title: Milla Jovovich

text: In Los Angeles, her mother tried to get acting jobs, but found little success because of language barriers, and eventually resorted to cleaning houses to earn money. Both parents served as cooks and housekeepers for director Brian De Palma. Her father was convicted and imprisoned for participating in the largest health-insurance fraud ever investigated; he was given a 20-year sentence in 1994, but was released in 1999 after serving five years. According to Jovovich, "Prison was good for him. He's become a much better person. It gave him a chance to stop and think."


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich attended public schools in Los Angeles, becoming fluent in English in three months. In school, she was teased by classmates for coming from the Soviet Union: "I was called a commie and a Russian spy. I was [never] accepted into the crowd." At age 12, Jovovich left seventh grade to focus on modeling, which she had started at age nine. She has said she was rebellious during her early teens, engaging in drug use, shopping-mall vandalism, and credit-card fraud. In 1994, she became a naturalized U.S. citizen at the age of 19.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich's mother had "raised her to be a movie star." In 1985, Galina Loginova enrolled Jovovich at the age of 10 in acting classes, and when her acting jobs picked up, she started attending school for young actors rather than regular school. In 1988, Jovovich appeared in her debut professional film role as Samantha Delongpre in the romantic thriller "Two Moon Junction". Later that year, she appeared in the made-for-television film as Lily McLeod in "The Night Train to Kathmandu." She had several roles in television series, including "Paradise" (1988), "Married... with Children" (1989), and "Parker Lewis Can't Lose" (1990).


title: Milla Jovovich

text: At age 15, she was cast as the lead in "Return to the Blue Lagoon" (1991), opposite Brian Krause. Given her age and beauty, she was often compared to Brooke Shields, another child model-turned-actress, who had starred in "The Blue Lagoon" (1980). The role was controversial as, like Shields, Jovovich appeared nude in the film. Jovovich was nominated for "Best Young Actress Starring in a Motion Picture" at the 1991 Young Artist Awards, and "Worst New Star" at the 1991 Golden Raspberry Awards. In 1992, Jovovich co-starred with Christian Slater in the comedy "Kuffs". Later that year, she portrayed Mildred Harris in the Charlie Chaplin biographical film "Chaplin". In 1993, she acted in Richard Linklater's film "Dazed and Confused." She played Michelle Burroughs, the on-screen girlfriend to Pickford (played by her then-boyfriend Shawn Andrews). Strongly featured in promotions for the film, Jovovich was upset to find her role much reduced in the released film. Discouraged, she took a hiatus from acting roles, moving to Europe.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich returned to acting in 1997 with a lead role in the French science-fiction action film "The Fifth Element", alongside Bruce Willis and Gary Oldman. This was written and directed by Luc Besson. She portrayed Leeloo, an alien who helps to save the planet. Jovovich said she "worked like hell: no band practice, no clubs, no pot, nothing" to acquire the role and impress Besson. Jovovich co-created and mastered an alien fictional language of over 400 words for her role. She wore a costume that came to be known as the "ACE-bandage" costume; the body suit designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier was made of medical bandages. "The Fifth Element" was selected as the opening film for the 1997 Cannes Film Festival and its worldwide box office gross was over $263 million, more than three times its budget of $80 million. "The Fifth Element" was often praised for its visual style; critic James Berardinelli wrote, "Jovovich makes an impression, although her effectiveness has little to do with acting and less to do with dialogue". Jovovich was nominated for "Favorite Female Newcomer" at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards and "Best Fight" at the MTV Movie Awards. The film inspired a video game and a planned Leeloo action figure, but the figure was never released due to licensing problems. In a 2003 interview, Jovovich said Leeloo was her favorite role.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: In 1998, Jovovich appeared in Spike Lee's drama "He Got Game," as abused prostitute Dakota Burns; she acted with Denzel Washington and Ray Allen. In 1999, she appeared in the music video for the song "If You Can't Say No" by Lenny Kravitz. That year she returned to the action genre playing the title role in "", under direction of Luc Besson. She cut her hair short and wore armour in several extensive battle scenes. Jovovich received generally good reviews for her performance. The historical drama did moderately well at the box office, gaining $66 million worldwide. In 2000, Jovovich appeared as the troubled Eloise in "The Million Dollar Hotel", a film based on a concept story by Bono of the band U2 and Nicholas Klein. Directed by Wim Wenders, Jovovich starred alongside Jeremy Davies and Mel Gibson; she provided vocals on the film's soundtrack. That year she also played bar owner Lucia, in the British western film "The Claim" (2000). This was followed by a supporting role as the evil Katinka in the comedy "Zoolander" (2001).


title: Milla Jovovich

text: In 2002, Jovovich starred in the horror-action film "Resident Evil", released in the United States on March 15, 2002, and based on the Capcom video game series of the same name. She portrayed Alice, the film's heroine, who fights a legion of zombies created by the Umbrella Corporation. Jovovich had accepted the role because she and her brother Marco had been fans of the video game franchise. Jovovich had performed all the stunts required in the film, except for a scene that would involve her jumping to a cement platform, which her management deemed too dangerous, and had trained in karate, kickboxing, and combat-training. The film was commercially successful, grossing US$17 million on its opening weekend; it eventually made US$40 million domestically and $102 million worldwide. Later, she portrayed the manipulative gang wife Erin in "No Good Deed" (2002), Nadine in the romantic comedy "You Stupid Man" (2002), punk rocker Fangora ("Fanny") in "Dummy" (2003), and provided a guest voice on the television series "King of the Hill". The role of Fangora in "Dummy" allowed Jovovich to act in film with Oscar-winning Adrien Brody, who was a friend prior to filming. Jovovich found it easy to identify with this role because she felt Fangora possessed similar qualities to the actress' own life.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: In 2004, Jovovich reprised the role of Alice in the sequel to "Resident Evil", "". The role required her to do fight training for three hours a day, in addition to the three months prior to filming in which she had "gun training, martial arts, everything". "Apocalypse" received even more negative reactions from the critics than the first film, but it was an even greater commercial success, ranking number one at the box office unlike the first film. Following the release of the film, Jovovich was unhappy with the critical results and director Alexander Witt's effort. She noted during an interview that year that her large action films take care of the commercial part of her career, while she acts in "independent little films that never come out" to appease her artistic side, and "It's a good balance". The following year, she was featured in Gore Vidal's faux trailer remake of "Caligula", as Drusilla. In 2006, Jovovich's film, the science fiction/action thriller "Ultraviolet", was released on March 3. She played the title role of Violet Song jat Shariff, a role that also involved heavily choreographed fight sequences. It was not screened for critics, but when reviewed, it was critically panned and failed at the box office, grossing US$31 million worldwide. Also in 2006, Jovovich also starred in ".45", as Kat, the revenge driven girlfriend of an illegal gun and drug dealer with Scottish actor and DJ Angus Macfadyen.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: In 2007, Jovovich reprised her role as Alice in "", the third of the "Resident Evil" series. The film grossed an estimated $24 million on its opening weekend, topping the box-office gross for that week. In 2009, Jovovich starred in David Twohy's "A Perfect Getaway" with Kiele Sanchez, Timothy Olyphant, and Steve Zahn. The film is a thriller about a newlywed couple (Milla and Zahn) on their honeymoon in Hawaii. Reviews for the film were mostly positive; while "The Hollywood Reporter" felt that Jovovich gave a "fairly subtle performance", "The Globe and Mail" noted that she and "[...]Kiele Sanchez manage to bring some dramatic tension to the frightened-girlfriend moments". "A Perfect Getaway" garnered modest box office returns. Jovovich starred in the science-fiction thriller "The Fourth Kind", as a psychologist in Alaska who uses hypnosis to uncover memories from her patients of alien abduction. While the film was largely panned by critics, it made US$47.71 million in cinemas worldwide.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: In 2010, Jovovich returned as Alice in the fourth movie of the "Resident Evil" series, "", which was directed by her husband, Paul W. S. Anderson, and portrayed the mother of a promiscuous and troubled high school student in the independent coming-of-age dramedy "Dirty Girl", which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, opposite Juno Temple, William H. Macy, Mary Steenburgen, and Tim McGraw. In its review for the latter film, "The Hollywood Reporter" found Jovovich to be "terrific" in what it described as a "sweet [and] sassy period comedy with a "Juno" sensibility and the soul of a "Little Miss Sunshine"". Jovovich played the wife of a jailed arsonist in "Stone", a psychological thriller co-starring Robert De Niro and Edward Norton. Filming began in May 2009 at the recently closed Southern Michigan Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan. The film was released in late 2010, to a mixed response. Nevertheless, "The A.V. Club" noted that Jovovich was "particularly good as a breathy femme fatale who seduces De Niro with a mere change in inflection".


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich starred in Paul W. S. Anderson's romantic action adventure film "The Three Musketeers", as Milady de Winter, in 2011, alongside Matthew Macfadyen, Logan Lerman, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom, and Christoph Waltz. After the lackluster response for "Musketeers", Jovovich criticised Summit Entertainment for not "promoting [the film] properly" as a "family film" in the United States. "Deadline Hollywood" reported that Summit responded: "She doesn't know what she's talking about and we don't know where she's coming from." She would next headline the little-seen psychological thriller "Faces in the Crowd", which was written and directed by Julien Magnat; in it, she plays the survivor of a serial killer's attack that leaves her suffering from a condition called prosopagnosia, which renders her unable to recognize faces. "Sight and Sound" remarked that the film suffered from "a central performance not quite strong enough to win Jovovich recognition as a dramatic actress". Also in 2011, Jovovich appeared as a Ukrainian con artist in Famke Janssen's directorial debut film "Bringing Up Bobby", alongside Marcia Cross, and starred in the romantic comedy "Lucky Trouble", which was her Russian-language film debut.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich returned to her role as Alice in the fifth installment of "Resident Evil" for "", which was released on September 14, 2012. She played an ambitious woman and the second wife of the leader of a motorcycle club in 2014's "Cymbeline", a film version of the eponymous play by William Shakespeare, and in 2015's "Survivor", she took on the role of a Diplomatic Security Service/Foreign Service officer at the US Embassy in London. Both films received a VOD release in North America, despite theatrical runs abroad. Jovovich made a cameo appearance reprising the role of villain Katinka in 2016's "Zoolander 2". "" (2016), the sixth and final film of the "Resident Evil" franchise, starred Jovovich as Alice as she continues her vengeance against Umbrella for the death of her allies and the catastrophe they have caused. "Time Out" in its review for the film noted: "While the franchise has slackened into dependably dumb post-apocalyptic thrills, star Milla Jovovich has only gotten better, seasoning her long-legged athleticism with a commanding stare". "The Final Chapter" was the highest-grossing film in the franchise, earning over US$312 million worldwide.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: In "Shock and Awe" (2017), Jovovich played the wife of an investigator working on the reasons behind the Bush Administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq, starring opposite Woody Harrelson and Tommy Lee Jones. In "Future World" (2018), she obtained the role of a drug lord, alongside James Franco, who also directed the film. While reviewers felt Jovovich was "underused" in "Shock and Awe", "Future World" holds a 0% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 9 reviews. Jovovich starred as the administrator of an island-bound reform school in the fantasy film "Paradise Hills" (2019), the directorial debut of Alice Waddington. She also played the evil Vivienne Nimue, the Blood Queen in the "Hellboy" reboot movie, released in 2019.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich had begun working on a music album as early as 1988, when she was signed by SBK Records after the company heard a demo she recorded. In August 1990, she asserted in an interview that the then-forthcoming album would be "a mix between Kate Bush, Sinéad O'Connor, This Mortal Coil, and the Cocteau Twins." After it was initially presented by SBK strictly as a pop album, Jovovich protested, insisting on using her personal poetry for lyrics and recording her own instrumental material. Jovovich had written the lyrics and composed the music of the songs when she was fifteen, with the exception of a Ukrainian folk song, "In a Glade," that she covered. In April 1994, billed under her first name, she released "The Divine Comedy," a title that was a reference to the epic poem by Dante Alighieri of the same name. Jovovich had chosen the title after seeing Russian artist Alexis Steele's proposed cover artwork sketch for the then untitled album. Jovovich found that the sketch had "all the struggle that I'm singing about. It IS the divine comedy." "The Divine Comedy" was well received by critics, and featured pop-infused traditional Ukrainian folk songs that led to comparisons with musicians Tori Amos and Kate Bush. John McAlley of "Rolling Stone" called the album "remarkable," "strikingly mature and rich in invention," and as featuring "angst-laced poetry with vivid melodies and arrangements that find a common spirit in synth pop, European folk and psychedelic dream rock."


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich released the track "The Gentleman Who Fell (Before The Court)," with an accompanying music video, as the sole single from the album. The music video was originally directed by Lisa Bonet and featured Harry Dean Stanton, but Jovovich, unsatisfied with the results, decided to film another video. The second video for "The Gentleman Who Fell," a homage to Maya Deren, was directed by Kate Garner and Paul Archard and was subsequently played on MTV. Jovovich toured the United States and Canada during most of 1994 to promote the album, opening for Toad the Wet Sprocket, The Philosopher Kings, and Crash Test Dummies, as well as playing smaller acoustic sets. Jovovich had opted to perform in smaller and more intimate settings, turning down a musical appearance on "Saturday Night Live." Jovovich has also been collaborating musically with longtime friend and musician Chris Brenner, who co-wrote with her on the Divine Comedy Album and who was the musical coordinator for the supporting tour. She and Brenner met in 1993 and have since worked together on several ventures. Following "The Divine Comedy," she expressed interest in releasing a second album, having had ten songs ready for a future recording that was intended for a summer-of-1996 release. Despite the appearance of a lo-fi field recording, "The People Tree Sessions," in 1998, Jovovich had yet to release a second album as of the late winter and early spring of 2022.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: In May 1999, Jovovich, along with Chris Brenner, formed an experimental band called "Plastic Has Memory," in which she wrote and composed the songs, sang, and played electric guitar. The band was "[m]uch heavier and darker than the vaguely Ukrainian folk-sounding elements of her first album," and it had a similar sound to a grunge and trip hop Portishead. "Plastic Has Memory" played about a dozen shows in Los Angeles and New York City for a potential Virgin Records album release, one of which Mick Jagger had attended. But though "Plastic Has Memory" was featured on "Hollywood Goes Wild!", a benefit celebrity compilation album, the group never formally released any albums, and had disbanded as of 2021.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich has contributed tracks to several of her film soundtracks, including "The Million Dollar Hotel" (2000) and "Dummy" (2002), and has also provided songs for the soundtracks of films in which she has not acted such as "Underworld" (2003) produced by musician Danny Lohner, who was the bass player in Nine Inch Nails for many years. Her song "The Gentlemen Who Fell" was featured on "The Rules of Attraction" soundtrack in 2002. In 2001, Jovovich was one of many celebrities whose vocals were featured in a cover of "We are Family" to raise money for the American Red Cross. She has appeared as guest vocalist on the song "Former Lover" on Deepak Chopra's album, "A Gift of Love II: Oceans of Ecstasy" (2002) and "Legion of Boom" (2004) by The Crystal Method.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Beginning in 2003, Jovovich commenced to work with musician Maynard James Keenan, of Tool and A Perfect Circle, on his Industrial side project Puscifer, contributing vocals to the track "REV 22:20," which was featured on various film soundtracks in its original or a remixed form. As of January 2009, she can be heard collaborating with Maynard and Danny Lohner on the Puscifer track called, "The Mission." She also performed the song at the first live Puscifer performance on February 13, 2009, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Danny Lohner, and longtime music collaborator Chris Brenner currently continue to record and perform with Jovovich, who has made several highly praised appearances in recent years.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: A new single called "Electric Sky" was released on May 18, 2012, and presented at the Life Ball. In 2017, she collaborated in the single "Attention of Ernest Shalubin." Jovovich continues to write songs which she refers to as "demos," and which are provided for free in MP3 format on her official website. She provides license to freely download and remix the tracks, but reserves the right to sell and issue them.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: It was Jovovich's early work with Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon and Peter Lindbergh that led to her success in advertising, bringing the young model contracts. Since then, she has been featured on more than 100 magazine covers, including "Vogue", "Cosmopolitan", "Elle", "Glamour", "Marie Claire", "Harper's Bazaar" and "GQ". She has walked for Balmain, Versace, Fendi, Trussardi, Alessandro Dell'Acqua, Costume National, Iceberg, Anna Sui, Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu, Salvatore Ferragamo, Missoni, Blumarine, Jil Sander, and Jean Paul Gautier. Also she has been part of campaigns for Banana Republic, Christian Dior, Jimmy Choo, Prada, Isabel Marant, Celine, Guess?, Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger, Tiffany & Co., Roberto Cavalli, Damiani, Donna Karan, Gap, Versace, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Coach, Giorgio Armani, H&M, and Revlon. Since 1998, Jovovich has been an "international spokesmodel" for L'Oréal cosmetics. She was referred to in a minor cameo in Bret Easton Ellis' novel "Glamorama", a satire of society's obsession with celebrities and beauty.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich was said to be designer Miuccia Prada's muse in 2002; a 2003 article claimed she was Gianni Versace's "favourite supermodel". In 2004, Jovovich topped "Forbes" magazine's "Richest Supermodels of the World" list, earning a reported $10.5 million, and in 2006, Jovovich was picked up by Mango, a Spanish clothing line, as their new spokesmodel and is featured in their advertising campaigns; she can also be seen in adverts for Etro. She has said that "Modeling was never a priority" and that the money she earns enables her "to be selective about the creative decisions [she] make[s]".


title: Milla Jovovich

text: In 2012, Jovovich was hired as the new "face" of a global advertising campaign for wristwatch and jewelry retailer Jacob & Co. In 2018, Jovovich became the "face" of a global advertising campaign for Balmain.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: In 2019, Jovovich joined more than a hundred models who signed a petition to help protect Victoria's Secret models against sexual misconduct.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich and fellow model Carmen Hawk launched a line of clothing called Jovovich-Hawk in 2003. The pair opened a showroom in New York City's Greenwich Village on September 13, 2005. All of the dresses for Jovovich-Hawk line were designed by herself and her partner Carmen Hawk. The atelier is based in Los Angeles, but pieces could be found at Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Harvey Nichols, and over 50 stores around the world. "Vogue" praised the line for its "girl-about-town cult status most designers spend years trying to achieve." In November 2006, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and "US Vogue" nominated Jovovich-Hawk for the CFDA/"Vogue" Fashion Fund Award. Jovovich-Hawk was nominated as a finalist, although Doo-Ri Chung took the top prize. In 2007, Jovovich and Hawk designed the costume for Jovovich's character in "Resident Evil: Extinction". The shorts her Resident Evil character wear are a variation on the 'Alice Star' Shorts from the Spring 2007 collection. Later, Jovovich-Hawk signed a deal to design a diffusion collection for Target's Go International campaign, following in the footsteps of Luella, Paul & Joe, and Proenza Schouler. In late 2008, Jovovich and Hawk mutually agreed to end the business due to increased demands on their time. Jovovich explained, "I'm an artist. I'm not someone who can deal with shipping rates and taxes".


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich has been noted for her careers as a model, singer and actress. Music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt" for her roles in various sci-fi and action films and Rebecca Flint Marx of Allmovie said that despite the negative critical response for the "Resident Evil" films, the franchise has turned Jovovich into an "A-list action star". Her action roles have given her a geek following for which MTV said she was "Every Geek's Dream Girl".


title: Milla Jovovich

text: In 2004, Jovovich was ranked No.69 on "Maxim" magazine's "Top 100 Hot List", ranked No. 82 in 2005 and ranked No. 21 in 2010. "Maxim" also named her No. 11 on their list of "Hottest Nerd Crushes". In 2008, she was ranked No. 90 on Ask Men's Top 99 Women of 2008 List.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: In 2011, Jovovich attended and sang at the birthday celebration of Mikhail Gorbachev. The actress also gave a speech in which she thanked Gorbachev, saying that when she and her family left the Soviet Union in 1980, they were sure that they would never see their relatives again and that thanks to him they have been reunited.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich married on-screen boyfriend Shawn Andrews in 1992 while filming "Dazed and Confused" together. Andrews was 21, while Jovovich was 16; the marriage was annulled by her mother two months later. Shortly after the annulment, Jovovich moved to Europe with her friend and musician Chris Brenner where she met and then lived with her new boyfriend, ex-Jamiroquai bassist Stuart Zender, in London from May 1994 to October 1995. She married "The Fifth Element" director Luc Besson in 1997 in Las Vegas where they went skydiving directly after the ceremony. They divorced in 1999. In 2000, she briefly dated then Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante saying she fell in love with him after hearing his album "Niandra LaDes and Usually Just a T-Shirt" six years earlier. Between 1998 and 2001, she befriended the young poet and musician, Anno Birkin, and each was the other's inspiration behind many of their compositions. Jovovich became involved with Birkin romantically just before his death in a car accident on November 8, 2001.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich met film writer and director Paul W. S. Anderson while working on the 2002 film "Resident Evil", which Anderson wrote and directed, and in which Jovovich starred. Anderson proposed to Jovovich in 2003, and the two were "engaged on-and-off for four years" before becoming a couple again early in 2007. They married on August 22, 2009. On November 3, 2007, Jovovich gave birth to their first child, daughter Ever Anderson, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. Their second child, daughter Dashiel Edan, was born on April 1, 2015 also at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. In 2019, Jovovich revealed she was pregnant with her third daughter after miscarrying two years prior. They welcomed their third daughter, Osian Lark Elliot, on February 2, 2020. Jovovich resides in homes in Los Angeles and New York City.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: In addition to Russian and English, she also speaks French and Serbian. She was brought up in a Russian household and referred to the role the Russian culture played in her life when she stated in 2005:


title: Milla Jovovich

text: Jovovich has advocated the legalization of cannabis, and appeared in a spread and on the cover for "High Times". In an article published in 1994, she said that her only vices were cigarettes and cannabis. She practices yoga and meditates often in attempts to live a healthy lifestyle; although not affiliated with any specific religion, she prays and considers herself a "spiritual person". Jovovich also enjoys playing the guitar, and writing poems and lyrics for songs.


title: Milla Jovovich

text: During the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, which is part of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Jovovich expressed support for Ukraine on her Instagram page: "'I am heartbroken and dumbstruck trying to process the events of this week in my birthplace of Ukraine. My country and people being bombed. Friends and family in hiding".


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a 2021 American superhero film featuring the Marvel Comics character Venom, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the second film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe and the sequel to "Venom" (2018). The film was directed by Andy Serkis from a screenplay by Kelly Marcel, based on a story she wrote with Tom Hardy, who stars as Eddie Brock and Venom alongside Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham, and Woody Harrelson. In the film, Brock and the alien symbiote Venom must face serial killer Cletus Kasady (Harrelson) after he becomes the host of an offshoot of Venom named Carnage.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: "Venom" was intended by Sony to be the start of a new shared universe, and plans for a sequel began during production on the first film. Harrelson was cast to make a brief appearance as Kasady at the end of "Venom", with the intention of him becoming the villain Carnage in the sequel. Official work on the sequel began in January 2019, with Hardy and Harrelson confirmed to return along with Marcel as writer. Serkis was hired as director that August, partly due to his experience working with CGI and motion capture technology, which was an important part of portraying Venom and Carnage in the film. Filming took place at Leavesden Studios in England from November 2019 to February 2020, with additional filming in San Francisco in February. The title was announced in April 2020.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" premiered in London on September 14, 2021, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 1, after multiple delays from an initial October 2020 date due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was a box office success, grossing $506.9 million worldwide and becoming the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2021, but earning $349.2 million less than its predecessor. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the action sequences, chemistry between Brock and Venom, mid-credit scene, and the performances of Hardy and Harrelson, but criticized its screenplay, while its short runtime drew divided opinions. A third "Venom" film is in development.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: In 1996, a young Cletus Kasady watches helplessly as his lover, Frances Barrison, is taken away from St. Estes Home for Unwanted Children to the Ravencroft Institute. On the way, Barrison uses her sonic scream powers to attack young police officer Patrick Mulligan. Mulligan shoots Barrison in the eye and suffers an injury to his ear due to her scream. Unbeknownst to Mulligan, who believes he killed her, Barrison is still taken to Ravencroft, where her abilities are restricted.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: In the present day, Mulligan is now a detective and asks journalist Eddie Brock to speak to serial killer Kasady in San Quentin State Prison, as Kasady refuses to talk to anyone other than Brock. After the visit, Brock's alien symbiote Venom deduces where Kasady has hidden the bodies of his victims, which gives Brock a considerable career boost. Brock is contacted by his ex-fiancée Anne Weying, who tells him that she is now engaged to Dr. Dan Lewis, to Venom's displeasure. Kasady, who has been found guilty of his crimes and sentenced to death by lethal injection, invites Brock to attend his execution. Brock speaks with Kasady, who insults Brock, provoking Venom to attack Kasady. Kasady bites Brock's hand and ingests a small part of the symbiote. Back home, Venom has an argument with Brock about wanting more freedom to eat criminals, and the symbiote decides to leave Brock's body and go off on its own.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: As Kasady's execution begins, a red symbiote emerges and blocks the injection. Named Carnage, it goes on a violent rampage through the prison, freeing inmates and killing guards. Carnage agrees to help Kasady break Barrison out of Ravencroft in exchange for Kasady's help eliminating Brock and Venom. Mulligan visits Brock at home and warns him about the situation. At Ravencroft, Kasady frees Barrison, and they travel to the St. Estes children's home to burn it down. Mulligan grows suspicious of Brock and arrests him. Brock contacts Weying as his lawyer and reveals that Venom has separated from him. As Venom makes his way through San Francisco by hopping from body to body, Weying finds him bonded to Mrs. Chen and convinces him to forgive Brock. Venom reunites with Brock, and they escape custody. Kasady takes Mulligan hostage, and Barrison captures Weying, taking them both to a cathedral where Kasady and Barrison plan to get married.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: Brock and Venom arrive to fight Carnage while Barrison seemingly kills Mulligan by hanging him with a chain. Venom is overpowered by Carnage but provokes Barrison into using her powers to separate Carnage and Kasady. Venom devours Carnage and kills Kasady while the collapsing cathedral crushes Barrison. Later, an alive Mulligan's eyes flash blue, revealing that he somehow absorbed a part of Carnage. Brock and Venom, now fugitives, decide to take a vacation while they ponder their next steps. In a mid-credit scene, as Venom tells Brock about the symbiotes' knowledge of other universes, a blinding light transports them from their hotel room to another room where they watch J. Jonah Jameson talking about Spider-Man's revealed identity as Peter Parker on television. Venom then licks the screen after saying, "That guy."


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: Additionally, Peggy Lu reprises her role from the first film as convenience store owner Mrs. Chen, who briefly hosts Venom, Sian Webber portrays Ravencroft doctor Camille Pazzo, Larry Olubamiwo appears as a Ravencroft guard, and Little Simz appears as herself. Footage of Tom Holland as Peter Parker / Spider-Man and J. K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) appears in the mid-credits scene, with both actors uncredited.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: During the long development of the 2018 film "Venom", the character Carnage was expected to appear as an antagonist. During pre-production on that film, the creative team decided not to include the character so they could focus on introducing the protagonists, Eddie Brock and Venom. Director Ruben Fleischer felt that leaving Venom's most formidable villain for a sequel would give the franchise a place to go and would be a natural next step, so Carnage's alter-ego Cletus Kasady was introduced in a mid-credits scene at the end of the first film with the intention of featuring him in a sequel. Fleischer wanted to cast Woody Harrelson in the role, feeling there was a natural connection between the character and Harrelson's performance in "Natural Born Killers" (1994), and asked Harrelson while the pair were discussing a sequel to their film "Zombieland" (2009). After meeting with Fleischer and Tom Hardy—who portrays Brock and Venom—for dinner, Harrelson agreed to take on the part. Harrelson described his decision as a roll of the dice since he was unable to read a script for the sequel before signing on to the first film. In August 2018, ahead of "Venom"s release, Hardy confirmed that he had signed on to star in two sequels. At the end of November 2018, Sony gave an October 2, 2020, release date to an untitled Marvel sequel that was believed to be "Venom 2", which would place the film in the same release timeframe as the first "Venom"; box office analysts believed "Venom" had been successful enough to guarantee a sequel would be made.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: "Venom" writer Jeff Pinkner confirmed in December 2018 that a sequel was happening, but he was not involved in writing it. Fleischer reiterated this, saying that he could not discuss a sequel but he saw the first film as Brock and Venom "coming together. So there's a natural evolution from that to [a sequel where it is] like, okay, now what's it like to live together? It's like a bromantic sort of relationship." In January, Kelly Marcel signed a "significant" deal with Sony to write and produce the sequel after also working on the first film's script. This marked the official beginning of work on the film for the studio, and was revealed alongside confirmation of Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Amy Pascal returning as producers. Hardy and Harrelson were also expected to return for the sequel, along with Michelle Williams in the role of Brock's ex-fiancée Anne Weying. No director was confirmed, with Sony considering replacing Fleischer due to his commitments to "" (2019), though he still intended to be involved in "Venom 2". By the end of July 2019, Sony hoped for filming to begin that November and had met with several candidates to replace Fleischer as director since he was still completing work on "Double Tap"; directors the studio met with include Andy Serkis, Travis Knight, and Rupert Wyatt. Sony was also interested in Rupert Sanders directing the film, but that "didn't work out". Serkis confirmed at the start of August that he had discussed the project with Sony and it was "potentially something that might happen".


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: Serkis was officially hired to direct the film in early August 2019, partly due to his experience working with CGI and motion-capture technology as both an actor and director. Soon after his hiring, Serkis said Hardy had been working closely with Marcel on the screenplay which was "centered around their take"; Marcel explained that she and Hardy spent months developing ideas for the film, which is the first time he received a story credit on a project, before she then spent three months writing the screenplay herself. Fleischer said he was happy to let Serkis take over the franchise following the negative critical reaction that the first film received, believing reviewers had unfairly treated the "crowdpleasing movie", potentially due to biases against Sony and towards Marvel Studios' rival superhero films. By the time Serkis was hired, Hutch Parker had joined the sequel as a producer. A friend of Sony Pictures chairman Tom Rothman, Parker previously served as a producer for several Marvel-based films produced by 20th Century Fox.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: In September 2019, Reid Scott was expected to reprise his role as Weying's boyfriend Dan Lewis from the first film. The character Shriek was also expected to appear as the film's secondary villain and a love interest for Carnage. Many different actresses were looked at for the part, before Naomie Harris was cast in the role in mid-October. Stephen Graham had also joined the film, as Detective Mulligan, by the end of the year. Tolmach said there was a chance the sequel could be rated R following the success of the R-rated "Joker" (2019), as well as previous successful R-rated comic book films such as "Deadpool" (2016) and "Logan" (2017). However, Tolmach cautioned that the PG-13 rating of the first "Venom" had led to box office success and they would not be looking to change the franchise's tone simply because it had worked for others; the sequel ultimately received a PG-13 rating. Tolmach said the biggest lesson learned from the first "Venom" was that fans loved the relationship between Brock and Venom, and the sequel would focus more on the two characters together because of this. Serkis described the relationship as the "central love affair" of the film, and explained that the sequence in the film where Venom goes to a rave and talks about the "cruel treatment of aliens" uses imagery reminiscent of LGBTQIA festivals because the sequence is intended to be Venom's "coming-out party". Chinese production company Tencent Pictures co-financed the sequel after previously doing the same for the first film.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: Principal photography began on November 15, 2019, at Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire, England, under the working title "Fillmore". Robert Richardson served as cinematographer for the film, reuniting with Serkis after they worked together on "Breathe" (2017). Filming took place at the campus of London South Bank University in mid-January 2020. Hardy revealed that filming in England was completed on February 8, with the production then moving to San Francisco where the film is set. Location filming continued in that city for several weeks, taking place in several neighborhoods including the Tenderloin, North Beach, Nob Hill, and Potrero Hill. In Potrero Hill, the Anchor Brewery stood in for a police station, while filming in Nob Hill took place at Grace Cathedral on February 20 and 21. Filming also took place at the Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District. Some filming in San Francisco was impacted by production on "The Matrix Resurrections" (2021), with certain locations such as roads for driving scenes being unavailable to the "Venom" crew because that film was already using them. Helicopters that were being used to film "Matrix" sequences are visible in the background of a scene in the "Venom" sequel which uses dialogue to explain them as being police helicopters searching the city. Reshoots occurred at Pinewood Studios.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: Post-production for the film began shortly before many film productions were forced to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Serkis beginning work editing the film in London with the editorial department. Once post-production had to be shut down, the film's editor returned to the United States and began working with Serkis remotely to finish editing the film. The initial director's cut for the film was around 10 or 15 minutes longer than the final runtime, with Serkis wanting the film to be shorter than expected to make it a "real thrill ride" and to try get to Carnage's introduction with as little exposition as possible.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: Sony confirmed in April that the film was scheduled to be released on October 2, 2020, and was intended to keep that release date despite the pandemic. Later that month, the studio moved the film's release to June 25, 2021, after that date became available due to other COVID-19 related delays. Sony also announced the film's title as "Venom: Let There Be Carnage". An alternate title that was considered for the film was "Venom: Love Will Tear Us Apart", which was named for the Joy Division song "Love Will Tear Us Apart". Serkis felt the delay in release would give more time to improve the film's visual effects, and would help ensure that audience members would be comfortable with going to see the film in theaters. The director was excited to adapt the comic book version of Carnage for the screen, and explained that the symbiotes were designed to reflect their hosts, so he differentiated Venom and Carnage by reflecting Brock and Kasady, respectively, through their designs, abilities, and movements. Serkis worked with dancers and actors on a motion-capture stage to help define the movements of the two characters, and compared Venom to a quarterback who used brute force. For Carnage, Kasady's psychotic personality is shown through idiosyncratic and off-kilter movements, as well as being able to turn into mist and create "all manner of tendrils". Serkis compared fighting Carnage to fighting with an octopus. The film's mid-credits scene was directed by "" (2021) director Jon Watts during production of that film.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: In March 2021, the film's release was moved back again to September 17, 2021, and then moved a week later to September 24. In August 2021, amidst SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant surges in the United States, the film was delayed again to October 15, 2021. By the end of the month, Sony was reportedly considering delaying the film to "Morbius" release date of January 21, 2022, following continued Delta variant surges and low box office returns for films released earlier in August. "Variety" reported that the studio was not planning to move the film again at that time, but "Deadline Hollywood" described plans to change the film's release date as "the worst kept secret in Hollywood". Following the box office success of "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" in early September, Sony moved the film's release date forward two weeks to October 1.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: Marco Beltrami was revealed to be the composer for the film in December 2020, after previously composing for several Marvel-based films produced by Parker. In September 2021, Eminem was revealed to be composing a new song for the film after doing the same for the first "Venom". Titled "Last One Standing", it was made in collaboration with Skylar Grey, Polo G, and Mozzy.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: After announcing the film's official title in April 2020, Sony also released a short teaser featuring the official logo for the film. Many fans of the Venom comic books criticized the title, with some wondering why the comic book storyline title "Maximum Carnage" was not used. Sam Barsanti of "The A.V. Club" also thought "Maximum Carnage" would have worked better, or even "Venom 2", and negatively compared the official title to films like "" (2016), "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (2007), and "" (2010). "/Film"s Ethan Anderton acknowledged these criticisms, but felt it was a great title given the first film was "surprisingly goofy". Vinnie Mancuso at "Collider" agreed, calling it "the perfect title for a beautifully stupid franchise". He said it suggested Sony "knows the kind of property it has on its hands". Tom Reimann, also at "Collider", described the teaser as Sony "proudly showing off the logo of the new film as if the title isn't completely insane".


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: In March 2021, Serkis said a trailer for the film had not yet been released due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Sony waiting until audiences could see it in theaters. The film's first trailer was released in May, with Ryan Parker of "The Hollywood Reporter" describing it as intense but with some lighter moments. Parker highlighted Harrelson's improved wig compared to the first film, as did "Collider"s Rafael Motamayor, and Corey Chichizola at "CinemaBlend". Chichizola praised Harrelson's presence in the trailer, and expressed excitement at the brief shots of Venom and Carnage, with Michael Kennedy of "Screen Rant" noting that the first trailer for "Venom" had received negative responses for not featuring Venom in it and this trailer avoided that problem by showing both of the sequel's symbiote characters. A second trailer was released in August, with Sam Barsanti of "The A. V. Club" highlighting the expanded footage of Carnage as well as the continued focus on Brock and Venom's chemistry. Lauren Massuda at "Collider" concurred with Barsanti on both points, and felt Harrelson had "taken the spotlight" of the second trailer. Massuda felt the sequel appeared more intriguing and mature than the first film, while "Screen Rant" James Hunt opined that the sequel "already looks much better" than the first film in terms of tone, character, and visual effects. In September, a character poster for Weying was alleged to have copied the silhouette of She-Venom from fan art published by DeviantArt artist spaceMAXmarine in October 2018. In December, to promote the digital and then-upcoming Blu-ray home media release of the film, a web series titled "Chen's Market" was released to Facebook and Instagram Live, starring Peggy Lu and Santana Maynard, the former reprising their roles from the film, alongside the voices of Hardy and Jon Bailey.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" was screened for fans in London on September 14, 2021, and was released in the United States on October 1 in RealD 3D and IMAX. In August 2021, Sony and CJ 4DPlex announced a deal to release 15 of Sony's films over three years in the ScreenX format, starting with "Let There Be Carnage". The film was originally set for release in the U.S. on October 2, 2020. It was delayed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, moving to June 25, 2021, September 17, September 24, and then October 15, before being moved back up to October 1.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: The film debuted atop the iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu charts following its release on PVOD services in late November 2021. In April 2021, Sony signed a deal giving Disney access to their legacy content, including Marvel content in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), to stream on Disney+ and Hulu and appear on Disney's linear television networks. Disney's access to Sony's titles would come following their availability on Netflix.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" grossed $213.6million in the United States and Canada, and $293.4million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $507million.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside "The Many Saints of Newark" and "The Addams Family 2", with Sony estimating a $40 million debut and box office analysts predicted it could reach as much as $65 million in its opening weekend. The film grossed $37.3 million on its first day, which included $11.6 million from Thursday night previews, besting the $10 million made by the first "Venom" and marking the second-biggest total since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, behind "Black Widow" $13.2 million. In its opening weekend, "Let There Be Carnage" debuted to $90.1 million, marking the largest opening of the pandemic to that point, and surpassing the opening weekend gross of "Venom" ($80.3 million). The film declined 64% in its second weekend with $32 million, finishing second behind newcomer "No Time to Die". During the weekend ending November 14, "Let There Be Carnage" became the second film to cross the $200 million mark at the United States and Canadian box-office during the pandemic, following "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings".


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 57% based on 275 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A sequel aimed squarely at fans of the original's odd couple chemistry, "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" eagerly embraces the franchise's sillier side." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, the same as the first film, while those at PostTrak gave it a 76% positive score, with 65% saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: Writing for "RogerEbert.com", Christy Lemire gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and praised Hardy's "gung-ho physical performance". Kristen Page-Kirby of "The Washington Post" praised the film, commenting, "It's fast, it's fun, and buried within is a genuinely sweet story about friendship and self-acceptance." Tim Grierson of "Screen International" said that Serkis' direction "keeps the rambunctious proceedings relatively taut, making room for operatic action and a sneaky emotional undercurrent that pokes through the broad comedy and comic-book grandeur." James Mottram of the "South China Morning Post" gave the film a score of 4/5 stars, writing that the film "is simplified, more focused and even more intimate than its predecessor – employing only a handful of characters and a remarkably stripped down narrative." Clarisse Loughrey of "The Independent" also gave the film a score of 4/5 stars, describing it as "a love story written in blood, sweat and the slime of half-eaten brains." Tim Robey of "The Daily Telegraph" gave the film a score of 3/5 stars, writing: ""Venom: Let There Be Carnage" is refreshingly nuts, and benefits from being a whole 45 minutes shorter than its predecessor." Joe Morgenstern of "The Wall Street Journal" wrote that the film "manipulates its audience with all the tentacles it can deploy, most of them cheerfully ridiculous."


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: Richard Roeper of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film a mixed review, giving it a score of 2/4 stars. He described the film as being "marginally better than the original, with a firmer commitment to the comedic angle and Tom Hardy clearly having a lot of fun", but added: "this vehicle runs out of gas halfway through the yawner of a climax." John DeFore of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote: "The film does develop the chemistry between the titular alien and the human he's forced to inhabit while inside Earth's atmosphere. But the distinctiveness of this buddy-movie bond is often drowned out by giant set pieces of CG mayhem that feel exactly like those found in the good guys' movies." Brian Lowry of CNN was more critical of his review for the film and described the film as "a mind-numbingly tiresome sequel, filled with uninspired comedy and a CGI monster fight that seems to drag on forever." David Sims of "The Atlantic" described the viewing experience as being "like going to a nightclub and having someone scream the plot in your ear over a thumping bass line". Kevin Maher of "The Times" gave the film a score of 1/5 stars, describing it as an "abominable sequel".


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: William Hughes at "The A.V. Club" believed the mid-credits scene would overshadow the rest of the film, saying "in the span of about 120 seconds, the most externally interesting thing about Sony's latest big superhero blockbuster... [is] its connection to a whole other studio's library of films". He continued that the two "Venom" films were "at least genuinely interesting and weird... propelled by a devotedly odd performance" from Hardy, but ultimately felt "Let There Be Carnage" would become "little more than 'the one where Venom gets pulled into the MCU". Barry Hertz of "The Globe and Mail" praised the film's mid-credits scene, but described the rest of the film as "ugly, cheap and dumb-but-not-good-dumb" and "a throwaway kind of trashy nothingness".


title: Venom: Let There Be Carnage

text: Hardy confirmed in August 2018 that he had also signed on to star in a third "Venom" film. In September 2021, Hardy noted that the producers would have to continue to develop Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) in future films but said they were also interested in crossing-over with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) more. Serkis expressed interest in returning to direct another "Venom" film, and felt there was more to explore with Venom in future films before the character met Spider-Man in a future MCU/SSU crossover film, including further exploration of the Ravencroft Institute and other potential villains being held there. In October, Holland said he and Pascal had discussed him potentially reprising his role as Spider-Man in future "Venom" sequels. That December, Pascal said they were in the "planning stages" of "Venom 3". Sony confirmed the film was in development at CinemaCon in April 2022. In October 2022, it was announced that Kelly Marcel would serve as director on the sequel (making it her directorial debut), in addition to writing and producing the film. Serkis subsequently stated that he couldn't return for the third film due to being busy with his upcoming adaptation of "Animal Farm", which had previously been delayed before he took on "Let There Be Carnage".


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Thomas William Hiddleston (born 9 February 1981) is an English actor. He gained international fame portraying Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), starting with "Thor" in 2011 and most recently in the Disney+ series "Loki" in 2021.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: He started his film career in the Joanna Hogg films "Unrelated" (2007) and "Archipelago" (2010). In 2011, Hiddleston portrayed F. Scott Fitzgerald in Woody Allen's romantic comedy "Midnight in Paris", and appeared in Steven Spielberg's "War Horse." That year, he won the Empire Award for Best Male Newcomer and was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award. He continued working with auteurs in independent films including Terence Davies' "The Deep Blue Sea" (2012), Jim Jarmusch's romantic vampire film "Only Lovers Left Alive" (2013) and Guillermo del Toro's "Crimson Peak" (2015). He also starred in Ben Wheatley's action film "High Rise," and played the troubled country music singer Hank Williams in the biopic "I Saw The Light". The film "" (2017) marked his first big-budget leading role outside the MCU.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Hiddleston made his stage debut in "Journey's End" in 1999. He continued acting in theatre including the West End productions of "Cymbeline" (2007) and "Ivanov" (2008). He won the Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play for his role in "Cymbeline" and was also nominated for the same award for his role as Cassio in "Othello" (2008). Hiddleston starred as the title character in a production of "Coriolanus" (2013–14), winning the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actor and receiving a nomination for the Olivier Award for Best Actor. He made his Broadway debut in a 2019 revival of Harold Pinter's classic drama "Betrayal", for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Hiddleston's also known for his performances in television including his part in the 2012 BBC series "The Hollow Crown"s "Henry IV" and "Henry V". Hiddleston starred in and executive-produced the AMC / BBC limited series "The Night Manager" (2016), for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and won his first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Thomas William Hiddleston was born on 9 February 1981 in the Westminster district of London, to Diana Patricia (née Servaes) Hiddleston, an arts administrator and former stage manager, and Dr. James Norman Hiddleston, a physical chemist and former managing director of a biotechnology company that liaised with Oxford University. His father is from Greenock, Scotland and his mother is from Suffolk. His younger sister, Emma, is also an actress, whilst his older sister, Sarah, is a journalist in India. Through his mother, he is a great-grandson of Vice Admiral Reginald Servaes and a great-great-grandson of food producer Sir Edmund Vestey. His paternal grandfather, Alexander, served in the Royal Artillery and worked as a plater in the shipyards. He shares the same name as his great-great uncle, Tom Hiddleston, a shipyard plater from Greenock and a member of Royal Artillery's 51st (Highland) Division, who died after the Battle of the Somme and whose name is engraved in the Broomhill war memorial.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Hiddleston was raised in Wimbledon in his early years, and later moved to a village near Oxford. He began boarding at Windlesham House School at age seven, moving to the Dragon School in Oxford a year later. His parents divorced when he was twelve. Regarding his parents' divorce, he said, "I like to think it made me more compassionate in my understanding of human frailty."


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: At age thirteen, Hiddleston started at Eton College, again as a boarder. He continued on to Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge, where he earned a double first in Classics. During his second term at Cambridge, he was seen in a production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" by talent agent Lorraine Hamilton of Hamilton Hodell. He proceeded to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 2005.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: While still doing student plays, Hiddleston began appearing on television, landing parts in Stephen Whittaker's adaptation of "Nicholas Nickleby" (2001) for ITV, the BBC/HBO co-production "Conspiracy" (2001), and as Randolph Churchill, the son of Winston Churchill, in the BBC/HBO drama "The Gathering Storm" (2002).


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Upon graduating from RADA, Hiddleston was cast in his first film role, playing Oakley in Joanna Hogg's first feature film, "Unrelated" (2006). His sister Emma also appeared in the film as Badge. Casting director, Lucy Bevan, who cast him in the film said "there was just a fantastic confidence about him". Hiddleston had leading roles in Declan Donnellan's company Cheek by Jowl's productions "The Changeling" (2006), and "Cymbeline" (2007). For the latter he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play. His Donmar Warehouse credits include Cassio in Michael Grandage's production of Shakespeare's "Othello" (2008) alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor, and Lvov in the West End revival of Chekhov's "Ivanov" (2008) with Kenneth Branagh.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Hiddleston was the voiceover for BBC's documentary on the "Galapagos Island" in 2006. He also narrated the audiobook "The Red Necklace" by Sally Gardner in 2007, Hiddleston played the leading role of Edward in Hogg's second feature, "Archipelago" (2010). His TV credits include Magnus Martinsson in the BBC detective drama "Wallander" (2008), Bill Hazledine in "Suburban Shootout" (2006), John Plumptre in the BBC costume drama TV film "Miss Austen Regrets" (2008) and William Buxton in the BBC drama series "Return to Cranford" (2009). In 2007, he joined a list of British actors, including Kate Winslet and Orlando Bloom, to have guest starred in the long-running medical drama "Casualty".


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Hiddleston is well-known for his portrayal of Loki in the 2011 Marvel Studios film "Thor". He was invited to audition by Kenneth Branagh, the film's director, after having previously worked with Branagh on "Ivanov" and "Wallander". Hiddleston said of Branagh, "Ken has had a life-changing effect. He was able to say to the executives, 'Trust me on this, you can cast Tom and he will deliver'. It was massive and it's completely changed the course of what is available to me to do. Ken gave me my break." He originally auditioned for the role of Thor, recalling, "That was what I was being considered for, because I'm tall and blonde and classically trained, and that seemed to be the mold for what Thor was, he was to be a classical character. And it was in my auditions. I owe this entirely to Marvel and their open-mindedness, they saw something that they thought was interesting. They saw some temperament that they liked." Hiddleston was given six weeks to bulk up, so he went on a strict diet and gained twenty pounds of muscle. Branagh ultimately decided he was more suitable as the antagonist and cast him as Loki. "Empire" magazine ranked Hiddleston's portrayal of Loki as the 19th Greatest Movie Character of All Time.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: In November 2010, Hiddleston appeared with Benedict Cumberbatch, Gemma Arterton, Eddie Redmayne and Rose Byrne among others in Danny Boyle's one time production of "The Children's Monologues", in which he played Prudence, a young girl upset with her mother for her father leaving and excited for her birthday. The play was a one time event of adapted stories of children's first-hand experiences in South Africa being re-interpreted by and performed by various actors.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: In 2011, Hiddleston portrayed novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald in writer-director Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris". He then played the noble Captain Nicholls in "War Horse", a film based on the 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo, directed by Steven Spielberg. The same year he starred as Freddie Page, a RAF pilot in the drama "The Deep Blue Sea", alongside Rachel Weisz. In 2012, he reprised his role as the supervillain Loki in "The Avengers". While filming a scene with Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor, the film's director, Joss Whedon told the fighting duo that the scene did not look real enough, so Hiddleston told Hemsworth to really hit him for the fight scene. "I said to Chris, 'Dude, just hit me. Just hit me because I'm protected here and it's fine.' He's like, 'Are you sure?' I was like, 'Yeah, it will look great. Just go for it.'" He provided the voiceover "the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead" in 2011 and poetry for "iF Poems" and "The Love Book" on iTunes in 2012.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: On television in 2012, Hiddleston appeared in the BBC Two series "The Hollow Crown", portraying Prince Hal opposite Jeremy Irons as Henry IV in the adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Part I" and "Part II". He later appeared as King Henry V in the television film "Henry V". In 2013, Hiddleston played Loki again in "", following which he played a vampire in Jim Jarmusch's film "Only Lovers Left Alive" with Tilda Swinton and Mia Wasikowska.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: From December 2013 to February 2014, Hiddleston played the title character in William Shakespeare's "Coriolanus" at the Donmar Warehouse in Covent Garden directed by Josie Rourke. It was also aired live internationally on 30 January 2014. David Benedict of "Variety" praised a "scorching" performance. He had a cameo in the 2014 film "Muppets Most Wanted", as the Great Escapo.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Hiddleston replaced Benedict Cumberbatch in the gothic horror film "Crimson Peak", directed by Guillermo del Toro. The film started filming in Toronto in February 2014, and was released in October 2015. He starred as Robert Laing in "High-Rise" (2015), based on J. G. Ballard's novel of the same name and directed by Ben Wheatley.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: In January 2014, Hiddleston became a spokesperson for Jaguar Cars in their "Good to be Bad" ad campaign featuring British actors in villain-themed commercials to promote Jaguar's new models. The first commercial of the campaign, titled "Rendezvous", first aired during the 2014 Super Bowl and featured Hiddleston along with Mark Strong and Ben Kingsley. Hiddleston starred in another commercial in the campaign, titled "The Art of Villainy" in April of the same year. It was released on YouTube, promoting the F-Type coupe.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: It was announced in June 2014 that Hiddleston would portray country music singer Hank Williams in the 2015 biopic "I Saw the Light", based on the 1994 biography. The film was directed by Marc Abraham, and was first shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released on 25 March 2016, by Sony Pictures Classics. While the film wasn't well-received, Hiddleston's performance was widely praised by critics. Stephanie Zacharek of "Time" magazine called him "magnificent" adding that "he honors Williams' greatness but also wriggles beyond it."


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Hiddleston was one of the narrators in the 2015 documentary "Unity" directed by Shaun Monson. He appeared as Jonathan Pine in the 2016 television mini-series "The Night Manager" based on the espionage and detective novel of the same name by John le Carré. The series started filming in Spring 2015 and aired on BBC and AMC with Hugh Laurie also starring. Ben Travers of IndieWire noted that he carried the role of Pine from start to finish, "with an admirable determination and aptly unbreakable constitution." For his performance in the series he was nominated for several awards, including two Primetime Emmy Awards and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: In early 2017, Hiddleston expressed his will to take a long break from work, and his desire to work again in theater. Later the same year, he starred in Legendary Pictures' King Kong film, "". Released on 10 March, and directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, the film was a commercial success, earning over $566 million worldwide and received generally positive reviews. In September 2017, he played the title character in a limited run of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet" directed by Kenneth Branagh. The production ran for three weeks at a 160-seat theater, with the tickets given out by lottery system to raise money for RADA. Michael Billington of "The Guardian" called his performance "a compelling Hamlet with a genuine nobility of soul." Ann Treneman of "The Times" praised his performance writing that he made the role "completely his own, emotional, magnetic, canny, often frolicsome" and that is "a shame is that so few will see his HiddleHamlet."


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: He reprised the role of Loki in "", released on 3 November 2017, and also appeared in "" (2018) and "" (2019). All three films were well-received with "Endgame" grossing over $2 billion worldwide to rank as the highest-grossing film of all time. He voiced the villain in Nick Park's animated film "Early Man" which was released in early 2018. Later that year he appeared in the short film "Leading Lady Parts" in support of the Time's Up initiative alongside Emilia Clarke, Felicity Jones and Florence Pugh. In 2019, he starred as Robert from 5 March to 8 June in a revival of Harold Pinter's "Betrayal" at the Harold Pinter Theatre, directed by Jamie Lloyd. The play premiered to positive reviews and succeeded to have a sold-out West End run, with Henry Hitchings of the "Evening Standard" finding him to be "irresistibly magnetic" with an impressive "poise and sensitivity" in his part. In August 2019, he made his Broadway debut reprising the role of Robert in "Betrayal", as the production transferred to Broadway for a 17-week limited engagement at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Reviewing the Broadway staging in "Variety", Marilyn Stasio called Hiddleston's performance "a striking physical, as well as an emotionally complicated one." He received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination for it.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Hiddleston narrated "Earth At Night In Color," an American nature documentary television series created by Offspring Films. The series premiered on 4 December 2020 on Apple TV+, with a second season premiering on 16 April 2021. Initially announced in November 2018, Hiddleston reprised his role as Loki in "Loki" which premiered on Disney+ in June 2021. The primarily Norwegian-language song "Very Full" he sings in the third episode "of Loki" debuted at number ten on the "Billboard" World Digital Song Sales. "Loki" received generally favorable reviews, and on 14 July 2021 was officially renewed for a second season. Michael Idato, reviewing for The Sydney Morning Herald concluded that "Hiddleston’s performance as Loki has always been defined by its humour as much as its pathos. Both seem to be on display in equal measure in "Loki."" "TVLine" named him ""Performer of the Week"" after first season ended, stating that "Hiddleston had to bring back a greedier, more insolent version of the God of Mischief, while also softening him enough. It was a delicate balance for the actor, and one he struck beautifully."


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: In March 2021, it was announced that Hiddleston had joined the cast of the Apple TV+ drama series "The Essex Serpent", based on the novel of the same name, by Sarah Perry. He played the role of Reverend Will Ransome opposite Cora Seaborne, played by Claire Danes. The series premiered on May 13, 2022. In August 2021, he voiced Loki in the animated series "What If...?".


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: In February 2020, it was announced that he is set to star in Netflix political thriller series "White Stork". Hiddleston is in talks to reprise his role in a second series of "The Night Manager". He is attached to star in a Ben Wheatley's adaptation of Frank Miller's comic book mini-series "Hard Boiled" produced by Warner Bros and in a James Ivory's adaptation of Shakespeare's "Richard II" as the eponymous character.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: In April 2022 it was announced that he will be starring in and executive producing the Apple TV+ limited series "The White Darkness".


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: One of the most high-profile actors in contemporary British popular culture, Hiddleston appeared on Debrett's 2017 list of the most influential people in the United Kingdom. In 2015, he was named the British Film Institute's first official founding ambassador. In 2016, Hiddleston was awarded the male Rear of the Year title, a light-hearted accolade that recognises British celebrities who are found to have a notable posterior. He has been named most stylish/best dressed man in several listings. Taffy Brodesser-Akner of "GQ" describes his off-screen persona as "a sweet-natured bookworm given the face and body of the only man who should ever be allowed to wear a suit". His "Crimson Peak" director Guillermo del Toro and the comic book writer Stan Lee have called him "the nicest guy on earth/you'll ever meet" with del Toro adding that he breaks the usual barrier of being either nice or good-looking.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Kenneth Branagh noted that the first time he ever saw Hiddleston, playing Cassio in "Othello", it was quite clear to him that he was an utterly naturalistic speaker of Shakespeare. Michael Billington of "The Guardian" wrote that Hiddleston's key acting quality is "his ability to combine a sweet sadness with an incandescent fury, suggesting a fierce intellect gnawed by intense melancholy and yet subjecting to bouts of intemperate rage." Charles McNulty of the "Los Angeles Times" describes Hiddleston as "an actor of uncommon intelligence and Pre-Raphaelite beauty." Hiddleston spent nearly five weeks preparing for the role of Hank Williams, performing seven of the film's soundtrack songs. He claims that method acting is not easy for him because it does not help him as a collaborator. "The Daily Telegraph"s Dominic Cavendish suggested that Hiddleston "has got the theatrical acting chops to head up there among the greats", while "The Independent"s Paul Taylor remarked that "his range is beginning to look pretty limitless". David Fear of "Rolling Stone" opined that there are two sides to Hiddleston, the old-school movie star of "Midnight in Paris", "War Horse" or "The Night Manager", and the "unpredictable, borderline weirdo version" of him seen in characters like Loki or in "High-Rise", adding that Hiddleston refuses to settle on one specific kind of role.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: Hiddleston dated English actress Susannah Fielding from 2008 to 2011 after they met while filming an episode of "Wallander" which Hiddleston was a series regular on. In 2016, Hiddleston briefly dated American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: In March 2022, it was announced that Hiddleston is engaged to English actress and writer Zawe Ashton, whom he starred with in the 2019 West End and Broadway play "Betrayal". In June 2022, it was announced that they are expecting their first child.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: He has donated items for auction and has supported several charities, including the Small Steps Project, Starlight Children's Foundation, Cure EB, Comic Relief, Red Nose Day USA, Thomas Coram Foundation for Children, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Amnesty International and Chance to Shine.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: He is a UK ambassador of the humanitarian and developmental assistance fund group UNICEF. He travelled to Guinea in early 2013 to raise awareness about hunger and malnutrition, and to South Sudan in early 2015 and late 2016 to report the results of the ongoing civil war on the lives of vast numbers of children across the country. Hiddleston identifies as a feminist. In February 2018, he was named one of the donators by "Justice and Equality Fund", the UK version of the Time's Up initiative. He is also an ambassador of the "Illuminating BAFTA" campaign, an action which aims to provide opportunities to those who otherwise would not have been given a chance in the film, games and television industries.


title: Tom Hiddleston

text: According to Rotten Tomatoes and Box Office Mojo, Hiddleston's most critically acclaimed and commercially successful films are "Unrelated" (2007), "Archipelago" (2010), "Thor" (2011), "Midnight in Paris" (2011), "The Avengers" (2012), "Only Lovers Left Alive" (2013), "" (2017), "" (2017), "" (2018), and "" (2019).


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that last from days to weeks each. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with psychosis, it is called mania; if it is less severe, it is called hypomania. During mania, an individual behaves or feels abnormally energetic, happy or irritable, and they often make impulsive decisions with little regard for the consequences. There is usually also a reduced need for sleep during manic phases. During periods of depression, the individual may experience crying and have a negative outlook on life and poor eye contact with others. The risk of suicide is high; over a period of 20 years, 6% of those with bipolar disorder died by suicide, while 30–40% engaged in self-harm. Other mental health issues, such as anxiety disorders and substance use disorders, are commonly associated with bipolar disorder.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: While the causes of this mood disorder are not clearly understood, both genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a role. Many genes, each with small effects, may contribute to the development of the disorder. Genetic factors account for about 70–90% of the risk of developing bipolar disorder. Environmental risk factors include a history of childhood abuse and long-term stress. The condition is classified as bipolar I disorder if there has been at least one manic episode, with or without depressive episodes, and as bipolar II disorder if there has been at least one hypomanic episode (but no full manic episodes) and one major depressive episode. It is classified as Cyclothymia if there are hypomanic episodes with periods of depression that do not meet the criteria for major depressive episodes.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: If these symptoms are due to drugs or medical problems, they are not diagnosed as bipolar disorder. Other conditions that have overlapping symptoms with bipolar disorder include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, personality disorders, schizophrenia, and substance use disorder as well as many other medical conditions. Medical testing is not required for a diagnosis, though blood tests or medical imaging can rule out other problems.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Mood stabilizers—lithium and certain anticonvulsants such as valproate and carbamazepine as well as atypical antipsychotics such as aripiprazole—are the mainstay of long-term pharmacologic relapse prevention. Antipsychotics are additionally given during acute manic episodes as well as in cases where mood stabilizers are poorly tolerated or ineffective. In patients where compliance is of concern, long-acting injectable formulations are available. There is some evidence that psychotherapy improves the course of this disorder. The use of antidepressants in depressive episodes is controversial: they can be effective but have been implicated in triggering manic episodes. The treatment of depressive episodes, therefore, is often difficult. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is effective in acute manic and depressive episodes, especially with psychosis or catatonia. Admission to a psychiatric hospital may be required if a person is a risk to themselves or others; involuntary treatment is sometimes necessary if the affected person refuses treatment.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Bipolar disorder occurs in approximately 1% of the global population. In the United States, about 3% are estimated to be affected at some point in their life; rates appear to be similar in females and males. Symptoms most commonly begin between the ages of 20 and 25 years old; an earlier onset in life is associated with a worse prognosis. Interest in functioning in the assessment of patients with bipolar disorder is growing, with an emphasis on specific domains such as work, education, social life, family, and cognition. Around one-quarter to one-third of people with bipolar disorder have financial, social or work-related problems due to the illness. Bipolar disorder is among the top 20 causes of disability worldwide and leads to substantial costs for society. Due to lifestyle choices and the side effects of medications, the risk of death from natural causes such as coronary heart disease in people with bipolar disorder is twice that of the general population.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Late adolescence and early adulthood are peak years for the onset of bipolar disorder. The condition is characterized by intermittent episodes of mania and/or depression, with an absence of symptoms in between. During these episodes, people with bipolar disorder exhibit disruptions in normal mood, psychomotor activity (the level of physical activity that is influenced by mood)—e.g. constant fidgeting during mania or slowed movements during depression—circadian rhythm and cognition. Mania can present with varying levels of mood disturbance, ranging from euphoria, which is associated with "classic mania", to dysphoria and irritability. Psychotic symptoms such as delusions or hallucinations may occur in both manic and depressive episodes; their content and nature are consistent with the person's prevailing mood.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: According to the DSM-5 criteria, mania is distinguished from hypomania by the duration: hypomania is present if elevated mood symptoms persist for at least four consecutive days, while mania is present if such symptoms persist for more than a week. Unlike mania, hypomania is not always associated with impaired functioning. The biological mechanisms responsible for switching from a manic or hypomanic episode to a depressive episode, or vice versa, remain poorly understood.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Also known as a manic episode, mania is a distinct period of at least one week of elevated or irritable mood, which can range from euphoria to delirium. The core symptom of mania involves an increase in energy of psychomotor activity. Mania can also present with increased self-esteem or grandiosity, racing thoughts, pressured speech that is difficult to interrupt, decreased need for sleep, disinhibited social behavior, increased goal-oriented activities and impaired judgement, which can lead to exhibition of behaviors characterized as impulsive or high-risk, such as hypersexuality or excessive spending. To fit the definition of a manic episode, these behaviors must impair the individual's ability to socialize or work. If untreated, a manic episode usually lasts three to six months.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: In severe manic episodes, a person can experience psychotic symptoms, where thought content is affected along with mood. They may feel unstoppable, or as if they have a special relationship with God, a great mission to accomplish, or other grandiose or delusional ideas. This may lead to violent behavior and, sometimes, hospitalization in an inpatient psychiatric hospital. The severity of manic symptoms can be measured by rating scales such as the Young Mania Rating Scale, though questions remain about the reliability of these scales.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: The onset of a manic or depressive episode is often foreshadowed by sleep disturbance. Manic individuals often have a history of substance use disorder developed over years as a form of "self-medication".


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Hypomania is the milder form of mania, defined as at least four days of the same criteria as mania, but which does not cause a significant decrease in the individual's ability to socialize or work, lacks psychotic features such as delusions or hallucinations, and does not require psychiatric hospitalization. Overall functioning may actually increase during episodes of hypomania and is thought to serve as a defense mechanism against depression by some. Hypomanic episodes rarely progress to full-blown manic episodes. Some people who experience hypomania show increased creativity, while others are irritable or demonstrate poor judgment.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Hypomania may feel good to some individuals who experience it, though most people who experience hypomania state that the stress of the experience is very painful. People with bipolar disorder who experience hypomania tend to forget the effects of their actions on those around them. Even when family and friends recognize mood swings, the individual will often deny that anything is wrong. If not accompanied by depressive episodes, hypomanic episodes are often not deemed problematic unless the mood changes are uncontrollable or volatile. Most commonly, symptoms continue for time periods from a few weeks to a few months.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Symptoms of the depressive phase of bipolar disorder include persistent feelings of sadness, irritability or anger, loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities, excessive or inappropriate guilt, hopelessness, sleeping too much or not enough, changes in appetite and/or weight, fatigue, problems concentrating, self-loathing or feelings of worthlessness, and thoughts of death or suicide. Although the DSM-5 criteria for diagnosing unipolar and bipolar episodes are the same, some clinical features are more common in the latter, including increased sleep, sudden onset and resolution of symptoms, significant weight gain or loss, and severe episodes after childbirth.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: The earlier the age of onset, the more likely the first few episodes are to be depressive. For most people with bipolar types 1 and 2, the depressive episodes are much longer than the manic or hypomanic episodes. Since a diagnosis of bipolar disorder requires a manic or hypomanic episode, many affected individuals are initially misdiagnosed as having major depression and incorrectly treated with prescribed antidepressants.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: In bipolar disorder, a mixed state is an episode during which symptoms of both mania and depression occur simultaneously. Individuals experiencing a mixed state may have manic symptoms such as grandiose thoughts while simultaneously experiencing depressive symptoms such as excessive guilt or feeling suicidal. They are considered to have a higher risk for suicidal behavior as depressive emotions such as hopelessness are often paired with mood swings or difficulties with impulse control. Anxiety disorders occur more frequently as a comorbidity in mixed bipolar episodes than in non-mixed bipolar depression or mania. Substance (including alcohol) use also follows this trend, thereby appearing to depict bipolar symptoms as no more than a consequence of substance use.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: People with bipolar disorder often have other co-existing psychiatric conditions such as anxiety (present in about 71% of people with bipolar disorder), substance abuse (56%), personality disorders (36%) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (10–20%) which can add to the burden of illness and worsen the prognosis. Certain medical conditions are also more common in people with bipolar disorder as compared to the general population. This includes increased rates of metabolic syndrome (present in 37% of people with bipolar disorder), migraine headaches (35%), obesity (21%) and type 2 diabetes (14%). This contributes to a risk of death that is two times higher in those with bipolar disorder as compared to the general population.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Substance use disorder is a common comorbidity in bipolar disorder; the subject has been widely reviewed.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: The causes of bipolar disorder likely vary between individuals and the exact mechanism underlying the disorder remains unclear. Genetic influences are believed to account for 73–93% of the risk of developing the disorder indicating a strong hereditary component. The overall heritability of the bipolar spectrum has been estimated at 0.71. Twin studies have been limited by relatively small sample sizes but have indicated a substantial genetic contribution, as well as environmental influence. For bipolar I disorder, the rate at which identical twins (same genes) will both have bipolar I disorder (concordance) is around 40%, compared to about 5% in fraternal twins. A combination of bipolar I, II, and cyclothymia similarly produced rates of 42% and 11% (identical and fraternal twins, respectively). The rates of bipolar II combinations without bipolar I are lowerbipolar II at 23 and 17%, and bipolar II combining with cyclothymia at 33 and 14%which may reflect relatively higher genetic heterogeneity.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: The cause of bipolar disorders overlaps with major depressive disorder. When defining concordance as the co-twins having either bipolar disorder or major depression, then the concordance rate rises to 67% in identical twins and 19% in fraternal twins. The relatively low concordance between fraternal twins brought up together suggests that shared family environmental effects are limited, although the ability to detect them has been limited by small sample sizes.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Behavioral genetic studies have suggested that many chromosomal regions and candidate genes are related to bipolar disorder susceptibility with each gene exerting a mild to moderate effect. The risk of bipolar disorder is nearly ten-fold higher in first-degree relatives of those with bipolar disorder than in the general population; similarly, the risk of major depressive disorder is three times higher in relatives of those with bipolar disorder than in the general population.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Although the first genetic linkage finding for mania was in 1969, linkage studies have been inconsistent. Findings point strongly to heterogeneity, with different genes implicated in different families. Robust and replicable genome-wide significant associations showed several common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with bipolar disorder, including variants within the genes "CACNA1C", "ODZ4", and "NCAN". The largest and most recent genome-wide association study failed to find any locus that exerts a large effect, reinforcing the idea that no single gene is responsible for bipolar disorder in most cases. Polymorphisms in "BDNF", "DRD4", "DAO", and "TPH1" have been frequently associated with bipolar disorder and were initially associated in a meta-analysis, but this association disappeared after correction for multiple testing. On the other hand, two polymorphisms in "TPH2" were identified as being associated with bipolar disorder.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Due to the inconsistent findings in a genome-wide association study, multiple studies have undertaken the approach of analyzing SNPs in biological pathways. Signaling pathways traditionally associated with bipolar disorder that have been supported by these studies include corticotropin-releasing hormone signaling, cardiac β-adrenergic signaling, Phospholipase C signaling, glutamate receptor signaling, cardiac hypertrophy signaling, Wnt signaling, Notch signaling, and endothelin 1 signaling. Of the 16 genes identified in these pathways, three were found to be dysregulated in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex portion of the brain in post-mortem studies: "CACNA1C", "GNG2", and "ITPR2".


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Bipolar disorder is associated with reduced expression of specific DNA repair enzymes and increased levels of oxidative DNA damages.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Psychosocial factors play a significant role in the development and course of bipolar disorder, and individual psychosocial variables may interact with genetic dispositions. Recent life events and interpersonal relationships likely contribute to the onset and recurrence of bipolar mood episodes, just as they do for unipolar depression. In surveys, 30–50% of adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder report traumatic/abusive experiences in childhood, which is associated with earlier onset, a higher rate of suicide attempts, and more co-occurring disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder. The number of reported stressful events in childhood is higher in those with an adult diagnosis of bipolar spectrum disorder than in those without, particularly events stemming from a harsh environment rather than from the child's own behavior. Acutely, mania can be induced by sleep deprivation in around 30% of people with bipolar disorder.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Less commonly, bipolar disorder or a bipolar-like disorder may occur as a result of or in association with a neurological condition or injury including stroke, traumatic brain injury, HIV infection, multiple sclerosis, porphyria, and rarely temporal lobe epilepsy.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: The precise mechanisms that cause bipolar disorder are not well understood. Bipolar disorder is thought to be associated with abnormalities in the structure and function of certain brain areas responsible for cognitive tasks and the processing of emotions. A neurologic model for bipolar disorder proposes that the emotional circuitry of the brain can be divided into two main parts. The ventral system (regulates emotional perception) includes brain structures such as the amygdala, insula, ventral striatum, ventral anterior cingulate cortex, and the prefrontal cortex. The dorsal system (responsible for emotional regulation) includes the hippocampus, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and other parts of the prefrontal cortex. The model hypothesizes that bipolar disorder may occur when the ventral system is overactivated and the dorsal system is underactivated. Other models suggest the ability to regulate emotions is disrupted in people with bipolar disorder and that dysfunction of the ventricular prefrontal cortex (vPFC) is crucial to this disruption.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Meta-analyses of structural MRI studies have shown that certain brain regions (e.g., the left rostral anterior cingulate cortex, fronto-insular cortex, ventral prefrontal cortex, and claustrum) are smaller in people with bipolar disorder, whereas other regions are larger (lateral ventricles, globus pallidus, subgenual anterior cingulate, and the amygdala). Additionally, these meta-analyses found that people with bipolar disorder have higher rates of deep white matter hyperintensities.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Functional MRI findings suggest that the vPFC regulates the limbic system, especially the amygdala. In people with bipolar disorder, decreased vPFC activity allows for the dysregulated activity of the amygdala, which likely contributes to labile mood and poor emotional regulation. Consistent with this, pharmacological treatment of mania returns vPFC activity to the levels in non-manic people, suggesting that vPFC activity is an indicator of mood state. However, while pharmacological treatment of mania reduces amygdala hyperactivity, it remains more active than the amygdala of those without bipolar disorder, suggesting amygdala activity may be a marker of the disorder rather than the current mood state. Manic and depressive episodes tend to be characterized by dysfunction in different regions of the vPFC. Manic episodes appear to be associated with decreased activation of the right vPFC whereas depressive episodes are associated with decreased activation of the left vPFC. These disruptions often occur during development linked with synaptic pruning dysfunction.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: People with bipolar disorder who are in a euthymic mood state show decreased activity in the lingual gyrus compared to people without bipolar disorder. In contrast, they demonstrate decreased activity in the inferior frontal cortex during manic episodes compared to people without the disorder. Similar studies examining the differences in brain activity between people with bipolar disorder and those without did not find a consistent area in the brain that was more or less active when comparing these two groups. People with bipolar have increased activation of left hemisphere ventral limbic areaswhich mediate emotional experiences and generation of emotional responsesand decreased activation of right hemisphere cortical structures related to cognitionstructures associated with the regulation of emotions.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Neuroscientists have proposed additional models to try to explain the cause of bipolar disorder. One proposed model for bipolar disorder suggests that hypersensitivity of reward circuits consisting of frontostriatal circuits causes mania, and decreased sensitivity of these circuits causes depression. According to the "kindling" hypothesis, when people who are genetically predisposed toward bipolar disorder experience stressful events, the stress threshold at which mood changes occur becomes progressively lower, until the episodes eventually start (and recur) spontaneously. There is evidence supporting an association between early-life stress and dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis leading to its overactivation, which may play a role in the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder. Other brain components that have been proposed to play a role in bipolar disorder are the mitochondria and a sodium ATPase pump. Circadian rhythms and regulation of the hormone melatonin also seem to be altered.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for mood cycling, has increased transmission during the manic phase. The dopamine hypothesis states that the increase in dopamine results in secondary homeostatic downregulation of key system elements and receptors such as lower sensitivity of dopaminergic receptors. This results in decreased dopamine transmission characteristic of the depressive phase. The depressive phase ends with homeostatic upregulation potentially restarting the cycle over again. Glutamate is significantly increased within the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during the manic phase of bipolar disorder, and returns to normal levels once the phase is over.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Medications used to treat bipolar may exert their effect by modulating intracellular signaling, such as through depleting myo-inositol levels, inhibition of cAMP signaling, and through altering subunits of the dopamine-associated G-protein. Consistent with this, elevated levels of G, G, and G have been reported in brain and blood samples, along with increased protein kinase A (PKA) expression and sensitivity; typically, PKA activates as part of the intracellular signalling cascade downstream from the detachment of G subunit from the G protein complex.


title: Bipolar disorder

text: Decreased levels of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, a byproduct of serotonin, are present in the cerebrospinal fluid of persons with bipolar disorder during both the depressed and manic phases. Increased dopaminergic activity has been hypothesized in manic states due to the ability of dopamine agonists to stimulate mania in people with bipolar disorder. Decreased sensitivity of regulatory α adrenergic receptors as well as increased cell counts in the locus coeruleus indicated increased noradrenergic activity in manic people. Low plasma GABA levels on both sides of the mood spectrum have been found. One review found no difference in monoamine levels, but found abnormal norepinephrine turnover in people with bipolar disorder. Tyrosine depletion was found to reduce the effects of methamphetamine in people with bipolar disorder as well as symptoms of mania, implicating dopamine in mania. VMAT2 binding was found to be increased in one study of people with bipolar mania.