Olivia Munn

Early life

Lisa Olivia Munn was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Her father, Winston Barrett Munn, is an American of English, Irish and German descent. Her mother, Kimberly Schmid, was born and raised in Vietnam, and is of Chinese descent. Her mother was a Vietnamese refugee who fled to Oklahoma in 1975 after the Vietnam War. After college, her mother married Winston. When Munn was two years old, her mother remarried to a member of the United States Air Force. Although the family relocated many times, Munn was predominantly raised on Yokota Air Base near Tachikawa in Tokyo, Japan, where her stepfather was stationed. During this time, she appeared in a number of local theater productions and later became a model in the Japanese fashion industry.

Her mother and stepfather divorced, and Munn moved back to Oklahoma, where she attended Putnam City North High School for her junior and senior years.

Munn attended the University of Oklahoma, majoring in journalism and minoring in Japanese and dramatic arts.

2004–2009: beginnings

After graduating, she became an intern at the NBC affiliate in Tulsa, and later moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. In 2004, Munn interned at Fox Sports Networks and worked as a sideline reporter for college football and women's basketball. She has gone on to say that she disliked the experience, explaining, "I was trying to be something I wasn't, and that made me really uncomfortable on live TV." Soon after she moved to Los Angeles, Munn was cast in a small role in the direct-to-video horror film Scarecrow Gone Wild. She appeared in rock band Zebrahead's music video for their song "Hello Tomorrow" as the love interest of the lead singer Justin Mauriello. Munn also appeared in National Lampoon's Strip Poker, which was filmed at Hedonism II, a naturist resort in Negril, Jamaica, with Kato Kaelin. The films aired on DirecTV and In Demand pay-per-view.

In late 2005, Munn began her role as teen surfer Mily Acuna over two seasons of the television drama Beyond the Break on The N network. She enjoys surfing and continues to practice the sport. She originally auditioned for the role of Kai Kealoha, but the producers wanted a "local girl". She also appeared in the film The Road to Canyon Lake.

In 2006, Munn moved on to the G4 network, where she began co-hosting Attack of the Show! with Kevin Pereira on April 10. She replaced departing host Sarah Lane. The network, devoted to the world of video games and the video game lifestyle, was at first hesitant to hire Munn. Although she admits video games were her "weak point," she was confident in her technical knowledge. On the show, Munn was featured with journalist Anna David in a segment called "In Your Pants," which deals with sex and relationship questions from viewers. While working on Attack of the Show!, Munn hosted Formula D, a now defunct program about American drift racing, and an online podcast called Around the Net, formerly known as The Daily Nut, for G4. Munn left Attack of the Show! in December 2010 and was replaced by Candace Bailey. Munn appeared in the Rob Schneider film Big Stan (2007). She played Schneider's character's receptionist Maria. Munn had a significant role in the horror film Insanitarium in which she played a nurse at an insane asylum.

2010–present: breakthrough

She had roles in the films Date Night (2010) and Iron Man 2 (2010). Robert Downey, Jr. praised Munn for her improvisation skills and led the crew in a round of applause. Munn hosted Microsoft's Bing-a-thon, an advertisement on Hulu for the Microsoft search-engine Bing, on June 8, 2009, alongside Jason Sudeikis. Munn appeared in ABC Family's Greek, portraying Cappie's love interest, Lana. In May 2010, NBC announced that Munn would star on the television series Perfect Couples. The half-hour romantic comedy premiered on January 20, 2011. The series was cancelled before it completed its first season run.

On June 3, 2010, Munn debuted in her new role as a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Her hiring prompted criticism from Irin Carmon of Jezebel, who questioned Munn's credentials and accused the show's production of sexism in hiring Munn, whom Carmon characterized as a sex symbol. Carmon saw Munn's hiring as a perpetuation of the show production office's history as a male-dominated atmosphere marginalizing and alienating to women. A group of thirty-two female Daily Show production staff members condemned Carmon's piece as inaccurate and misinformed, as did Munn herself in an interview, in which she stated that Carmon's assertion was an insult both to her and to the rest of the Daily Show staff. She went on to appear in 16 more episodes as a correspondent, with TV Guide naming her signature segment "Tiger Mothering," in which she mocked the high expectations of Chinese mothers, in part by interviewing her own mother. Her last episode as a correspondent aired September 2, 2011. She returned for a brief segment in host Jon Stewart's final show on August 6, 2015.

In 2010, Munn guest-starred on NBC's comedy-drama Chuck as a CIA agent. In 2011, Munn appeared in the comedy film I Don't Know How She Does It (2011) as Momo. In 2012, Munn had a leading role in The Babymakers, a minor role in Freeloaders, and appeared in Magic Mike, directed by Steven Soderbergh. She played Sloan Sabbith on HBO's drama series The Newsroom. She also appeared as Angie, Nick's stripper girlfriend, in three episodes in Season Two of FOX's sitcom New Girl.

Munn served as a correspondent in "True Colors," the May 12, 2014 episode of the Showtime Documentary series Years of Living Dangerously, in which she interviewed Washington State Governor Jay Inslee about his efforts to reduce CO₂ emissions in his home state. As of June 2014, Munn has been hired as the main promoter of Proactiv acne cleanser products starring in several commercials and one infomercial for the product. The commercials show Munn experiencing acne herself. Since January 2015, she has been the voice of the character Phoebe Callisto on the Disney Junior animated series Miles from Tomorrowland. In 2016, Munn was cast as Elizabeth Braddock / Psylocke (one of Apocalypse's Four Horsemen) in X-Men: Apocalypse and will reprise the role in 2018's X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

In print

Munn has booked modeling campaigns for Nike, Pepsi and Neutrogena. She appeared on the Fall 2006 cover of Foam magazine in September, in Men's Edge magazine in August, and was featured in a pictorial in Complex in November 2006, where she later became a columnist. In February 2007, she appeared as "Babe of the Month" in a non-nude pictorial in Playboy magazine. She discusses this shoot in her book Suck it, Wonder Woman.

Munn also appeared in the July/August 2007 issue of Men's Health. In September 2007, she was featured in the Italian Vanity Fair for their "Hot Young Hollywood" Issue. Munn appeared in the Winter/Spring 2009 issue of Men's Health Living. She was featured as the cover girl for the July/August 2009 issue of Playboy, and later on the cover of the January 2010 and February 2011 issues of Maxim. Munn appears on the cover of the January 2012 issue of FHM magazine. She was voted #2 by readers on Maxim's list of their Hot 100 Women of 2012.

Munn's book Suck It, Wonder Woman: The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek (ISBN 0-312-59105-5) was released on July 6, 2010. In a review for Time Out New York, Olivia Giovetti said that the book offers glimpses into Munn's life, but does not go into depth.

Charity work

In 2011, Munn teamed up with Dosomething.org's Green Your School Challenge. She was a spokesperson for the campaign by filming a PSA regarding the challenge, and sat on the panel of judges that evaluated the entries.

Munn helped PETA with a campaign that ultimately freed a sick elephant from a touring circus. Her blog for The Huffington Post was credited with encouraging fans to contact the USDA on the elephant's behalf. Munn posed for PETA's "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" campaign in April 2010, and again in January 2012. In February 2013, Munn fronted a PETA release of new footage showing cruelty to animals in Chinese fur farms.

Personal life

Munn was in a relationship with NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers from 2014 to 2017.

In regard to her faith and work in Deliver Us from Evil, Munn has stated that "I didn't believe in the supernatural before this movie." However, the viewing of footage from the New York Police Department of real-life exorcisms changed her mind, and she has stated that "I'm a full believer [now]."