Ukraine war
These stars have roots in Ukraine
Mila Kunis and Steven Spielberg have Ukrainian roots.
© carrie-nelson/ImageCollect / s_bukley/ImageCollect
From Mila Kunis to Dustin Hoffman, from Milla Jovovich to Steven Spielberg: these Hollywood greats have Ukrainian roots.
The world is watching Ukraine. In Hollywood, too, many stars showed their solidarity with the Eastern European country after Russian troops invaded. Several actors positioned themselves for Ukraine at the SAG Awards on Sunday. These stars with Ukrainian roots are particularly anxious about what is happening in their ancestral homeland:
Mila Kunis
The actress was born in 1983 in Ukraine, which was still part of the Soviet Union at the time. In 1991, shortly before the end of the Soviet Union, the parents fled to the USA with seven-year-old Mila. In 2017, the actress visited Ukraine with her husband Ashton Kutcher (44). However, the occupants of their former home would not let them in as they did not recognize Kunis and Kutcher.
Steven Spielberg
All four of Steven Spielberg’s (75) grandparents were born in Ukraine. As Jews, Spielberg’s paternal grandparents fled to the United States during the German occupation of World War II. They met in Cincinnati, where Spielberg’s father Arnold was born. According to the legendary director, Russian and Yiddish were spoken at home in addition to English.
Milla Jovovich
Milla Jovovich (46) owes her last name to her Serbian father. Her mother is from Russia. The actress was born in Kyiv. When Jovovich was five years old, the family fled the Soviet Union to London for political reasons. Then it went to the USA. The “Resident Evil” actress first worked there as a model. In 1994 she became an American citizen.
David Duchovny
The parents of David Duchovny’s (61) father Amram were Jewish emigrants who came to the USA in 1918 from what is now Ukraine. Curious: It was only in the course of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 that the “X-Files” star is said to have learned that Kyiv is not in Russia, but is the capital of Ukraine.
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman (84) grew up in Los Angeles to a family of non-practicing Jews with Ukrainian roots. Only in 2016 did the Oscar winner deal with his family history. In the TV show “Finding Your Roots” he first learned that his grandfather was killed in the Russian Civil War (1917-1922).