The Most Famous

ACTORS from Russia

This page contains a list of the greatest Russian Actors. The pantheon dataset contains 13,578 Actors, 221 of which were born in Russia. This makes Russia the birth place of the 10th most number of Actors behind Germany, and Italy.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Russian Actors of all time. This list of famous Russian Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Russian Actors.

1. Yul Brynner (1920 - 1985)

With an HPI of 81.16, Yul Brynner is the most famous Russian Actor. His biography has been translated into 68 different languages on wikipedia.

Yuliy Borisovich Briner (Russian: Юлий Борисович Бринер; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner (Russian: Юл Бриннер), was a Russian-born actor. He was known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical The King and I (1951), for which he won two Tony Awards, and later an Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1956 film adaptation. He played the role 4,625 times on stage, and became known for his shaved head, which he maintained as a personal trademark long after adopting it for The King and I. Considered one of the first Russian-American film stars, he was honored with a ceremony to put his handprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood in 1956. He also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. In 1956, Brynner received the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for his portrayals of Rameses II in the Cecil B. DeMille epic The Ten Commandments and General Bounine in Anastasia. He was also well known as the gunman Chris Adams in The Magnificent Seven (1960) and its first sequel Return of the Seven (1966). He had roles as the android "The Gunslinger" in Westworld (1973) and its sequel Futureworld (1976). In addition to his film credits, he worked as a model and photographer, and wrote several books.

2. Armin Mueller-Stahl (b. 1930)

With an HPI of 70.51, Armin Mueller-Stahl is the 2nd most famous Russian Actor. His biography has been translated into 44 different languages.

Armin Mueller-Stahl (born 17 December 1930) is a retired German actor who also appeared in numerous English-language films since the 1980s. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Shine. In 2011, he was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear.

3. Michael Chekhov (1891 - 1955)

With an HPI of 68.06, Michael Chekhov is the 3rd most famous Russian Actor. His biography has been translated into 37 different languages.

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chekhov (Russian: Михаил Александрович Чехов; 16 August 1891 – 30 September 1955), known as Michael Chekhov, was a Russian-American actor, director, author, and theatre practitioner. He was a nephew of the playwright Anton Chekhov and a student of Konstantin Stanislavski. Stanislavski referred to him as his most brilliant student. Although mainly a stage actor, he made a few notable appearances on film, perhaps most memorably as the Freudian analyst in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945), for which he received his only Academy Award nomination.

4. Lila Kedrova (1918 - 2000)

With an HPI of 67.73, Lila Kedrova is the 4th most famous Russian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Yelizaveta Nikolaevna Kedrova (Russian: Елизавета Николаевна Кедрова; 9 October 1909 – 16 February 2000), known as Lila Kedrova, was a Russian-French actress of the screen and stage. For her portrayal of Madame Hortense in Zorba the Greek (1964), she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She later won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for the same role in the musical stage version of the film in 1984.

5. Sacha Guitry (1885 - 1957)

With an HPI of 65.95, Sacha Guitry is the 5th most famous Russian Actor. His biography has been translated into 48 different languages.

Alexandre-Pierre Georges "Sacha" Guitry (French: [gitʁi]; 21 February 1885 – 24 July 1957) was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the boulevard theatre. He was the son of a leading French actor, Lucien Guitry, and followed his father into the theatrical profession. He became known for his stage performances, particularly in boulevardier roles. He was also a prolific playwright, writing 115 plays throughout his career. He was married five times, always to rising actresses whose careers he furthered. Probably his best-known wife was Yvonne Printemps to whom he was married between 1919 and 1932. Guitry's plays range from historical dramas to contemporary light comedies. Some have incidental music by composers including André Messager and Reynaldo Hahn. When silent films became popular Guitry avoided them, finding the lack of spoken dialogue fatal to dramatic impact. From the 1930s to the end of his life he enthusiastically embraced the cinema, making as many as five films in a single year. The later years of Guitry's career were overshadowed by accusations of collaborating with the occupying Germans after the capitulation of France in the Second World War. The charges were dismissed, but Guitry, a strongly patriotic man, was disillusioned by the vilification he received from some of his compatriots. By the time of his death, his popular esteem had been restored to the extent that 12,000 people filed past his coffin before his burial in Paris.

6. Yuri Nikulin (1921 - 1997)

With an HPI of 65.83, Yuri Nikulin is the 6th most famous Russian Actor. His biography has been translated into 58 different languages.

Yuri Vladimirovich Nikulin (Russian: Юрий Владимирович Никулин; 18 December 1921 – 21 August 1997) was a Soviet and Russian actor and clown who starred in many popular films. He is best known for his roles in Leonid Gaidai's comedies, such as The Diamond Arm and Kidnapping, Caucasian Style, although he occasionally starred in dramatic roles and performed in Moscow Circus. He was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1973 and Hero of Socialist Labour in 1990. He also received a number of state awards, including the prestigious Order of Lenin, which he received twice in his lifetime.

7. Vyacheslav Tikhonov (1928 - 2009)

With an HPI of 65.51, Vyacheslav Tikhonov is the 7th most famous Russian Actor. His biography has been translated into 45 different languages.

Vyacheslav Vasilyevich Tikhonov (Russian: Вячеслав Васильевич Тихонов; 8 February 1928 – 4 December 2009) was a Soviet and Russian actor whose best known role was as Soviet spy Stierlitz in the television series Seventeen Moments of Spring. He was a recipient of numerous state awards, including the titles of People's Artist of the USSR (1974) and Hero of Socialist Labour (1982).

8. Olga Knipper (1868 - 1959)

With an HPI of 65.29, Olga Knipper is the 8th most famous Russian Actor. Her biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova (Russian: Ольга Леонардовна Книппер-Чехова; 21 September [O.S. 9 September] 1868 – 22 March 1959) was a Russian and Soviet stage actress. She was married to Anton Chekhov. Knipper was among the 39 original members of the Moscow Art Theatre when it was formed by Konstantin Stanislavski in 1898. She played Arkadina in The Seagull (1898), played Elena in the Moscow premiere of Uncle Vanya (1899), and was the first to play Masha in Three Sisters (1901) and Madame Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard (1904). She married Anton Chekhov, the author of these plays, in 1901. She played Ranevskaya again in 1943, when the theatre marked the 300th performance of The Cherry Orchard.

9. Yevgeny Leonov (1926 - 1994)

With an HPI of 64.41, Yevgeny Leonov is the 9th most famous Russian Actor. His biography has been translated into 55 different languages.

Yevgeny Pavlovich Leonov (Russian: Евгений Павлович Леонов; 2 September 1926 – 29 January 1994) was a Soviet and Russian actor who played main parts in several of the most famous Soviet films, such as Gentlemen of Fortune, Mimino and Striped Trip. Called "one of Russia's best-loved actors", he also provided the voice for many Soviet cartoon characters, including Vinny Pukh (Winnie-the-Pooh).

10. Innokenty Smoktunovsky (1925 - 1994)

With an HPI of 64.35, Innokenty Smoktunovsky is the 10th most famous Russian Actor. His biography has been translated into 56 different languages.

Innokenty Mikhailovich Smoktunovsky (Russian: Иннокентий Михайлович Смоктуновский; born Smoktunovich, 28 March 1925 – 3 August 1994) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor. He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1974 and a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1990.

People

Pantheon has 221 people classified as Russian actors born between 1729 and 1998. Of these 221, 94 (42.53%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Russian actors include Armin Mueller-Stahl, Alisa Freindlich, and Ludmila Savelyeva. The most famous deceased Russian actors include Yul Brynner, Michael Chekhov, and Lila Kedrova. As of April 2024, 221 new Russian actors have been added to Pantheon including Yul Brynner, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Michael Chekhov.