackbird (2005), portraying circus trapeze artist in the early 1900s Alice. Next up for Miko, she was the star of Dionysius Zervos’s The Shore (2005), opposite Lesley Ann Warren and Ben Gazzara.

25-year-old ballerina-turned actress Miko recently starred with Jacqueline Bisset in the Kwame Nyanning-written drama Steppin’ Up: Save the Last Dance 2 (2006), and has four more films in productions. She will soon be cast in the starring role of Jill Michaelson in the film adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The House of Usher, then costar along side Aaron Stanford and Zooey Deschanel in Michael Lehmann’s comedy Flakes (2006) before teaming up with actor Campbell Scott and director-writer Gary Walkow in the drama Crashing (2006). Miko is also set to star as Krysta in Park (2006), a drama film helmed and written by Kurt Voelker.


Awards:
---