15 Hollywood Celebrities Who Could Be Our Compatriots

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

If you analyze the origin of Hollywood celebrities, you can find out: many of them come from countries that were formerly part of the Russian Empire. For the most part, Hollywood stars do not hide the fact that their ancestors once lived in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and some are even trying to find their relatives in the countries of the former Soviet Union.

Whoopi Goldberg

The talented actress, winner of the most prestigious awards in the field of cinema, left the name Goldberg as a stage name in honor of her great-grandmother, a native of Odessa. The actress considered her pseudonym much more sonorous than Johnson's real name. However, even the name of the celebrity is not the real one, but the nickname that she inherited in childhood. Whoopi Goldberg has come a long way from a poor girl to a world celebrity.

Helen Mirren

The Oscar-winning actress at birth was named Elena Lidia Mironova, and her grandfather, a military engineer, was responsible for purchasing equipment for the Russian army in London. During the revolution, Pyotr Vasilyevich painfully experienced the fall of the monarchy, and therefore chose Great Britain as his place of residence. The great-grandmother of the actress was the great-granddaughter of Field Marshal Kamensky. The father of Elena Lydia Mironova after the death of Pyotr Vasilyevich decided to change his name, from Vasily Mironov he turned into Basil Mirren, respectively, changing his name and daughter. From now on, she was called by the name by which her name is known all over the world - Helen Mirren.

Lenny Kravitz

The American musician was born in New York, but his paternal grandfather was born in one of the cities of Ukraine, his great-grandfather's hometown was Kiev, where he lived and worked for a long time. The performer got his name in honor of his uncle who died in the Korean War. Lenny Kravitz first visited Russia in 2014 at the invitation to participate in the entertainment program as part of the Formula 1 auto race.

Leonardo DiCaprio

The famous actor has never hidden his origin. His grandmother, Helena Indenbirken, was named Elena Smirnova at birth. She emigrated from Russia with her parents to Germany, then with her family moved to America, already in 1955. Helena Inzhenbirken always remembered her roots and did not forget the Russian language, despite the fact that she left Russia quite a bit.

Gwyneth Paltrow

The actress's grandfather lived in Minsk for a long time, while her great-grandfather was from Nizhny Novgorod. If at one time the family had not emigrated, today the owner of the Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe could bear the name of her ancestors - Paltrovich. The actress proudly says that Russian blood also flows in her veins.

Natalie Portman

The actress took the surname Portman as her stage name. It was this surname that Natalie's grandmother, Bernice Stevens, bore in her maiden name. The maternal ancestors of the actress came from Russia and Austria-Hungary, and after emigrating to America they changed their family name Edelstein to a more harmonious by American standards - Stevens.

Winona Ryder

The actress was given the surname Horowitz at birth. However, initially, the grandparents of the actress bore the name of Tomchin. Due to the confusion during emigration to America, Tomchina's surname, through the fault of the workers of the migration service, was changed to Horowitz. So the grandfather of the actress Sol and his wife changed their last name. However, the family continues to remember their origin, even Winona's brother was named after Yuri Gagarin, only in the American manner - Uri. The actress, on the other hand, dreams of making a film about the Second World War or about the mysterious country where her family once lived in memory of her relatives who died in the camps.

Michael Douglas

The actor could have borne the name of his grandfather Danielovich-Demsky, if the latter had not left Mogilev, not wanting to take part in the war between Russia and Japan. The surname was changed by Michael's father, Kirk Douglas, who was already born in America.

Mila Kunis

The actress was born in the Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi and moved with her family to America when she was only 7 years old. Nevertheless, the actress considers Russian to be her native language. The future star had a difficult time in a new school without knowing English. Nevertheless, she was able to achieve success, over time, not only mastering the language, but also becoming one of the highest paid Hollywood actresses.

David Duchovny

The actor's grandfather Moishe Dukhovny left for America from Berdichev, Kiev region. At the time of Moishe's departure, the city was in the zone of German occupation during the First World War.

Pamela Anderson

The Canadian-born actress actually has Finnish-Russian roots. Pamela's great-grandfather was born in the Finnish city of Saarijärvi, and his great-grandmother originally moved to the Netherlands from Russia.

Steven Spielberg

The grandfather and grandmother of the famous film director on his paternal side arrived in America from the city of Kamenets-Podolsky, which at that time was part of the Russian Empire. The maternal grandfather was born and raised in Odessa. Spielberg often mentioned in interviews that as a child, the family communicated in Russian and Yiddish.

Harrison Ford

The actor's grandmother Anna emigrated to America from Minsk in 1907. Many years later, Harrison Ford tried to find his relatives, but whether he succeeded is unknown.

Sylvester Stallone

The Hollywood star's grandmother was born and raised in Odessa, where her daughter, Jacklyn Stallone-Leibofish, was born.

Dustin Hoffman

The paternal grandmother and grandfather of the actor at one time moved to America from the White Church of the Kiev region.

Another famous actress was born in Kiev and grew up in Moscow. In the USSR, the name of her mother, the actress, her talented daughter.