Eastern European
by felipearaujo1989 | created - 16 Jul 2015 | updated - 24 Oct 2015 | PublicActors and actresses born in Eastern European countries or from Eastern European ancestry.
1. Svetlana Khodchenkova
Actress | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Svetlana Khodchenkova is a Russian actress, known for her roles in Bless the Woman (2003) and in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011).
She was born Svetlana Viktorovna Khodchenkova on January 21, 1983, in Moscow and spent her childhood in Zheleznodorozhny, a small city about 6 miles east of Moscow, ...
Born in Russia.
2. Mila Kunis
Actress | Black Swan
Milena Markovna "Mila" Kunis is a Ukrainian-American actress born to a Jewish family in Chernivtsi, Ukraine.
Her mother, Elvira, is a physics teacher, her father, Mark Kunis, is a mechanical engineer, and she has an older brother named Michael. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1991. ...
Born in Ukraine.
3. Yul Brynner
Actor | The King and I
Exotic leading man of American films, famed as much for his completely bald head as for his performances, Yul Brynner masked much of his life in mystery and outright lies designed to tease people he considered gullible. It was not until the publication of the books "Yul: The Man Who Would Be King" ...
Born in Russia.
4. Yvonne Strahovski
Actress | Stateless
Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski was born and raised in Australia. Her parents were Polish immigrants. She attended the Santa Sabina College for her high school education. She then went on to study Performance at the University of Western Sydney's School of Contemporary Arts, graduating in 2003. ...
Her parents were from Poland.
5. Eliza Dushku
Actress | Bring It On
Eliza Dushku was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Judith (Rasmussen), a political science professor, and Philip R. Dushku, a teacher and administrator. Her father is Albanian and her mother is American (of Danish, Irish, English, and German descent). She was discovered at the end of a five-month ...
Her father is from Albania.
6. Anton Yelchin
Actor | Star Trek
Anton Yelchin was an American actor, known for playing Bobby in Hearts in Atlantis (2001), Chekov in the Star Trek (2009) reboot, Charlie Brewster in the Fright Night (2011) remake, and Jacob in Like Crazy (2011).
He was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia, USSR, to a Jewish family. His ...
Born in Russia.
7. Yulia Snigir
Actress | A Good Day to Die Hard
Born in a town of Tula, Russia, Yulia Snigir was playing chess competitively and at the age of 15 was awarded the prestigious title of Candidate Master of Sports in Chess. She was planning to have a professional chess player career but instead made a decision to continue her education and moved to ...
Born in Russia.
8. Bojana Novakovic
Actress | Edge of Darkness
Novakovic was born on 17 November 1981 in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia. She moved to Australia in 1988, at the age of seven. Novakovic was initially interested in becoming a social worker or doctor, but after a significant set of events, she changed her mind and decided to pursue the performing ...
Born in Serbia.
9. Idina Menzel
Soundtrack | Frozen
Idina Menzel was born on May 30, 1971 in New York City, New York as Idina Kim Mentzel. She's an American actress, singer & songwriter. She's best known as Maureen in Rent, Elphaba in Wicked & the voice of Elsa in Frozen (2013). Her mother Helene Goldberg was a therapist & her father Stuart Mentzel ...
She is of Eastern European Jewish descent.
10. Kristen Bell
Actress | Frozen
Kristen Anne Bell (born 1980) is an American actress and singer. She was born and raised in Huntington Woods, Michigan, and is the daughter of Lorelei (Frygier), a nurse, and Tom Bell, a television news director. Her ancestry is Polish (mother) and German, English, Irish, and Scottish (father). ...
Her mother's family are from Poland.
11. Edward G. Robinson
Actor | Double Indemnity
Emanuel Goldenberg arrived in the United States from Romania at age ten, and his family moved into New York's Lower East Side. He took up acting while attending City College, abandoning plans to become a rabbi or lawyer. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts awarded him a scholarship, and he began ...
Born in Romania.
12. Bela Lugosi
Actor | Dracula
Bela Lugosi was born Béla Ferenc Dezsö Blaskó on October 20, 1882, Lugos, Hungary, Austria-Hungary (now Lugoj, Romania), to Paula de Vojnich and István Blaskó, a banker. He was the youngest of four children. During WWI, he volunteered and was commissioned as an infantry lieutenant, and was wounded ...
Born in Romania.
13. Paul Muni
Actor | Scarface
Paul Muni was born Sept. 22, 1895, in Lemberg, Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Salli and Phillip Weisenfreund, who were both professionals. His family was Jewish, and spoke Yiddish. Paul was educated in New York and Cleveland public schools. He was described as 5 feet 10 inches, with black hair and ...
Born in Ukraine.
14. Stana Katic
Actress | Castle
Stana Katic recently starred in the TV series, Absentia, streaming on Amazon. It's a thriller-drama produced by Sony Pictures Television. Upon debut it was one of Amazon's top-ten most popular programs.
Stana's feature film work includes, CBGB, Big Sur, The Spirit, Feast of Love, The Double and Bond...
Her parents are from Croatia.
15. Peter Lorre
Actor | M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder
Peter Lorre was born László Löwenstein in Rózsahegy in the Slovak area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of Hungarian Jewish parents. He learned both Hungarian and German languages from birth, and was educated in elementary and secondary schools in the Austria-Hungary capitol Vienna, but did ...
Born in Slovakia.
16. Pola Negri
Actress | Bella Donna
Pola Negri was born in Lipno, Poland, and moved to Warsaw as a child. Living in poverty with her mother, a teenage Pola auditioned and was accepted to the Imperial Ballet. Due to an illness that ended her dancing career, she soon switched to the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts and became ...
Born in Poland.
17. Vilma Bánky
Actress | The Son of the Sheik
Vilma Bánky appeared in Hungarian, Austrian and French movies between 1920 and 1925, the year in which Samuel Goldwyn signed her, in Budapest, to a Hollywood contract. In Hollywood she was billed as the "The Hungarian Rhapsody". In the mid and late 1920s she was Goldwyn's biggest money maker, ...
Born in Hungary.
18. Kim Novak
Actress | Vertigo
Kim Novak was born in Chicago, Illinois on February 13, 1933 with the birth name of Marilyn Pauline Novak. She was the daughter of a former teacher turned transit clerk and his wife, also a former teacher. Throughout elementary and high school, Kim did not get along well with teachers. She even ...
She is of Czech descent.
19. Elena Satine
Actress | Cowboy Bebop
Elena Satine was born in Tbilisi, Georgia and grew up in Sochi. She began her professional career at the tender age of 6 when she appeared on the popular children's variety show "Morning Star". On a spontaneous trip to New York City, the young actress attended an open call for at the Professional ...
Born in Georgia.
20. Alexa Davalos
Actress | The Chronicles of Riddick
Alexa most recently starred as "Special Agent Gaines" on FBI: MOST WANTED on CBS, alongside Dylan McDermott. She also starred in Amazon's Emmy-award winning drama series, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE. Her other television work includes Marvel's THE PUNISHER and Frank Darabont's MOB CITY.
Alexa's film ...
Her father's family were Jewish immigrants (from Russia and Lithuania).
21. Holly Valance
Actress | Taken
Holly Rachel Valance was born 11th May 1983 in Melbourne, Australia to parents Rachel Stevens and Ryko Valance (Ryko legally changed his name at 18 from Vukadinovic). Holly's mother is from Southampton, England and her father is Serbian Montenegrin. Both of her parents were models and her father is...
Her father is from Serbia.
22. Gabriella Hámori
Actress | A vizsga
Gabriella Hámori was born on November 1, 1978 in Szarvas, Hungary. She is an actress, known for The Exam (2011), Portraits in Dramatic Time (2011) and Budapest (2009).
Born in Hungary.
23. Scarlett Johansson
Actress | Lost in Translation
Scarlett Ingrid Johansson was born on November 22, 1984 in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Her mother, Melanie Sloan is from a Jewish family from the Bronx and her father, Karsten Johansson is a Danish-born architect from Copenhagen. She has a sister, Vanessa Johansson, who is also an actress, ...
Her mother is from an Ashkenazi Jewish family (from Poland, Belarus, and Russia).
24. Masiela Lusha
Actress | Forgotten Evil
European-born actress/writer Masiela Lusha portrayed "Carmen Lopez" for five seasons as George Lopez's rebellious and passionate daughter on the syndicated ABC series, George Lopez (2002). She was born on October 23, 1985 to parents Max and Daniela. Raised in Tirana, Albania; Budapest, Hungary; and...
Born in Albania.
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