{"id":996,"date":"2014-03-27T10:32:01","date_gmt":"2014-03-27T10:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/personalities-of-jewish-and-ethnic-ukrainian\/"},"modified":"2018-08-29T03:27:34","modified_gmt":"2018-08-29T03:27:34","slug":"personalities-of-jewish-and-ethnic-ukrainian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/personalities-of-jewish-and-ethnic-ukrainian\/","title":{"rendered":"Personalities of Jewish and ethnic Ukrainian background are strongly represented in the performing arts?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Personalities in the Performing Arts who are of Ukrainian-Jewish Background<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"theodore-bikel\"<\/td>\nTheodore Bikel<\/strong>\u00a0(b. 1924). Versatile actor of film, stage, and television, as well as a multilingual folk singer and musician. Bikel is a master of languages and accents and played roles in such films as\u00a0The African Queen<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Enemy Below<\/em>, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in\u00a0The Defiant Ones<\/em>. He created the role of Captain Von Trapp in the original Broadway cast of\u00a0The Sound of Music<\/em>. Bikel was born in Vienna to parents who emigrated to Austria from Bukovina.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: www.bikel.com<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"bob-dylan\"<\/td>\nBob Dylan<\/strong> (b. 1941). Musician, singer-songwriter, and influential figure in pop music and culture. Dylan became one of the definitive songwriters of the 1960s protest movement and is considered one of the most original and poetic voices in the history of American music. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, Dylan has forged a remarkable career for over five decades, selling millions of records worldwide. He has received numerous awards, including the Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Awards, as well as a special Pultizer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His paternal grandparents emigrated to the United States from Odessa in the early 1900s.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Chris Hakkens<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"dustin-hoffman\"<\/td>\nDustin Hoffman<\/strong>\u00a0(b. 1937). American actor with an illustrious career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. Hoffman is well known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters in such landmark films as\u00a0Midnight Cowboy<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Graduate<\/em>. He won Oscars for best actor in\u00a0Rain Man<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Kramer vs. Kramer<\/em>. Hoffman was born in Los Angeles to an Ashkenazi family of immigrants from Kyiv and Iasi, Romania.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Georges Biard<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"vladimir-horowitz\"<\/td>\nVladimir Horowitz<\/strong>\u00a0(1903-89). Classical virtuoso pianist and composer widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. Horowitz was born in Kyiv to an assimilated Jewish family and studied at the Kyiv Conservatory. He moved to the West in 1925, and made his debut at Carnegie Hall in 1928.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"danny-kaye\"<\/td>\nDanny Kaye<\/strong>\u00a0(1913-87). American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and rapid-fire nonsense songs. In the movie\u00a0The Inspector General<\/em>, he sings the \"Lutche Bulo\" section of the Ukrainian song \"Yikhav Kozak za Dunai.\" Kaye was born David Daniel Kaminsky, and was the son of an immigrant Jewish-Ukrainian tailor.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"walter-matthau\"<\/td>\nWalter Matthau<\/strong>\u00a0(1920-2000). American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in\u00a0The Odd Couple<\/em>\u00a0and his frequent collaborations with\u00a0Odd Couple<\/em>\u00a0co-star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy\u00a0The Bad News Bears<\/em>. Matthau was born Walter John Matthow in New York. His father was a peddler in Kyiv before coming to the United States.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"leonard-nimoy\"<\/td>\nLeonard Nimoy<\/strong>\u00a0(1931-2015). Actor, film director, poet, singer, and photographer, best known for his role of Spock in the original\u00a0Star Trek<\/em>\u00a0series. Nimoy was born in Boston in 1931 to parents who were Orthodox Jewish immigrants from Izyaslav, Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"otto-preminger\"<\/td>\nOtto Preminger<\/strong>\u00a0(1905-86). Prominent theatre and film director, who directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career, including\u00a0Forever Amber<\/em>,\u00a0The Man With the Golden Arm<\/em>, and\u00a0Exodus<\/em>. He was born into a Jewish family in Vizhnits (Vyzhnytsya) in northern Bukovina, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, today Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Allan Warren<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"william-shatner\"<\/td>\nWilliam Shatner<\/strong>\u00a0(b. 1931). Actor, musician, singer, author, film director, spokesman and comedian, who became a cultural icon for his portrayal of James T. Kirk, captain of the USS\u00a0Enterprise<\/em>, in the science fiction television series\u00a0Star Trek<\/em>. Shatner was born in Montreal, Canada. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from towns that are within the borders of contemporary Ukraine.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"steven-spielberg\"<\/td>\nSteven Spielberg<\/strong>\u00a0(b. 1946). Film director, screenwriter, producer, and business magnate, regarded as one of the most popular and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Over more than four decades, Spielberg\u2019s films have covered many themes and genres, including science-fiction and adventure films (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, and Jurassic Park<\/em>), and films addressing moral issues, such as the Holocaust (Schindler\u2019s List<\/em>), the transatlantic slave trade (Amistad<\/em>), war (Saving Private Ryan<\/em>), and terrorism (Munich<\/em>). Spielberg was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and all four grandparents were from Ukraine. In 2006, Spielberg visited Ukraine for the showing of the film\u00a0Spell Your Name<\/em>, a documentary he co-produced with the Ukrainian businessman and philanthropist Viktor Pinchuk, about Babyn Yar (Babi Yar), a site outside Kyiv where the Nazis slaughtered more than 33,000 Jews in two days in September 1941.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Georges Biard<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"isaac-stern\"<\/td>\nIsaac Stern<\/strong>\u00a0(1920-2001). Violinist and conductor, renowned for his recordings and for discovering new musical talent, including cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Jian Wang, and violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman. Born into a Jewish family in Kremianets (Krzemieniec) in Ukraine\u2019s Ternopil oblast, Stern moved with his family to San Francisco at age fourteen months.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Personalities in the Performing Arts who are of Ethnic Ukrainian Background<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"oleksandr-dovzhenko\"<\/td>\nOleksandr Dovzhenko<\/strong>\u00a0(1894-1956). Soviet screenwriter, film producer, and director. Dovzhenko is often cited as one of the most important early Soviet filmmakers, alongside Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin, as well as being a pioneer of Soviet montage theory. He is best known in the West for his \"Ukraine Trilogy\"\u2013Zvenyhora<\/em>,\u00a0Arsenal<\/em>, and\u00a0Zemlya<\/em>\u00a0(Earth<\/em>); the latter, a Soviet propaganda film about the collectivization of farms in Ukraine, is considered one of the most important Soviet films ever made and a masterpiece of world cinema. Dovzhenko was born in a townlet in Chernihiv oblast.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"bill-evans\"<\/td>\nBill Evans<\/strong>\u00a0(1929-80). American jazz pianist and composer who mostly worked in a trio setting. Widely considered to be one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Evans performed with such jazz legends as Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly, Stan Getz, and Tony Bennett. He recorded more than fifty albums and received five Grammy awards as well as a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Evans was born in New Jersey to a father of Welsh descent and a mother of Ukrainian Rusyn ancestry.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Brian McMillen<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"luba-goy\"<\/td>\nLuba Goy<\/strong>. Canadian comedienne, writer, and one of the stars of\u00a0The Royal Canadian Air Farce<\/em>. Goy, a graduate of the National Theatre School in Montreal, has performed with the Stratford Theatre and has played over three thousand characters in her comedy, voice-over animation, television, radio, and film career. As a member of Air Farce, Goy has received numerous awards, including the Governor-General\u2019s Performing Arts Reward, fifteen Actras, and a Juno. Goy was born in Germany to Ukrainian parents and raised in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Tabercil<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"milla-jovovich\"<\/td>\nMilla Jovovich<\/strong>\u00a0(b. 1975). American actress, musician, model, and fashion designer. Jovovich has appeared in numerous science fiction and action-themed films, and is well known for her roles in\u00a0The Fifth Element, Resident Evil<\/em>, and\u00a0Joan of Arc<\/em>. Jovovich was born in Kyiv to the Russian actress of Ukrainian origin, Galina Mikhaylovna Loginova.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Georges Biard<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"ruslana-lyzhychko\"<\/td>\nRuslana Lyzhychko<\/strong>\u00a0(b. 1973). Singer, songwriter, producer, musical conductor, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, voice actress, and social activist, known mononymously as Ruslana. She is a World Music Award and Eurovision Song Contest winning artist for her most popular song \u201cWild Dances.\u201d Ruslana, a former deputy in the Ukrainian parliament, holds the title of People's Artist of Ukraine. She was born in Lviv.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: WildEnergy<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"mike-mazurki\"<\/td>\nMike Mazurki<\/strong>\u00a0(1907-90). American actor who appeared in over one hundred movies, and acquired fame for his roles in such movies as\u00a0Some Like It Hot<\/em>\u00a0(1959) and\u00a0It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World<\/em>\u00a0(1963). He also became a professional athlete in three sports, primarily wrestling but also American football and basketball. He was born Mykhailo Mazurkevych in Ternopil.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"george-montgomery\"<\/td>\nGeorge Montgomery<\/strong>\u00a0(1916-2000). American actor, painter, sculptor, furniture craftsman, and stuntman. Best known as an actor in westerns in film and television. George Montgomery Letz was the youngest of fifteen children born to Ukrainian immigrant parents and grew up on a sprawling ranch in Montana where he honed real-life cowboy skills.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"jack-palance\"<\/td>\nJack Palance<\/strong>\u00a0(1919-2006). American actor \u2028who during half a century of film and television appearances was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his work in\u00a0Sudden Fear<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Shane<\/em>, and won in 1991 for his role in\u00a0City Slickers<\/em>. Born Volodymyr Palahniuk in Pennsylvania to Ukrainian immigrants, his father is a native of Ivane Zolote Ternopil oblast and his mother is from the Lviv region.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"george-stroumboulopoulos\"<\/td>\nGeorge Stroumboulopoulos<\/strong>\u00a0(b. 1972). CBC Canadian talk show host. Stroumboulopoulous, born in Ontario to a Ukrainian Canadian mother and a Greek father from Egypt, is the host and co-executive producer of Canada\u2019s primetime talk show\u00a0George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight<\/em>. After a career in Canadian talk radio and television music shows, he worked for ABC and CNN in the United States and then returned to become one of the most trusted and respected broadcasters in Canada. He has also developed a strong international following on his YouTube channel.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Mark Dunne<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"bohdan<\/td>\nBohdan Stupka<\/strong>\u00a0(1941-2012). Leading Ukrainian actor and the minister of culture of Ukraine. Stupka was especially praised for his rendition of Sholem Aleichem\u2019s Tevye character in the play,\u00a0Tevye-tevel<\/em>, staged by the Ivan Franko National Academic Theatre of Drama in Kyiv, and premiered in 1989. The play enjoyed many sold-out seasons, and celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2009. It traveled widely in Europe and America, and Bohdan Stupka received a number of awards for it. Stupka was born in Kulykiv in Lviv oblast.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Oleg Pavlyuchenkov<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\"alex-trebek\"<\/td>\nAlex Trebek<\/strong>\u00a0(b. 1940). Television personality and host of the syndicated information quiz show\u00a0Jeopardy!<\/em>\u00a0Born in Sudbury, Ontario of a Ukrainian Canadian father and a French Canadian mother, Trebek built a career in Canadian television and radio before moving to the United States to work on game shows. He broke the world record for longevity as host of television\u2019s most popular quiz show and won two Emmy Awards and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: marabuchi<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Personalities in the Performing Arts who are of Ukrainian-Jewish Background Theodore Bikel\u00a0(b. 1924). Versatile actor of film, stage, and television, as well as a multilingual folk singer and musician. Bikel is a master of languages...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-did-you-know","category-culture","primary-category-8","primary-category-culture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=996"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11417,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996\/revisions\/11417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}