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Curated category

American people of Russian-Jewish descent

  • Woody AllenAllan Stewart Konigsberg was born on the 30th of November 1935 at Mount Eden Hospital in Bronx, New York City. He grew up in Brooklyn's Midwood neighborhood…
  • Steven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg was born on the 18th of December 1946, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His mother Leah Adler ran a kosher dairy restaurant and played concert…
  • Kirk DouglasKirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch on the 9th of December 1916, in Amsterdam, New York. He grew up as the fourth of seven children and the only son of…
  • Louis B. MayerLouis B. Mayer was born Lazar Meir on the 12th of July 1884 in the village of Dymer, Ukraine. His family moved to Saint John, New Brunswick when he was a…
  • George GershwinJacob Gershwine entered the world on the 26th of September 1898, inside a second-floor apartment at 242 Snediker Avenue in Brooklyn.
  • Jack L. WarnerJacob Warner was born in London, Ontario, Canada, on the 2nd of August 1892. His parents were Polish-Jewish immigrants who spoke mainly Yiddish at home.
  • Leon FestingerLeon Festinger was born on the 8th of May 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants named Alex and Sara Solomon Festinger.
  • Natalie PortmanNatalie Hershlag was born on the 9th of June 1981, in Mount Scopus, Jerusalem. Her birth took place at Hadassah Medical Center to Jewish parents.
  • Scarlett JohanssonScarlett Ingrid Johansson was born on the 22nd of November 1984, in the Manhattan borough of New York City. Her father Karsten Olaf Johansson is an architect…
  • Aaron CoplandAaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, on the 14th of November 1900. He grew up above his family's store at 628 Washington Avenue.
  • Carl SaganCarl Edward Sagan was born on the 9th of November 1934 in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn. His father Samuel worked as a garment worker who had…
  • Joseph StiglitzJoseph Eugene Stiglitz was born on the 9th of February, 1943 in Gary, Indiana. He grew up in a Jewish family where his mother Charlotte worked as a…
  • Phil SpectorHarvey Phillip Spector was born on the 26th of December 1939 in the Bronx. His mother Bertha Spektor had been brought to the United States as an infant from…
  • Carrie FisherCarrie Frances Fisher entered the world on the 21st of October 1956 at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California.
  • Joseph HellerJoseph Heller was born on the 1st of May 1923, in Coney Island. His parents were poor Jewish immigrants from Russia named Lena and Isaac Donald Heller.
  • Bruria KaufmanBruria Kaufman entered the world on the 21st of August 1918 in New York City. Her family belonged to a Jewish community with roots stretching back to Ukraine.
  • Herb AlpertHerb Alpert was born on the 31st of March 1935, in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. He grew up as the youngest of three children to Tillie and…
  • Joe ShusterJoseph Shuster was born on the 10th of July 1914 in Toronto, Ontario. His father Julius ran a tailor shop in the city's garment district while his mother Ida…
  • Isaac AsimovIsaac Asimov arrived in the United States on the 3rd of February 1923, aboard the RMS Baltic at age three. His family traveled from Petrovichi, Russian SFSR…
  • E. L. DoctorowEdgar Lawrence Doctorow was born on the 6th of January 1931 in the Bronx. His parents were Rose and David Richard Doctorow, second-generation Americans of…
  • Nicolas SlonimskyNikolai Leonidovich Slonimskiy was born in Saint Petersburg during the final years of the Russian Empire. His family background included a grandfather named…
  • Maurice PodoloffMaurice Podoloff was born to a Russian Jewish family in the Russian Empire on or about the 18th of August 1890. Doubt remains about his exact birthplace and…
  • David BenioffDavid Friedman entered the world on the 25th of September 1970, in New York City. He grew up as the youngest of three children in a Jewish family with…
  • Edward FredkinEdward Fredkin was born on the 2nd of October 1934 to Russian-Jewish immigrants in Los Angeles. His mother worked as a concert pianist but never performed…
  • Irvin KershnerIrvin Kershner was born Isadore Kershner on the 29th of April 1923 in Philadelphia. His parents were Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants who filled his early years…
  • Stanley WolpertStanley Albert Wolpert was born on the 23rd of December 1927, in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up with Russian Jewish parents who shaped his early years before…
  • Ossie SchectmanOssie Schectman entered the world on the 30th of March 1919 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His parents were Jewish immigrants who had fled Russia to build a…
  • Jon FavreauJonathan Kolia Favreau was born in Flushing, Queens, New York, on the 19th of October 1966. He grew up as the only child of Madeleine, an elementary school…
  • Robert EttingerRobert Ettinger lay in a Michigan hospital bed during the late 1940s, recovering from severe wounds sustained while serving as an infantry second lieutenant…
  • Armand HammerOn the 5th of July 1919, federal agents watched a thirty-three-year-old woman named Marie Oganesoff enter the medical office of Julius Hammer in the Bronx.
  • Eric FonerEric Foner was born on the 7th of February 1943 in New York City. His father Jack D. Foner worked actively within the trade union movement and campaigned for…
  • Red AuerbachArnold Jacob Auerbach arrived in the world on the 20th of September 1917. He grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as one of four children born to Marie and…