List of Russian Americans

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

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.

List

Entertainment

• Woody Allen, actor, writer, director, and musician, his mother was of Russian Jewish ancestry
• Dianna Agron, actress, father is of Russian Jewish ancestry^[1]
• Pamela Anderson, Canadian-American actress, sex symbol, activist known for her roles on the television series Baywatch, mother is of Russian ancestry
• René Auberjonois, 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, actress^[2]
• Eric Balfour, actor, portraying Milo Pressman in 24, is of Russian Jewish descent
• Sasha Barrese, actress of Irish, Dutch, American Indian, and Russian descent
• Mikhail Baryshnikov, dancer and actor, immigrant from Russia^[3]
• Michael Bay, American film director and producer (Bay's grandfather was Russian)
• Irving Berlin, Russian-born, considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history, nominated eight times for Academy Awards
• Jack Black, actor, comedian, musician, his mother is of Russian Jewish descent
• Michael Bolton, singer, all of his grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia
• Agnes Bruckner, actress, mother is Russian background
• Yul Brynner, Russian-born American actor, won Academy Award
• Cheryl Burke, professional dancer is well known for starring on the television series Dancing with the Stars, father is Russian and Irish descent
• Amanda Bynes, actress, mother of Russian Jewish descent
• Eddie Cantor, actor and dancer, parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia
• Michael Chekhov, actor and dancer, immigrant from Russia
• Jennifer Connelly, actress, mother is of Russian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent
• David Copperfield, illusionist and stage magician, paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia.
• Gavin DeGraw, musician, mother is of Russian Jewish descent.^[4]
• Alexis Denisof, actor, father is of mostly Russian ancestry
• Leonardo DiCaprio, actor, Golden Globe and a Silver Bear Award winner, maternal grandmother was Russian
• Jim Downey, comedy writer.
• Michael Dudikoff, actor, father was an immigrant from Russia
• Ansel Elgort, actor, his father is of Russian-Jewish descent
• Val Emmich, singer-songwriter and actor of Italian, Russian, and German ancestry
• Michael Perretta, American hip hop musician, better known as Evidence, Russian mother
• Peter Falk, born to a Polish Jewish father and a Russian Jewish mother.^[5]
• Carrie Fisher, actress, father was of Russian Jewish descent
• Harrison Ford, actor, mother was of Russian Jewish descent
• Dave Franco, actor, mother of Russian Jewish descent
• James Franco, actor, mother of Russian Jewish descent
• Isabelle Fuhrman, actress (Mother, Elena Fuhrman, is a Russian-Jewish immigrant, father is of Russian Jewish descent)
• Drew Fuller, actor of Russian, Scottish and English heritage
• Edward Furlong, actor, the star of such film as Terminator 2: Judgment Day and American History X, his father^[6] is of Russian origin
• Galen Gering, actor of Russian Jewish (father) and Basque Spanish (mother) descent
• Katerina Graham, actress, singer, record producer, dancer, and model, mother of Russian Jewish ancestry
• Seth Green, actor, part Russian Jewish ancestry
• Jake Gyllenhaal, his mother Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal is of Russian Jewish descent^[7]
• Maggie Gyllenhaal, her mother Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal is of Russian Jewish descent^[7]
• Armie Hammer, actor, father of part Russian Jewish/Russian descent
• Juliana Harkavy, actress, has Russian ancestors.
• Ben Harper, singer-songwriter, Jewish mother of Russian and Lithuanian ancestry
• David Homyk, singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, and commercial model, is of Egyptian, Ukrainian, Russian, English, Welsh, Scottish-Irish ancestry.
• Kidada Jones, actress, model, and fashion designer, daughter of actress Peggy Lipton and musician Quincy Jones; her mother is of Russian Jewish descent
• Rashida Jones,^[8] actress, model, and musician, daughter of actress Peggy Lipton, mother is of Russian Jewish descent
• Milla Jovovich, actress and model, born in Kiev to a Russian mother and a Serbian father
• Stacy Kamano, actress of German, Russian, Polish and Japanese descent
• Lila Kedrova, Russian-born French-American actress, won Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
• Justin Kirk, stage and film actor, mother is of Russian Jewish descent
• Charles Klapow, American choreographer and dance instructor, Emmy Award winner, father of Russian origin
• Zoë Kravitz, American actress, singer and model daughter of Lenny Kravitz, both parents of half Russian Jewish descent
• Lenny Kravitz, American singer, father of Russian Jewish descent
• Mila Kunis, Russian Jewish immigrant (born in Ukrainian SSR)
• Joe Lando, film actor
• Maria Lark, Russian-born television actress
• Logan Lerman, of Russian Jewish, Polish Jewish, and Lithuanian Jewish descent
• Margarita Levieva, Russian-born 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, actress, of Russian Jewish ancestry
• Karina Lombard, actress and singer of Lakota Sioux, Russian, Italian and Swiss descent
• Marlee Matlin, actress who starred in Children of a Lesser God, of Russian Jewish descent
• Walter Matthau, actor and comedian, parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia
• Taylor Momsen, actress, musician and model, she fronts the rock band The Pretty Reckless^[9]
• Sarah Natochenny, actress
• Pat O'Brien, guitarist, half Russian
• Larisa Oleynik, actress (Mad Men, 3rd Rock from the Sun), father of Russian descent
• Mandy Patinkin, actor and singer, of Russian Jewish descent
• Sean Penn, two-time Academy Award winning actor, paternal grandparents Jewish immigrants from Russia and Lithuania
• Joaquin Phoenix, actor, Jewish mother of Russian and Hungarian ancestry
• River Phoenix (1970–1993), actor, Jewish mother of Russian and Hungarian ancestry^[10]
• Bronson Pinchot, actor, father is of Russian ancestry
• Natalie Portman, actress, of Russian Jewish, Polish Jewish, Romanian Jewish, and Austrian Jewish ancestry
• Princess Superstar, musician, father is of Russian Jewish descent
• Sergei Rachmaninoff, 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, Jewish American film, producer, actor and writer, whose parents came from Russia and Hungary
• Ted Raimi, actor and brother of San Raimi, star of Xena: Warrior Princess
• Raven, drag queen and reality-television star
• Joan Rivers, comedian, parents were Russian Jewish immigrants
• Natalya Rudakova, actress
• Olesya Rulin, actress and singer, immigrant from Russia
• Melanie Safka-Schekeryk, folk singer, father is of Russian and Ukrainian ancestry
• Steven Seagal actor, father was of Russian Jewish descent
• Regina Spektor, Russian born American singer-songwriter and pianist, born in Moscow
• Gene Stupnitsky, screenwriter, born in Kiev, now Ukraine
• Michelle Trachtenberg, television and film actress, mother is an immigrant from Russia
• Lana Wood, 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, actor, Jewish immigrant from Russia
• Elena Zoubareva, opera singer, immigrant from Russia

Visual Art

• Louis Lozowick was an American painter and printmaker. He was born in the Russian Empire, came to the United States in 1906
• Israel Tsvaygenbaum, Russian-American Painter and Russian Jewish descent
• Irwin Chanin, architect and builder whose skyline signature was formed of jazzy Art Deco towers and six elegant Broadway theaters

Literature

• Isaac Asimov, science fiction writer^[11]
• Reginald Bretnor, science fiction and fantasy writer
• Joseph Brodsky, Nobel Prize in Literature 1987
• Michael Dorfman, writer
• Sergei Dovlatov, short story writer and novelist
• Vladimir Nabokov, writer^[12]
• Jacob Gordin, playwright
• Chuck Palahniuk,^[13] novelist & freelance journalist, most known for the award-winning novel Fight Club
• Ayn Rand, philosopher and novelist^[14]
• Alexander Genis, writer and journalist, emigrated from Russian in 1977
• Daniel Genis, writer and journalist, parents emigrated from Russian in 1977
• Michael Rostovtzeff, writer^[15]
• David Shrayer-Petrov, Moscow-born author, medical scientist, and former refusenik
• Maxim D. Shrayer, Moscow-born bilingual author, literary scholar and translator
• Gary Shteyngart, Russian-born writer^[16]
• Michelle Izmaylov, Russian-American science fiction and fantasy writer

Medicine

• Ivan Raimi, Doctor of Medicine, osteopathic

Science

• Alexei A. Abrikosov, theoretical physicist
• Viktor Belenko, aerospace engineer, former Soviet Air Force pilot
• Lera Boroditsky, cognitive scientist^[17]
• George Gamow, astrophysicist
• Albert Michelson, Prussian-born, winner of the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physics
• Vladimir Nikolayevich Ipatieff, chemist
• Sergei Khrushchev, professor & son of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
• Alexander Nikolayevich Lodygin, electrical engineer and inventor, one of inventors of the incandescent light bulb
• Wassily Leontief, economist, Nobel Prize 1973
• Abraham Maslow, psychologist
• Andrei Okounkov, the winner of the Fields Medal (2006)
• Alexey Pajitnov, inventor of Tetris
• Tatiana Proskouriakoff, Russian-American Mayanist
• Anatol Rapoport, American mathematical psychologist
• Peter Turchin, biologist and the father of "cliodynamics"
• Alexander Shulgin, pharmacologist, chemist and drug developer
• Igor Sikorsky, helicopter designer^[18]
• Otto Struve, astrophysicist
• Leon Theremin, physicist, inventor of Theremin
• Petr Ufimtsev, Russian-American mathematician and physicist
• Vladimir Voevodsky, the winner of the Fields Medal (2002)
• Efim Zelmanov, winner of the Fields Medal (1994), professor at the University of California, San Diego
• Vladimir Kosma Zworykin, one of the inventors of television^[19][20]

Sports

• Benjamin Agosto, ice dancer.^[21]
• Jack Babashoff, Olympic Swimmer - Silver medalist^[22]
• Shirley Babashoff, Olympic Swimmer - Gold/Silver medalist^[22]
• Mohini Bhardwaj, gymnast.^[23]
• Fred Biletnikoff, football wide receiver and coach.
• Sue Bird, professional women's basketball player.^[24]
• Alex Bogomolov, Jr., professional tennis player.
• Nathan Bor, boxer.
• Maxim Dlugy, grandmaster of chess.
• Rod Dyachenko, footballer.^[25]
• Bill Goldberg, former professional wrestler.^[26]
• Jon Robert Holden, basketball player for the Russian national team that gave FIBA Eurobasket 2007 to Russia with a buzzer beater
• Red Holzman, basketball player and coach.^[27]
• Irving Jaffee, speed skater.
• Anna Kotchneva, gymnast.
• Vladimir Kozlov, professional wrestler.
• Andrei Kirilenko, Basketball player.
• Varvara Lepchenko, professional tennis player.^[28]
• Valeri Liukin, artistic gymnast.
• Nastia Liukin, gymnast.^[29]
• Frank Mir, American mixed martial artist.^[30]
• Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks' former Goalie.
• Patrick O'Neal (sportscaster), studio host and reporter.^[31]
• Denis Petukhov, figure skater.^[32]
• Sergei Raad, soccer player.
• Andy Seminick, professional baseball player.^[33]
• Maria Sharapova, famous tennis player
• Kerri Strug, gymnast.
• Nikolai Volkoff, professional wrestler.
• Ted Williams, American Major League Baseball left fielder.^[34]

Models

• Anya Monzikova, model and actress born in Vologda
• Kaitlyn Hall,
• Michele Merkin, model and television host, also of Swedish and Russian Jewish descent
• Josie Maran, model of Russian descent
• Erika Harold, Miss America 2003, mother is Native-American, African-American and Russian descent.*
• Angelika Kallio, model born in Riga
• Irina Pantaeva, model and actress born in Ulan-Ude
• Sasha Pivovarova, model born in Moscow
• Natasha Poly, model born in Perm
• Vlada Roslyakova, model born in Omsk
• Tatiana Sorokko, model and fashion writer born in Arzamas-16
• Valentina Zelyaeva, model born in Moscow
• Eugenia Volodina, model born in Kazan
• Anne Vyalitsyna, model and actress
• Tatiana Kovylina, model born in Kazan
• Daria Strokous, model born in Moscow

Military

• Igor Sikorsky, helicopter designer and inventor^[35]
• John Basil Turchin, Union army general in the American Civil War^[36]
• Boris Pash, Colonel of the US Army

Business

• Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce
• Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City, founder of Bloomberg business empire
• Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google
• Boris Chaikovsky, founder of Tele-King International
• Alexander Poniatoff, founder of Ampex Corporation
• Alexander P. de Seversky, founder of the Seversky Aircraft Corporation, founder and trustee of the New York Institute of Technology
• Igor Sikorsky, founder of the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, a leading US helicopter manufacturer
• Serge Sorokko, art dealer, publisher and patron
• Michael Stroukoff, President of the Chase Aircraft Company, founder of the Stroukoff Aircraft Corporation
• André Tchelistcheff, America's most influential post-Prohibition winemaker

Other

• Antuan Bronshtein, convicted murderer; Russian immigrant
• Peter Demens, is one of the founders of the U.S. city of Saint Petersburg, Florida.
• Anatoli Efimoff, artist
• Betty Freeman, art philanthropist, father was a Russian immigrant
• John A. Gotti, leader of the Gambino Crime Family of the Cosa Nostra. Mother is of Russian descent
• Oleg Kalugin, former head of KGB operations in the United States
• Loren Leman, 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
• Pitirim Sorokin, founded Harvard Sociology Dept 1930
• Jim Talent, former U.S. Senator, paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia

References

1. http://hollywoodlife.com/2010/01/20/hollywho-knew-learn-how-to-pronounce-glee-star-dianna-agrons-name/
2. "They called her the Russian Tigress. Olga Baclanova (pronounced bahk-LAH-no-vah), sultry Russian actress of stage and film..."
3. "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. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/6909458/ns/today-entertainment/
5. Marx, Arthur (November–December 1997). "Talk with Falk". Cigar Aficionado. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
6. http://www.tmz.com/person/edward-furlong/
7. http://www.talktalk.co.uk/entertainment/film/biography/artist/jake-gyllenhaal/biography/161?page=2
8. Stated on Who Do You Think You Are?, 4 May 2012
9. Momsen, Taylor (July 8, 2013). "Twitter: taylormomsen: @Zheka_Kinoman yes, I'm part Russian". Twitter.com. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
10. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/07/arts/television-when-it-comes-to-tv-angels-he-s-batting-.500.html
11. "Although now an American national, Isaac Asimov was Russian by birth..."
12. Vladimir Nabokov - The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition - HighBeam Research
13. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/chuck-palahniuk-i-shy-away-from-nonconsensual-violence-7851425.html
14. Amazon.com: Ayn Rand: The Russian Radical: Books: Chris Matthew Sciabarra
15. E. R. Bevan: The House of Ptolemy • Preface
16. Shteyngart - "Jewish Russian American writer"
17. Lera Boroditsky
18. Sikorsky Archives News
19. Vladimir Zworykin - Electronic Television System
20. Adventures in CyberSound: Zworykin, Vladimir Kosma
21. "Interview with Ice Dancers Benjamin Agosto and Tanith Belbin". goldenskate.com. April 28, 2003. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
22. Babashoff, Shirley
23. "Her Party Life Over, She Returned to Bars" Diane Pucin, Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2001
24. "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 1900's 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."
25. Thunder sign Dyachenko, Costanzo
26. Paul Farhi, "Goldberg: A David in Goliath's Shoes", Washington Post, December 9, 1999.
27. 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.
28. Lepchenko Adjusts Well to Life in the U.S. Retrieved September 19, 2007
29. Barron, David (August 9, 2008). "Nastia Liukin a gymnast by birth". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
30. "No fear for Mir". Torontosun.com. 2010-04-11. Retrieved 2010-04-11.
31. O'Neal, Tatum (14 Oct 2004). "Excerpt from 'A Paper Life'". USA Today. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
32. USA Today, December 22, 2005: "U.S. Ice Dancers Keep it in the Family"
33. Berger, Ralph. "Andy Seminick Biography at The Baseball Biography Project". Society for American Baseball Research. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
34. Bill Nowlin, "The Kid: Ted Williams in San Diego", p. 324
35. Sikorsky Archives News
36. http://www.rach-c.org/pages/72.htm