Olga Kurylenko

My mom Marina and I were poor and hungry. We could sometimes not afford to eat - seriously. We lived together in a small town, called Berdyansk, in Ukraine. I was an only child. I don\'t think we would have survived if there had been more kids.

I was on the beach every summer. That was the pleasant part of my childhood because we were right by the sea. We\'d take a picnic, and I\'d spend hours in the water until I turned blue. You couldn\'t get me out of there.

To me, I approach a small-budget, artsy, European movie the same way as a big commercial Hollywood movie. That\'s the most important thing. Hollywood usually represents this big dream in people\'s minds, but to me, it\'s just hard work.

I always try to learn a few words from a new language wherever I go.

People say, \'Where do you live?\' and I say that theoretically, I live in London, but basically that\'s just where I go to change my suitcase. Otherwise, I\'m always flying somewhere.

I\'m very careful. I think about everything. Some people go, \'Oh, I went out and bought something and didn\'t realise how much it was,\' but there\'s no such thing with me. I always think about the future because I never want to go backwards.

I love Parisian hotels. I usually stay in either Le Bristol, which is gorgeous, or Hotel Paris Rivoli, which is very French and feels like a step back in time. I also love the luxury of Waldorf Astoria hotels.

We shot \'Oblivion\' in Iceland; that was amazing. It\'s so, so beautiful. They didn\'t have any Waldorf Hotels there, though; we stayed in the middle of nowhere!

It is true that women in Paris never put on make-up. It shocked me when I first got there - then I realised how much I liked it.

What\'s interesting is to be sexy but not know it. You\'ll be in a restaurant, and some girls will walk in and you can tell that they really want to be sexy. It\'s written on their faces because that\'s all they want to show. There\'s a fear that one might not look further.

I would never go travelling on my own. Some people like to go backpacking alone, but there\'s no way I would do that, even if you paid me - I just don\'t see the point. If I discover something beautiful, for me it\'s very important to be able to share it with someone and not just see it for myself.

Modeling isn\'t really a tough job. Acting is much harder: so much prep and changing your look and mannerisms. It\'s a more difficult lifestyle being a model. I traveled all the time. Although, now I wonder, because I travel all the time for acting, too. So they both have their difficulties.

I never exercise, and I eat everything.

My face changes when I wear make-up; I don\'t recognise myself.

When you grow up without it, you want to have it. It\'s funny, in America some people say, \'Why do you want to make money so much?\' And I say, \'Well, I guess you didn\'t starve as a kid.\'

America\'s fine, nice, nice hiking near L.A. But I am European. I love London and Paris. Friends and intellect, big thought, why not?

Balconies scare me, and I would never do a shoot on one. I am afraid of heights.

You don\'t dream about things that are impossible; that are out of your range.

I wasn\'t, like, this top model; I was quietly doing my work, and when I became an actress, people started doing research, and everybody found out. People dug out photos, and suddenly people became interested - but no one was interested in my photos when I was a model.

What I love about sci-fi is that every generation\'s films are based on what we know at that point in time. We make movies about the future but it\'s always based on what we have. Then as science grows and we discover new things, so do our ideas. You know?

To be a Bond girl you need courage, charm, determination and feistiness.

I\'ve always had a way with a gun. As a kid, I loved to fire them at the shooting range in amusement parks. I\'d always return home with a handful of prizes.

I just went to an acting agency one day and just said, \'I would like to act. Would you take me?\' And they took me.

I grew up in the Ukraine and then I went to Paris in 1996. I went there because there was a modeling agency that invited me there to work so I thought, \'Sure.\'

I believe that when things are easy, people stay dormant.

I did a shoot with massive iguanas in Costa Rica when I was modeling back then. They were like little dinosaurs, and they sat right across my arms and by my face. The guy told me not to make any sudden movements because they had enormous claws. The guy said he would rip my skin if he attacked.

All I want to do is a rom-com, but you know, people see me as an action person because the first movie that was seen by a lot of the public would be \'Hitman.\'

When I earnt my first money, I went to a shop and bought jeans and a top. But then I wore them both for such a long time that finally my model agency said, \'You should buy something else!\' I was saving the money because it was the first time I\'d ever had any.

My life is not that glamorous. I actually live a pretty simple life, really. I just work. I don\'t have time to do all these glamorous things. I just do my thing, just work.

We were born and we die. In between, I think we try to live as best we can.