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.

Performance

 * Woody Allen, actor, writer, director, and musician, his mother was of Russian Jewish ancestry
 * Dianna Agron, actress, father is of Russian Jewish ancestry
 * 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
 * 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
 * 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.
 * 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
 * Aaron Eckhart, actor, father is of German and Russian descent
 * 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.
 * Tina Fey, American actress and comedian, father is of part-Russian descent
 * Carrie Fisher, actress, father was of Russian Jewish descent
 * Michel Fokine, dancer and choreographer
 * 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 is of Russian origin
 * Galen Gering, actor of Russian Jewish (father) and Basque Spanish (mother) descent
 * George Gershwin, composer and pianist, author of Rhapsody in Blue, Russian Jewish and Ukrainian Jewish ancestry
 * Alexander Godunov, dancer and choreographer
 * 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
 * Maggie Gyllenhaal, her mother Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal is of Russian Jewish descent
 * 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, 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
 * Olga Kern, Russian-born classical pianist, won the 11th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, direct family ties to both Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky
 * 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
 * Theodore Kosloff, dancer and choreographer
 * Lenny Kravitz, American singer, father of Russian Jewish descent
 * Zoë Kravitz, American actress, singer and model daughter of Lenny Kravitz, both parents of half 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
 * Sarah Natochenny, actress
 * Alla Nazimova, theater and film actress, Jewish immigrant from Russia
 * 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
 * Bronson Pinchot, actor, father is of Russian ancestry
 * Natalie Portman, actress, of Russian Jewish, Polish Jewish, Romanian Jewish, and Austrian Jewish ancestry
 * Mike Portnoy, musician, founding member of American heavy metal band Dream Theater
 * 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
 * Sasha Velour, drag queen and winner of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 9
 * 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
 * Jack Shaindlin, composer, musical director of the March of Time newsreel series
 * Steven Seagal actor, father was of Russian Jewish descent
 * Regina Spektor, Russian born American singer-songwriter and pianist, born in Moscow
 * Igor Stravinsky, composer and pianist
 * Gene Stupnitsky, screenwriter, born in Kiev, now Ukraine
 * Tonearm (Ilia Bis), performance musician
 * 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 (1989–2016), actor, Jewish immigrant from Russia
 * Elena Zoubareva, opera singer, immigrant from Russia
 * Peter Shukoff, YouTuber, co-founded ERB,of Russian descent
 * Timothée Chalamet, actor, mother is of Russian Jewish descent

Visual arts

 * Irwin Chanin, architect and builder whose skyline signature was formed of jazzy Art Deco towers and six elegant Broadway theaters
 * Anatoli Efimoff, artist
 * Alexander Golitzen, TV and theater art director
 * Fyodor Kamensky, sculptor
 * Louis Lozowick was an American painter and printmaker. He was born in the Russian Empire, came to the United States in 1906
 * Ernst Neizvestny, renowned sculptor and painter
 * Israel Tsvaygenbaum, Russian-American Painter and Russian Jewish descent
 * Regina Khidekel, Russian born art historian and curator, author: "It's real Thing. Soviet Sots Art and American Pop Art", "Lazar Khidekl and Suprematism" (Prestel 2014)

Literature

 * Isaac Asimov, science fiction writer
 * Saul Bellow, writer
 * Reginald Bretnor, science fiction and fantasy writer
 * Joseph Brodsky, Nobel Prize in Literature 1987
 * Michael Dorfman, writer
 * Sergei Dovlatov, short story writer and novelist
 * Michelle Izmaylov, Russian-American science fiction and fantasy writer
 * Vladimir Nabokov, writer
 * Jacob Gordin, playwright
 * Chuck Palahniuk, novelist & freelance journalist, most known for the award-winning novel Fight Club
 * Ayn Rand, philosopher and novelist
 * Alexander Genis, writer and journalist, emigrated from Russian in 1977
 * Daniel Genis, writer and journalist, parents emigrated from Russian in 1977
 * Michael Rostovtzeff, writer
 * 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

Modeling



 * Erika Harold, Miss America 2003, mother is Native-American, African-American and Russian descent.
 * Angelika Kallio, model born in Riga
 * Tatiana Kovylina, model born in Kazan
 * Josie Maran, model of Russian descent
 * Michele Merkin, model and television host, also of Swedish and Russian Jewish descent
 * Anya Monzikova, model and actress born in Vologda
 * 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
 * Daria Strokous, model born in Moscow
 * Eugenia Volodina, model born in Kazan
 * Anne Vyalitsyna, model and actress
 * Valentina Zelyaeva, model born in Moscow
 * Kristina Pimenova, child model and actress

Sciences

 * Alexei A. Abrikosov, theoretical physicist
 * Viktor Belenko, aerospace engineer, former Soviet Air Force pilot
 * Lera Boroditsky, cognitive scientist
 * George Gamow, astrophysicist
 * Vladimir Nikolayevich Ipatieff, chemist
 * Sergei Khrushchev, professor & son of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
 * Simon Kuznets, economist, statistician, demographer, and economic historian, the winner of 1971 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
 * Alexander Nikolayevich Lodygin, electrical engineer and inventor, one of inventors of the incandescent light bulb
 * Wassily Leontief, economist, Nobel Prize 1973
 * Abraham Maslow, psychologist
 * Albert Michelson, Prussian-born, winner of the 1907 Nobel Prize in Physics
 * Andrei Okounkov, the winner of the Fields Medal (2006)
 * Alexey Pajitnov, software engineer and video game designer, inventor of Tetris
 * Tatiana Proskouriakoff, Russian-American Mayanist
 * Ivan Raimi, Doctor of Medicine, osteopathic
 * Anatol Rapoport, American mathematical psychologist
 * Vladimir Rojansky, physicist
 * David Shrayer-Petrov, medical scientist, microbiologist, immunologist, biophage specialist
 * Alexander Shulgin, pharmacologist, chemist and drug developer
 * Otto Struve, astrophysicist
 * Leon Theremin, physicist, inventor of the Theremin
 * Peter Turchin, biologist and the father of "cliodynamics"
 * 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

Sports

 * Benjamin Agosto (born 1982), ice dancer.
 * Doc Alexander (1897–1975), NFL football player and coach
 * Lyle Alzado (1949–1992), NFL All Pro defensive tackle
 * Amanda Anisimova (born 2001), tennis player
 * Al Axelrod (1921-2004), Olympic fencer - bronze medalist
 * Jack Babashoff, Olympic swimmer - silver medalist
 * Shirley Babashoff, Olympic swimmer - gold/silver medalist
 * Mohini Bhardwaj, gymnast.
 * Fred Biletnikoff, football wide receiver and coach.
 * Sue Bird (born 1980), professional women's basketball player.
 * Alex Bogomolov, Jr., professional tennis player.
 * Nathan Bor, boxer.
 * Alex Bregman (born 1994), baseball player
 * Maxim Dlugy, grandmaster of chess.
 * Rod Dyachenko, footballer.
 * Curtis Enis, football player.
 * Benny Friedman (1905-1982), NFL Hall of Fame football player
 * Bill Goldberg (born 1966), professional NFL football player and undefeated wrestler
 * Charles Goldenberg (1911–1986), All-Pro NFL player
 * Jon Robert Holden (born 1976), basketball player for Russian national team
 * Nat Holman (1896–1995), Hall of Fame basketball player
 * Red Holzman (1920–1998), NBA Hall of Fame basketball player and coach.
 * Irving Jaffee, Olympic speed skater; two gold medals
 * Andrei Kirilenko, basketball player
 * Anna Kotchneva, gymnast
 * Vladimir Kozlov, professional wrestler
 * Anna Kournikova, tennis player and model
 * Travis Kvapil, race car driver.
 * Varvara Lepchenko, professional tennis player.
 * Valeri Liukin, artistic gymnast.
 * Nastia Liukin, gymnast.
 * Cade McNown, football player
 * Frank Mir, mixed martial artist.
 * Boris Nachamkin (born 1933) - NBA basketball player
 * Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks' former Goalie
 * Patrick O'Neal (sportscaster), studio host and reporter
 * Denis Petukhov, figure skater
 * Sergei Raad, soccer player
 * Jack Sack (1902-1980), American football player and coach
 * Dmitry Salita (born 1982), boxer
 * Ossie Schectman (1919–2013), basketball player who scored the first basket in National Basketball Association history
 * Andy Seminick, professional baseball player.
 * Maria Sharapova, tennis player
 * Allie Sherman (1923-2015), National Football League player and head coach
 * Mose Solomon (1900–1966), the "Rabbi of Swat," Major League Baseball player
 * Kerri Strug (born 1977), gymnast
 * Nikolai Volkoff (born 1947), professional wrestler
 * Phil Weintraub (1907–1987), Major League Baseball first baseman & outfielder
 * Ted Williams (1918–2002), Major League Baseball left fielder

Military

 * Boris Pash, Colonel of the US Army
 * John Basil Turchin, Union army general in the American Civil War

Business

 * Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce
 * Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City, founder of Bloomberg business empire
 * Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, Russian-Jewish immigrant
 * 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

Politics

 * Alec Brook-Krasny, first Soviet-born Russian speaker to become a member of the New York State Assembly
 * Ben Cardin, politician of Russian Jewish descent
 * William Cohen, father of Russian Jewish descent
 * Russ Feingold, partial Russian Jewish descent
 * Al Franken, maternal grandmother of Russian Jewish descent
 * Bernie Sanders, mother of partial Russian Jewish descent
 * Jim Talent, former U.S. Senator, paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia

Other

 * Antuan Bronshtein, convicted murderer; Russian immigrant
 * Peter Demens, is one of the founders of the U.S. city of Saint Petersburg, Florida.
 * 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