{"id":5889,"date":"2014-07-03T08:15:46","date_gmt":"2014-07-03T08:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=5889"},"modified":"2018-08-16T15:20:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T15:20:38","slug":"celebrities-who-speak-russian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/celebrities-who-speak-russian\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrities who speak Russian"},"content":{"rendered":"

You might have read my previous post about famous foreigners who learned Russian<\/a>. A reader commented that these people moved to Russia (or what is now Russia) and had plenty of opportunities to master the language. Today I’d like to talk about some celebrities living outside Russia who can speak Russian. Luckily, they are all living, so we can watch them speak Russian. Granted, some of them were raised with Russian-speaking parents, albeit abroad, but I think it’s still encouraging to find a celebrity role model for learning the language. I will be highlighting those who actually have some degree of fluency as opposed to memorizing a couple of lines for a part.<\/p>\n

1. Milla Jovovich<\/h2>\n

Hollywood actress Milla Jovovich<\/a> (\u041c\u0438<\/span>\u043b\u0430 \u0419\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u043e\u0432\u0438\u0447<\/strong>) was born in Kiev, then USSR, to a Russian mother and a Serbian father. Her family left Ukraine when she was 5 and eventually ended up in the US, but Milla still sometimes wows Russian audiences by speaking Russian during her visits to the country. She even starred in a Russian-speaking role in the film Lucky Trouble<\/a> (“\u0412\u044b\u043a\u0440\u0443\u0442\u0430\u0441\u044b”). Listen to her brave the almost forgotten language in Ivan Urgant<\/a>‘s talk show.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rv_sd4REb0k<\/a><\/p>\n

2. Mila Kunis<\/h2>\n

Another actress, Mila Kunis<\/a> (\u041c\u0438<\/span>\u043b\u0430 \u041a\u0443<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0441<\/strong>) was born in Ukraine and moved to the US when she was in the second grade. She recalls having a hard time adapting to the English language and culture, to the point of “blocking<\/a>” her first year in the US from her memory. The actress says she speaks the language with her parents and can read it a little but cannot really write it.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qpyPT_pCM34<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Regina Spektor<\/h2>\n

Singer-songwriter Regina Spektor<\/a> (\u0420\u0435\u0433\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u0430 \u0421\u043f\u0435<\/span>\u043a\u0442\u043e\u0440<\/strong>) moved to the US from Moscow at the age of nine. She grew up in a Russian-speaking family, but didn’t visit Russia again until 2012. She recently covered two songs<\/a> by the Russian folk singer-songwriter (“bard”) Bulat Okudzhava<\/a>.<\/p>\n