In my defense, Mila seems to have not been entirely sure herself that she was cut out for the big screen when she took her first steps into the movie world. She got her gig on “That ’70s Show” at age 14 with a combination of talent and pure guts, telling the producers, who didn’t want anyone under 18 auditioning, that she was “going to be 18” but not specifying that it would take her four years to get there. By the time anyone figured out how old she was, she’d already stolen the role and made it her own.
But when it came to movies, Mila didn’t find her footing so easily. She made some truly embarrassing missteps, including American Psycho 2 with William Shatner (I’m sure it seemed like a brilliant idea at the time, but come on, Mila, that one had “straight to video” written all over it). She auditioned for some successful movies, like Knocked Up, but she couldn’t quite seem to land the right role.
Perhaps, the unexpected drudgery of an 8-year slog on the same television show was getting her down. She told Woman’s Health Magazine in September 2009 that, “Eight years of doing the same [show] felt like being behind a desk, and I lost my drive.” 
After the first few years of a so-so film career, Mila dropped out of the acting world for a while. But then she told Woman’s Health she “had an epiphany. I decided I wasn’t going to take [my career] so seriously and make my job who I am. I just want to be happy with my life.”
And it seems to have been that happiness that allowed Mila to go back to bowling people over with her natural timing, knowing smile and surprising sweetness. Her roles in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Black Swan and now Friends With Benefits are just the start of shaping her Jackie Burkhart persona into something not just new. Something refreshing. Something, dare we say it, grown up.
Mila Kunis will never be the girl next door, but she is becoming the girl who is more than she seems. The beauty queen who is smarter than she looks. The sharp edged girl who is sweeter than you think she is. It’s an intriguing persona, and it’s certainly not one of the usual Hollywood cookie cutters. But girlfriend is making it work.
And that, in a nutshell, is what we can learn from Mila. Her whole life, from learning to speak English and navigating American culture in the second grade, to demanding a role no one thought she was old enough for in “That ’70s Show,” to half-stealing Black Swan from Natalie Portman, Mila seems to make every challenge work for her, and she seems to be enjoying herself along the way.
