List of Russian Americans

This is a list of notable Russian Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants.

Lists of Americans
By U.S. state
By ethnicity or nationality
  • Danish
  • Dominican Americans (Dominica)
  • Dominican Americans (Dominican Republic)
  • Dutch
  • Gambian
  • Georgian
  • German
  • Ghanaian
  • Greek
  • Guatemalan
  • Guinean
  • Guyanese
  • Karen
  • Kazakh
  • Kenyan
  • Korean
  • Kurdish
  • Kuwaiti
  • Taiwan
  • Tajikistani
  • Tanzanian
  • Thai
  • Tibetan
  • Tongan
  • Trinidadian and Tobagonian
  • Turkish
  • Category
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Russian American or must have references showing they are Russian American and are notable.

Arts

Performance
Woody Allen
George Gershwin
Natalie Portman
  • Paul Abrahamian (born 1993), reality television personality, of Russian and Armenian descent
  • Dianna Agron (born 1986), actress, father is of Russian Jewish ancestry.[1]
  • Monique Alexander (born 1982), actress and model
  • Woody Allen (born 1935), actor, writer, director, and musician, his mother was of Russian Jewish ancestry.
  • Pamela Anderson (born 1967), Canadian-American actress, sex symbol, activist known for her roles on the television series Baywatch, mother is of Russian ancestry.
  • René Auberjonois (1940–2019), Tony Award-winning character actor (and grandson of the painter), best known for his early 1980s role as Clayton Endicott III on the television show Benson and his role as Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
  • Olga Baclanova (1893–1974), actress.[2]
  • Anna Baryshnikov (born 1992), actress, daughter of Mikhail Baryshnikov
  • Shura Baryshnikov (born 1981), dancer, choreographer, actress
  • Jon Bon Jovi (born 1962), singer-songwriter, mother of partial Russian descent
  • Alexey Brodovitch (1898–1971), the pioneer of graphic design, the person who created a prototype of the modern glossy magazine about fashion.
  • Eric Balfour (born 1977), actor, portraying Milo Pressman in 24, is of Russian Jewish descent.
  • Sasha Barrese (born 1981), actress of Irish, Dutch, American Indian, and Russian descent.
  • Mikhail Baryshnikov (born 1948), dancer and actor, immigrant from Russia.[3]
  • Michael Bay (born 1965), American film director and producer (Bay's grandfather was Russian).
  • Irving Berlin (1888–1989), Russian-born, considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history, nominated eight times for Academy Awards.
  • Jack Black (born 1969), actor, comedian, musician, his mother is of Russian Jewish descent.
  • Michael Bolton (born 1953), singer, all of his grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia.
  • Agnes Bruckner (born 1985), actress, mother is Russian background.
  • Yul Brynner (1920–1985), Russian-born American actor, won Academy Award.
  • Cheryl Burke (born 1984), professional dancer is well known for starring on the television series Dancing with the Stars, father is Russian and Irish descent.
  • Amanda Bynes (born 1986), actress, mother of Russian Jewish descent.
  • Dove Cameron (born 1996), actor of Russian descent
  • Eddie Cantor (1892–1964), actor and dancer, parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia.
  • Timothée Chalamet (born 1995), actor, mother is of Russian Jewish descent.
  • Adriana Chechik (born 1991), porn actress.
  • Michael Chekhov (1891–1955), actor and dancer, immigrant from Russia.
  • Jennifer Connelly (born 1970), actress, mother is of Russian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent.
  • David Copperfield (born 1956), illusionist and stage magician, paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia.
  • Gavin DeGraw (born 1977), musician, mother is of Russian Jewish descent.[4]
  • Alexis Denisof (born 1966), actor, father is of mostly Russian ancestry.
  • Kat Dennings (born 1986), American actress. Grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants.
  • Leonardo DiCaprio (born 1974), actor, Academy Award winner, maternal grandmother was Russian
  • Jim Downey (born 1952), comedy writer.
  • Michael Dudikoff (born 1954), actor, father was an immigrant from Russia.
  • Aaron Eckhart (born 1968), actor, father is of German and Russian descent.
  • Ansel Elgort (born 1994), actor, his father is of Russian-Jewish descent.
  • Val Emmich (born 1979), singer-songwriter and actor of Italian, Russian, and German ancestry.
  • Peter Falk (1927–2011), born to a Polish Jewish father and a Russian Jewish mother.[5]
  • Tina Fey (born 1970), American actress and comedian, father is of part-Russian descent.
  • Carrie Fisher (1956–2016), actress, father was of Russian Jewish descent.
  • Michel Fokine (1880–1942), dancer and choreographer.
  • Olga Fonda (born 1982), actress and model.
  • Harrison Ford (born 1942), actor, mother was of Russian Jewish descent.
  • Dave Franco (born 1985), actor, mother of Russian Jewish descent.
  • James Franco (born 1978), actor, mother of Russian Jewish descent.
  • Isabelle Fuhrman (born 1997), actress (Mother, Elena Fuhrman, is a Russian-Jewish immigrant, father is of Russian Jewish descent).
  • Drew Fuller (born 1980), actor of Russian, Scottish and English heritage.
  • Edward Furlong (born 1977), actor, the star of such film as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and American History X, his father[6] is of Russian origin.
  • Galen Gering (born 1971), actor of Russian Jewish (father) and Basque Spanish (mother) descent.
  • George Gershwin (1898–1937), composer and pianist, author of Rhapsody in Blue, Russian Jewish and Ukrainian Jewish ancestry.
  • Alexander Godunov (1949–1995), dancer and choreographer.
  • Katerina Graham (born 1989), actress, singer, record producer, dancer, and model, mother of Russian Jewish ancestry.
  • Seth Green (born 1974), actor, part Russian Jewish ancestry.
  • Jake Gyllenhaal (born 1980), his mother Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal is of Russian Jewish descent.[7]
  • Maggie Gyllenhaal (born 1977), her mother Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal is of Russian Jewish descent.[7]
  • Armie Hammer (born 1986), actor, father of part Russian Jewish/Russian descent.
  • Juliana Harkavy (born 1985), actress, has Russian ancestors.
  • Ben Harper (born 1969), singer-songwriter, Jewish mother of Russian and Lithuanian ancestry.
  • Barbara Hershey (born 1948), actress, father of partial Russian Jewish descent.
  • Fedor Jeftichew (1868–1904), freak show attraction nicknamed "Jojo the dog-faced man" and a star of the Barnum Circus.
  • Kidada Jones (born 1974), actress, model, and fashion designer, daughter of actress Peggy Lipton and musician Quincy Jones; her mother is of Russian Jewish descent.
  • Rashida Jones (born 1976),[8] actress, model, and musician, daughter of actress Peggy Lipton, mother is of Russian Jewish descent.
  • Milla Jovovich (born 1975), actress and model, born in Kiev to a Russian mother and a Serbian father.
  • Stacy Kamano (born 1974), actress of German, Russian, Polish and Japanese descent.
  • Lila Kedrova (1909–2000), Russian-born French-American actress, won Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
  • Olga Kern (born 1975), Russian-born classical pianist, won the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, direct family ties to both Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky.[9]
  • Justin Kirk (born 1969), stage and film actor, mother is of Russian Jewish descent.
  • Charles Klapow (born 1980), American choreographer and dance instructor, Emmy Award winner, father of Russian origin.
  • Christopher Knight (born 1957), actor.
  • Theodore Kosloff (1882–1956), dancer and choreographer.
  • Lenny Kravitz (born 1964), American singer, father of Russian Jewish descent.
  • Zoë Kravitz (born 1988), American actress, singer and model daughter of Lenny Kravitz, both parents of half Russian Jewish descent.
  • Mila Kunis (born 1983), Russian Jewish immigrant (born in Ukrainian SSR).
  • Joe Lando (born 1961), film actor.
  • Maria Lark (born 1997), Russian-born television actress.
  • Logan Lerman (born 1992), of Russian Jewish, Polish Jewish, and Lithuanian Jewish descent
  • Margarita Levieva (born 1980), Russian-born Jewish American actress. Born in the Soviet Union, she was a professional gymnast before going on to star in the films The Invisible, Adventureland and Spread
  • Peggy Lipton (1946–2019), actress, of Russian Jewish ancestry
  • Karina Lombard (born 1969), actress and singer of Lakota Sioux, Russian, Italian and Swiss descent
  • Marlee Matlin (born 1965), actress who starred in Children of a Lesser God, of Russian Jewish descent
  • Walter Matthau (1920–2000), actor and comedian, parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia
  • Blake Michael (born 1996), actor or Russian Jewish descent
  • Wentworth Miller (born 1972), actor, mother of partial Russian descent
  • Taylor Momsen (born 1993), actress, musician and model, she fronts the rock band The Pretty Reckless[10]
  • Mandy Moore (born 1984), actress, singer, of Russian Jewish descent.
  • Sarah Natochenny (born 1987), actress
  • Alla Nazimova (1879–1945), theater and film actress, Jewish immigrant from Russia
  • Pat O'Brien (born 1965), guitarist, half Russian
  • Larisa Oleynik (born 1981), actress (Mad Men, 3rd Rock from the Sun), father of Russian descent
  • Mandy Patinkin (born 1952), actor and singer, of Russian Jewish descent
  • Sean Penn (born 1960), two-time Academy Award winning actor, paternal grandparents Jewish immigrants from Russia and Lithuania
  • Michael Perretta (born 1976), American hip hop musician, better known as Evidence, Russian mother
  • Joaquin Phoenix (born 1974), actor, Jewish mother of Russian and Hungarian ancestry
  • River Phoenix (1970–1993), actor, Jewish mother of Russian and Hungarian ancestry[11]
  • Bronson Pinchot (born 1959), actor, father is of Russian ancestry
  • Alexander Polinsky (b. 1974), actor
  • Natalie Portman (born 1981), actress, of Russian Jewish, Polish Jewish, Romanian Jewish, and Austrian Jewish ancestry
  • Mike Portnoy (born 1967), musician, founding member of American heavy metal band Dream Theater
  • Princess Superstar (born 1971), musician, father is of Russian Jewish descent
  • Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943), Russian-born composer who immigrated to the US in 1918 and lived there until his death in 1943. He acquired U.S. citizenship in 1943.
  • Sam Raimi (born 1959), Jewish American film, producer, actor and writer, whose parents came from Russia and Hungary
  • Ted Raimi (born 1965), actor and brother of Sam Raimi, star of Xena: Warrior Princess
  • Raven (born 1979), drag queen and reality-television star
  • Sasha Velour (born 1987), drag queen and winner of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 9
  • Joan Rivers (1933–2014), comedian, parents were Russian Jewish immigrants
  • Sasha Roiz (born 1973), Russian Jewish immigrant (born in Tel Aviv, Israel)
  • Paul Rudd (born 1969), American actor of Russian Jewish ancestry.
  • Natalya Rudakova (born 1985), actress
  • Olesya Rulin (born 1986), actress and singer, immigrant from Russia
  • Melanie Safka-Schekeryk (born 1947), folk singer, father is of Russian and Ukrainian ancestry
  • Steven Seagal (born 1952), actor, father was of Russian Jewish descent
  • Jack Shaindlin (1909–1978), composer, musical director of the March of Time newsreel series
  • Peter Shukoff (born 1979), YouTuber, co-founded ERB, of Russian descent
  • Jenny Slate (born 1982), actress, comedian and author Russian Jewish origin.
  • Regina Spektor (born 1980), Russian born American singer-songwriter and pianist, born in Moscow
  • Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971), composer and pianist[12]
  • Tara Strong (born 1973), Canadian-born actor whose family is of Russian Jewish descent
  • Gene Stupnitsky (born 1977), screenwriter, born in Kiev, now Ukraine
  • George Gaynes (1917–2016), actor, singer
  • Tonearm (Ilia Bis), performance musician
  • Michelle Trachtenberg (born 1985), television and film actress, mother is an immigrant from Russia
  • Lana Wood (born 1946), actress, parents were immigrants from Russia
  • Natalie Wood (1938–1981), Academy Award-nominated actress, won a Golden Globe, parents were immigrants from Russia
  • Anton Yelchin (1989–2016), actor, Jewish immigrant from Russia
  • Elena Zoubareva (born 1972), opera singer, immigrant from Russia

Visual arts

Literature
Isaac Asimov

Science

Sports
Sue Bird
Bill Goldberg
Ted Williams

Military

Business
Michael Bloomberg

Politics
This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Economics
  • Simon Kuznets (1901–1985), contribution to the transformation of economics into an empirical science and to the formation of quantitative economic history
  • Wassily Leontief (1905–1999), economist, Nobel Prize 1973

Modeling
Michele Merkin

Other
  • Bianna Golodryga (born 1978), journalist; Russian Jewish immigrant (born in Moldovan SSR)
  • Masha Gessen (born 1967), journalist, author, translator and activist; Russian Jewish immigrant
  • Antuan Bronshtein (1972–1973), convicted murderer; Russian immigrant
  • Jacob W. Davis (1831–1908), tailor, invention of Jeans
  • Peter Demens (1850–1919), is one of the founders of the U.S. city of Saint Petersburg, Florida.
  • Betty Freeman (1921–2009), art philanthropist, father was a Russian immigrant
  • John A. Gotti (born 1964), leader of the Gambino Crime Family of the Cosa Nostra. Mother is of Russian descent
  • Oleg Kalugin (born 1934), former head of KGB operations in the United States
  • Loren Leman (born 1950), former lieutenant governor of Alaska, one of his ancestors was a Russian settler who married an indigenous Alutiiq woman in Kodiak while Russia claimed and colonized Alaska centuries ago
  • Neil Sedaka (born 1939), singer and songwriter
  • Pitirim Sorokin (1889–1968), founded Harvard Sociology Dept 1930
  • Max Factor Sr. (1877–1938), founder of the cosmetics giant Max Factor & Company, was born in Russian Poland. Russian nobility appointed Factor the official cosmetics expert for the royal family and the Imperial Russian Grand Opera
  • Taras Kulakov (born 1987), Youtube Personality known for life hack and gadget reviewing videos, of Ukrainian descent.
  • Vitaly Zdorovetskiy (born 1992), Youtube Personality known for his adult rated pranks.
  • Benny Benson (1913–1972), designer of flag of Alaska.

References
  1. "HollyLesson! 'Glee' Star Dianna Agron Tweets How to Pronounce Her Name – Hollywood Life". Archived from the original on 2013-09-22. Retrieved 2012-11-25.
  2. "They called her the Russian Tigress. Olga Baclanova (pronounced bahk-LAH-no-vah), sultry Russian actress of stage and film..."
  3. Archived 2006-07-08 at the Wayback Machine "One night in June 1974, the Russian dancer stepped from a stage in Toronto where he was appearing as a guest star with the Bolshoi Ballet concert group and literally ran to freedom. He stepped outside, followed by a crowd of confused fans, and sprinted to a waiting car that spirited him away from Soviet agents into a life of independence in the United States."
  4. Gavin DeGraw speaks out on life and music - TODAY.com
  5. Marx, Arthur (November–December 1997). "Talk with Falk". Cigar Aficionado. Archived from the original on 2010-01-27. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  6. Edward Furlong News, Pictures, and Videos | TMZ.com
  7. UK Entertainment News - British Film, TV and Music | HuffPost UK
  8. Stated on Who Do You Think You Are?, 4 May 2012
  9. Palm, Matthew J. "Pianist Olga Kern is 'citizen of the world'". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  10. Momsen, Taylor (July 8, 2013). "Twitter: taylormomsen: @Zheka_Kinoman yes, I'm part Russian". Twitter.com. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
  11. TELEVISION; When It Comes to TV Angels, He's Batting .500 - The New York Times
  12. "Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky Biography". Biography.com. A&E Television Networks. 2016-01-18. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
  13. "Although now an American national, Isaac Asimov was Russian by birth..."
  14. Vladimir Nabokov
  15. Chuck Palahniuk: 'I shy away from non-consensual violence' | The Independent
  16. Amazon.com: Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical: Books: Chris Matthew Sciabarra
  17. E. R. Bevan: The House of Ptolemy • Preface
  18. Shteyngart - "Jewish Russian American writer"
  19. Lera Boroditsky Archived 2006-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
  20. Vladimir Zworykin - Electronic Television System
  21. Adventures in CyberSound: Zworykin, Vladimir Kosma Archived 2006-06-26 at the Wayback Machine
  22. "Interview with Ice Dancers Benjamin Agosto and Tanith Belbin". goldenskate.com. April 28, 2003. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  23. Babashoff, Shirley
  25. "Her Party Life Over, She Returned to Bars" Diane Pucin, Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2001
  26. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-08-14. Retrieved 2011-02-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) "Some background - my father's name is Herschel Bird and his family is originally from Russia. In fact, our last name is really "Boorda." My great grandfather brought his family through Ellis Island in the early 1900s and we were soon known simply as Bird. This makes me half-Russian (not Czech!). So in my dad's eyes, this gave him a false sense of belonging. Every time I'd say "Dad, stop acting like an American" he would come back with "No one can tell I am not from here" and then attempt to say one of the three Russian words he remembers from his college days. He truly believed that no one would notice, which makes this story even better."
  27. "Thunder sign Dyachenko, Costanzo". Archived from the original on 2011-09-18. Retrieved 2011-01-23.
  28. Paul Farhi, "Goldberg: A David in Goliath's Shoes", Washington Post, December 9, 1999.
  29. Othello Harris, George Kirsch; Claire Nolte (April 2000). Encyclopedia of Ethnicity and Sports in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 222. ISBN 0-313-29911-0.
  30. "Russian-born Kournikova now an American citizen". Tennis.com. Retrieved 2016-12-12.
  31. Lepchenko Adjusts Well to Life in the U.S. Retrieved September 19, 2007
  32. Barron, David (August 9, 2008). "Nastia Liukin a gymnast by birth". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
  33. "No fear for Mir". Torontosun.com. 2010-04-11. Retrieved 2010-04-11.
  34. O'Neal, Tatum (14 Oct 2004). "Excerpt from 'A Paper Life'". USA Today. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  35. USA Today, December 22, 2005: "U.S. Ice Dancers Keep it in the Family"
  36. Berger, Ralph. "Andy Seminick Biography at The Baseball Biography Project". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  37. Bill Nowlin, "The Kid: Ted Williams in San Diego", p. 324
  38. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-03-01. Retrieved 2011-03-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  39. https://www.geni.com/people/Bessie-Glassberg/6000000003916154223
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