Mila Kunis was born in Chernivtsi in what is now Ukraine but in 1983, the year of her birth, was a part of the USSR.
Kunis' family is Jewish and was lucky enough to win an immigration lottery to the U.S. when Mila was 7 years old. They wanted to leave the USSR because of antisemitism and the USSR's policy of suppressing religious beliefs of any kind in favor of a kind of "cult of the state." They were, much like America's first European settlers, seeking religious freedom.[1]
Kunis admits that her religious training sort of died off once her family made it to the U.S., but still identifies herself strongly with Judaism, saying:
I'm pretty Jewish I gotta say. I was never raised Jewish but all my friends are and I have the quirks of a Jewish person. I go 'oy' and people are like 'oh you're very Jewish'. And when I'm in New York, I become super-Jew. All of a sudden I talk like a Jew from Long Island out of nowhere. Once in my New York, I'm super Jewish. I'm in L.A. and I'm like a California surfer girl.[2]
She's a Hollywood American now
For being such a notoriously private person,[3] Kunis hasn't shied away from discussing her political views. She'll go on and on and on…
Kunis is a stalwart Obama supporter. She has said:
I love Barack Obama. I voted for him and I will forever be proud of my vote, so I can't say anything bad against him.[4]
She went on a very long public diatribe about debt negotiations, basically defending Obama for his willingness to "compromise" and condemning Republicans and the Tea Party for their hard-line, no compromise attitude towards American federal government finances.[5]
While much of what she said really didn't make sense, it is amazing that a rich Hollywood girl was even aware of the debt negotiation issue and, in her defense, that was a ridiculous mess, but both Republicans and Democrats were to blame.
Kunis has urged her fans to become more politically aware, citing the fact that access to information is easy and available. Really, urged is an understatement. She basically called a lot of people stupid for not informing themselves, saying:
They don't read books, they don't read the paper, they don't read the news. So obviously you are incredibly ill-informed to the point where they will go do these tests in Middle America… And they'll ask, 'OK, what party are you?' And they'll say, 'Republican'. 'Why?' And they can't even tell you. They have no idea what the Republican Party stands for.[6]
As incredibly offensive as that may seem, she's not necessarily wrong…
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