Izabella Miko

Date of Birth	21 January 1981 , Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland
Birth Name	Izabella Anna Mikolajczak
Height	5' 5" (1.65 m)

Biography

Born in what was then Communist Poland in January 1981 to accomplished thespian parents, Grazyna Dylag and Aleksander Mikolajczak, Izabella Miko could dance before she could walk. She began to pursue her dream career as a ballerina as soon as it was available to her at the age of 10. Izabella was accepted at the National Ballet School in Warsaw and, though her teachers were concerned about what seemed to be some flexibility limitations of her body from the start, Izabella was determined to realize her dream. She would simply need to train harder and longer than the other dancers, and so she did. She became accomplished so quickly that at the age of 15 she was recruited to come to New York on full scholarship and study at the School of American Ballet. Izabella was on her way to the NYC Ballet and the spotlight of her dreams. However, her body could no longer withstand the rigors of a seven-day a week ballet-training schedule, and in 1997 she suffered from vertebrae, knee and ankle injuries - in a blink, her career as a ballet dancer was over.

She found herself 17 years old and wondering what career she would ever find that would fulfill her soul the same way dance did. It didn't take long for destiny to reveal its new and improved plan for Izabella. While back in Warsaw and recovering, a casting director who was working with Izabella's parents asked if she would play a part in a TV movie, _Lithuania You're My Motherland (1997) (TV)_. She accepted, not knowing where else to turn. From the first moment in front of the cameras, Izabella was hooked. Her calling to act rang so loudly in her heart that it was unmistakable and made so much sense out of what was up until that moment a confusing disappointment.