Izabella Miko

Izabella Miko (born Izabella Anna Mikołajczak; 21 January 1981) is a Polish actress, dancer, producer, and environmental activist. She is best known for starring in the musical comedy-drama film Coyote Ugly and the music videos "Mr. Brightside" and "Miss Atomic Bomb" by The Killers. While a dance student in Poland, Miko was recruited to study at the New York City Ballet at age fifteen and later studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute. She made her American film debut in Coyote Ugly (2000), followed by a starring part in the vampire thriller The Forsaken (2001).
== Early life ==
Miko was born Izabella Anna Mikołajczak in Łódź, Poland, the daughter of actors Grażyna Dyląg and Aleksander Mikołajczak. She grew up in Warsaw, where she studied to be a ballerina at the Chopin Music School. An Americanchoreographer invited her to study in New York City on a scholarship with the School of American Ballet, and she later enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Instituteto study acting.[2] After sustaining a back injury, Miko left New York City and returned to Poland.[2]
== Career ==
In the late 1990s, Miko returned to the United States and landed a role in the film Coyote Ugly in 2000. This was followed with a lead role in the 2001 vampire horror film The Forsaken, playing a young woman infected by a vampiric virus. In 2005, Miko appeared in a multi-episode story arc on the HBO series Deadwood; the same year, she appeared in the music video for "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers (she would again collaborate with the band for the video of their 2012 single "Miss Atomic Bomb", breaking her foot during filming).[3] In 2006, she had a lead role in Save the Last Dance 2, replacing Julia Stiles from the original film.
Miko would appear in several independent films in the late 2000s, including Park (2007) opposite Melanie Lynskey and the comedy Flakes (2007) opposite Aaron Stanford and Zooey Deschanel, the latter of which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival.[4] The following year, she appeared as a seductive nightclub singer in Dark Streets (2008), an adaptation of the play of the same name by Glenn M. Stewart. She also appeared in the crime thriller Double Identity (2009) in a lead role opposite Val Kilmerand in the big-budget remake Clash of the Titans (2010) as Athena. She was also in a supporting role as an acrobat named Raia in the short lived television series The Cape, followed by a supporting role as a spy in the British war thriller Age of Heroes, based on the formation of Ian Fleming's No. 30 Commando during World War II.
In 2012, Miko appeared opposite Danny Huston and Sienna Miller in the period drama Two Jacks, directed by Bernard Rose, and in the South Korean dance film Make Your Move in 2013. Miko appeared in Billy Idol's music video for "Can't Break Me Down", and also had a supporting role in Step Up: All In, both in 2014. Also in 2014, she had a small role in the TV show Supernatural, episode "Ask Jeeves" of season 10, where she portrays a shape shifter working for a rich heiress who has died. In 2015, Miko co-produced the autobiographical film Desert Dancer, which tells the story of Iranian choreographer Afshin Ghaffarian. The same year, she had guest appearances in the television series Blue Bloods and Scorpion, as well as a recurring role in the NBC action-drama series Chicago Fire.
== Personal life ==
Miko supports green politics and keeps a video blog titled Eko Miko to talk about her current concerns.[5] She has supported Global Green USA, an environmentalist group and organization that constitutes the American branch of Green Cross International.[6][7]
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1988	Pan Kleks w Kosmosie 	The Girl with the Matches	
1991	Niech żyje miłość 	Kuba's Daughter 	
2000	Coyote Ugly 	Cammie 	
2001	The Forsaken 	Megan 	
2002	Minimal Knowledge 	Renee 	
2005	Bye Bye Blackbird 	Alice 	
2005	The Shore 	Kaliope 	
2006	Park 	Krysta 	
2006	The House of Usher 	Jill Michaelson 	
2006	Save the Last Dance 2 	Sara Johnson 	Video
2007	Crashing 	Kristen 	
2007	Flakes 	Strawberry 	
2007	Waiting 	Young Woman 	Short film
2008	Dark Streets 	Madelaine 	
2009	Love and Dance 	Hania 	
2009	Double Identity 	Katrine 	
2010	Clash of the Titans 	Athena 	
2010	Repo 	Timmy 	
2011	Mother Nature: First MILF	Mother Nature 	Video short
2011	Age of Heroes 	Jensen 	
2012	Two Jacks 	Dana 	
2013	Make Your Move 	Tatianna 	
2014	The Mundane Goddess 	Aphrodite 	Short film
2014	Step Up: All In 	Alexxa Brava 	
2014	Desert Dancer 	 	Producer
2014	Thinspiration 	Teagan / ButterflyAna 	
2015	The Frontier 	Gloria 	
2018	The Rake 	Cassie 	
=== Television ===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes 	
1993	Kuchnia polska 	Zuzia Szymanko 	Television Mini-Series 	
2004	Gramercy Park 	Sophie Mansour 	Television film 	
2005	Deadwood 	Carrie 	"Requiem for a Gleet", "Complications", "Something Very Expensive"	
2008	Skip Tracer 	Ludmila 	Television film 	
2011	The Cape 	Raia 	Recurring role 	
2011	Chaos 	Greta 	"Deep Cover Band" 	
2011	Love Bites 	Audrey 	"Boys to Men" 	
2011	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Lena 	"Russian Brides" 	
2014	Supernatural 	Olivia 	"Ask Jeeves" 	
2014	Anger Management 	Mary Kathleen 	"Charlie Gets Tied Up with a Catholic Girl" 	
2014	Sensitive Men 	Jenn 	Television film 	
2015	Blue Bloods 	Milena 	"Payback"[8] 	
2015	Scorpion 	Sonia Balasevic 	"Cuba Libre" 	
2015	Chicago Fire 	Katya 	Recurring role 	
2016	Paradise Pictures 	Norma Jean 	Television film 	
2017	The Mick 	Yulia 	"The Wolf" 	
2018	Twoja twarz brzmi znajomo 	Prince / Geri Halliwell / Hans van Vondelen	3 episodes 	
2018	SNL Polska 	Herself / Special Guest / Host 	"Episode #1.15", "Episode #1.14" 	
2018	Criminal Minds 	Galina Kadlec 	"Season 14, Episode 3: Rule 34"