The Russian Roots In Hollywood

How many Hollywood actors and actresses you know of that have Russian roots? In fact, they are more than you think.

Leonardo DiCaprio



Leonardo DiCaprio’s grandmother moved from the USSR to Germany together with her parents after the revolution. There, she got married and her daughter moved to the USA to give birth to the world famous actor.

Steven Spielberg 



Both grandfathers of Steven Spielberg are from Russia. And his sister’s husband is a distant relative of Boris Pasternak, a Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator.

Sylvester Stallone 



It is unlikely that a shy Jewish girl Rosa Robinovich from Odessa ever thought that her great grandson would become a world famous movie actor Sylvester Stallone.

David Duchovny



David Duchovny’s father is a Russian Jew. His name was Amram Duckovny because he’d changed his last name to adjust it to American pronunciation. David, however, changed it back.

Nicole Scherzinger 



Nicole Scherzinger’s mother is half-Russian and half-Hawaiian.

Natalie Portman 



Natalie Portman’s parents moved to Jerusalem from Kishinev, Moldova.

Gwyneth Paltrow 



Ancestors of Gwyneth Paltrow used to live in Minsk, Belarus.

Milla Jovovich 


Milla Jovovich was born in Kiev, Ukraine. So first five years of her life she spent in the Soviet Union.

Harrison Ford 



Harrison Ford’s grandmother left Minsk in 1907. Now the actor is searching for his relatives who might live in Russia and post-Soviet republics.

Whoopi Goldberg 



Whoopi Goldberg’s grandmother was born in Odessa, Ukraine.