8 Hollywood stars whose grandmothers are from Russia: Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, etc

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

It's always nice to be happy for people who have made a successful career. And it is especially warm to realize that some of them have Russian roots. More than it is known about the actors who were born in our country. But what do you know about seemingly Native Americans who hardly remember the Russian language, but nevertheless are the direct descendants of emigrants from Russia? We dug a little into the pedigree of celebrities and now we are ready to tell you all their secrets.

Whoopi Goldberg

Do not be surprised - even though the granddaughter is not at all like her grandmother, nevertheless she is also the owner of Russian-Jewish roots. The actress and presenter herself told about this in an interview. It turns out that her grandmother lived in Odessa during the tsarist Russia, and then was forced to emigrate. Whoopi herself was born in New York and became a bearer of American culture. Nevertheless, in memory of her past ancestors, the actress decided to keep her surname.

Barbra Streisand

A girl with a non-standard appearance and a strong voice, born into a poor family, could not even imagine that she would become a world-class star. Anyone can envy her persistence in achieving the goal. So, maybe this purposefulness was inherited from her ancestors who lived in Russia? During her visit to Israel, Barbara received a presentation of her family roots. The Diaspora Museum, located in Tel Aviv, has collected data on the Jewish youth Isaac Moshe Streisand. It turns out that in January 1898, a 19-year-old boy went on a long journey to America, where his cousin was already living. In the customs declaration, he wrote that he lived in the town of Berezhany (now the Lviv region), and his nationality is Galician.

So Isaac became a US citizen and settled in New York. Several years later, he married Anna Keston. The grandmother of the future star was also from Tsarist Russia and was born in Galicia. The family of hardworking Jews did not live in poverty, but they did not glamor either: Isaac earned money by tailoring, and Anna worked as a cook. They had five children, the eldest of whom was Emmanuel and became the father of the singer.

Leonardo DiCaprio

The winner of the Oscar, a man with an Italian surname, who can hardly be suspected of having links with Russia, nevertheless has Russian roots. The Los Angeles-born American citizen has a rich ancestry. His father mixed German and Italian blood, but the actor's mother Irmelin Indenbirken was born in West Germany during the war. The actor's maternal grandmother had to go through a lot. At a young age, Elena Stepanovna Smirnova emigrated with her parents from Russia, engulfed in the October Revolution, then she married the German Wilhelm Indenbirken, but she had to give birth to a girl in the Or-Erkenshvik bomb shelter.

Ten years after the end of World War II, the family moved to the United States for permanent residence. The famous actor remembers his grandmother with warmth. She taught him a few Russian words, because, despite the fact that she left our country at the age of two, she spoke her native language perfectly. During DiCaprio's visit to our country, during a conversation with Putin, the actor also said that his grandfather also has Russian roots, so that he can even be considered half Russian.

Helen Mirren

The English actress respects her Slavic roots. Her father is a purebred Russian, born 300 km from Moscow, in the Smolensk region. He was born into a family of aristocrats and bore the surname Mironov. Helen's grandfather, Pyotr Vasilyevich Mironov, participated in the Russian-Japanese war, was awarded, and then became a diplomat. After the revolution, the family decided to emigrate, although until 1918 it remained the owner of a large land plot - local peasants were in no hurry to take land from loyal masters. About this, as well as about many difficulties that refugees had to face, the actress's grandfather told in his memoirs. The typewriter with the Russian font is still kept by the actress as a family heirloom. Subsequently, Helen managed to play the role of the wife of Count Leo Tolstoy.

During the star's visit to the Russian premiere of the film, she found documents in the museum that also mentioned her great-grandmother and great-great-grandfather, who were nee Counts Kamensky. But how did Alyonushka (that was how her grandfather liked to call her) became English Helen? The fact is that the actress's father went through a lot of troubles during the war and after it, so after the death of his grandfather, he urgently changed the names of all family members in accordance with the local transcription.

Steven Spielberg

The famous American director also turned out to be a descendant of our compatriots. Like many Jewish families, Stephen's ancestors moved from the raging passions of the Russian Empire to America in search of a calm and happy life. His paternal grandparents left the Ukrainian Kamenets-Podolsk, and his maternal relatives remained in Odessa. As a result, the future filmmaker was brought up in three cultural layers at once: Russian, Jewish and American traditions were revered in his family. His father, Arnold Spielberg, was an electrical engineer by profession and during the Cold War, he established communication with his family through radio waves. Of course, it was dangerous, but very exciting. Young Stephen found a friend in Russia, with whom he learned to communicate using Morse code.

Harrison Ford

A long time ago, in 1907, Anna Lifshits left her native Belarus and moved with her parents to the United States. She settled in a New York area called Brooklyn. Having matured a little, the girl married Harry Nidelman, who also turned out to be from a family of emigrants from Minsk. Well, then their daughter Dorothy gave birth to a boy whom we all know as an actor Harrison Ford. Many years later, the American actor still managed to play a real hero from the country of his ancestors - the captain of the submarine K-19.

Nicole Scherzinger

The American pop singer and star of the musical Cats is charming in her role. Nicole invites not only the theatrical audience to rejoice at her successful work, but also the kindest and most sympathetic member of the family - her grandmother. Since childhood, they have been very close, and now the girl does not hesitate to publish joint photos. One of them was made after a performance in Austria, where my grandmother flew to the premiere. The eldest of the women in the family was born in Vladivostok, and now lives in sunny Hawaii. She likes to call her granddaughter in the Russian manner Pasha, because Nicole has four names, one of which is Praskovya.

Sylvester Stallone

A true macho and brutal actor, Sylvester Stallone can also boast of his Russian roots. His maternal grandmother, Rosa Leibovich, kept a jewelry store in Odessa before the revolution, but with the advent of troubled times, she decided to move to France. Well, then her family received US citizenship. It is curious that after the end of the Cold War, the actor's mother decided to find her relatives in Russia. It was difficult until the KGB and Mikhail Gorbachev joined the search.