Even though Ukraine may be in the news today for all the wrong reasons, before the Russian invasion it was a vibrant, thriving country – the largest in Europe outside Russia – known as “the breadbasket of Europe” for its rich soil, and one of the world’s three largest exporters of wheat, corn, sunflower oil, and other agricultural products. With a population of more than 43 million and a land area of nearly 224,000 square miles, it also boasts seven World Heritage Sites, and was the home of one of the world’s earliest constitutions, written in 1710. (Here are 32 things you may not know about Ukraine.)
In addition, over the centuries, what is now Ukraine has been the birthplace of numerous illustrious figures. Because the histories of Russia and Ukraine have been intertwined for more than 1,000 years, and because Ukraine was officially part of the U.S.S.R. as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1922 to 1991, a number of prominent “Russians” were actually born on what is now Ukrainian soil – among them the revolutionary Leon Trotsky and the composer Sergei Prokofiev. (These were the republics of the Soviet Union.)
By the same token, because Eastern Europe has seen empires come and go over the centuries, some well-known people were born in what places that were then part of Poland or the Austrian or Austro-Hungarian empires, but are now firmly within Ukraine’s borders.
Click here to see 32 famous people you didn’t know were born in Ukraine
To compile a list of famous people born in Ukraine and determine details of their careers, their birth (and where appropriate death) dates, and birthplaces, 24/7 Tempo consulted Vox Ukraine, Biography, Britannica, The New York Times, The Famous People, and Wikipedia. Birthplaces are given as they were at the time of birth, with modern Ukrainian names noted when different.
Nikolai Gogol
> Known as: Author (“Diary of a Madman,” “The Overcoat”)
> Birth year: 1809 (d. 1852)
> Birthplace: Sorochyntsi (now Velyki Sorochyntsi)
Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch
> Known as: Author, journalist, namesake of the term “masochism”
> Birth year: 1836 (d. 1895)
> Birthplace: Lemberg, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austrian Empire (now Lviv)
Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
Joseph Conrad
> Known as: Novelist (“Heart of Darkness,” “Lord Jim”)
> Birth year: 1857 (d. 1924)
> Birthplace: Berdychiv
Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
Kazimir Malevich
> Known as: Avant-garde artist and writer
> Birth year: 1879 (d. 1935)
> Birthplace: Kyiv
Source: Archive Photos / Archive Photos via Getty Images
Alla Nazimova
> Known as: Silent film star; founder of the legendary Garden of Allah hotel in Hollywood
> Birth year: 1879 (d. 1945)
> Birthplace: Yalta, Crimea, Russian Empire (now Ukraine, but illegally occupied and claimed by Russia in 2014)
Source: Topical Press Agency / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
Leon Trotsky
> Known as: Key Bolshevik revolutionary, founder of the Red Army
> Birth year: 1879 (d. 1940)
> Birthplace: Yanovka (now Bereslavka, Ukraine)
Source: Hulton Archive / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
Anna Akhmatova
> Known as: Famed Russian poet and translator
> Birth year: 1889 (d. 1966)
> Birthplace: Odessa
Source: London Stereoscopic Company / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
Mischa Elman
> Known as: Noted violinist with a career spanning more than 60 years
> Birth year: 1891 (d. 1967)
> Birthplace: Talne
Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
Sergei Prokofiev
> Known as: Composer (“Peter and the Wolf,” “Alexander Nevsky”)
> Birth year: 1891 (d. 1953)
> Birthplace: Sontsovka (now Sontsivka)
Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
Isaac Babel
> Known as: Author, playwright, “the greatest prose writer of Russian Jewry”
> Birth year: 1894 (d. 1940)
> Birthplace: Odessa
Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
Wilhelm Reich
> Known as: Controversial doctor and psychoanalyst
> Birth year: 1897 (d. 1957)
> Birthplace: Dobzau, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary (now Dobrianychi, Ukraine)
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Golda Meir
> Known as: Fourth prime minister of Israel, first female head of state in the Middle East
> Birth year: 1898 (d. 1978)
> Birthplace: Kyiv
Source: Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
Louis “Kid” Kaplan
> Known as: Hall of Fame boxer, 1925 world featherweight champion
> Birth year: 1901 (d. 1097)
> Birthplace: Kyiv
Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images
Lee Strasberg
> Known as: Actor, director, drama teacher (“the father of method acting in America”)
> Birth year: 1901 (d. 1982)
> Birthplace: Budzanów, Poland (now Budaniv, Ukraine)
Source: Keystone / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
Vladimir Horowitz
> Known as: Multiple-Grammy-winning pianist and composer
> Birth year: 1903 (d. 1989)
> Birthplace: Kyiv
Source: Erich Auerbach / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
Nathan Milstein
> Known as: Famed violinist, specialist in Bach’s solo violin repertoire
> Birth year: 1904 (d. 1992)
> Birthplace: Odessa
Source: Keystone / Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Leonid Brezhnev
> Known as: Long-serving general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, successor to Nikita Khrushchev
> Birth year: 1906 (d. 1982)
> Birthplace: Kamenskoye (now Kamianske, Ukraine)
Source: Archive Photos / Archive Photos via Getty Images
Zino Davidoff
> Known as: “King of Cigars,” founder of the Davidoff brand
> Birth year: 1906 (d. 1994)
> Birthplace: Novhorod-Siverskyi
Source: Erich Auerbach / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
David Oistrakh
> Known as: Celebrated violinist, violist, and conductor
> Birth year: 1908 (d. 1974)
> Birthplace: Odessa
Source: Express / Archive Photos via Getty Images
Simon Wiesenthal
> Known as: Holocaust survivor, Nazi hunter
> Birth year: 1908 (d. 2005)
> Birthplace: Buchach, Kingdom of Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine)
Source: Erich Auerbach / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
Sviatoslav Richter
> Known as: Pianist, hailed as “one of the greatest recreative artists of all time”
> Birth year: 1915 (d. 1997)
> Birthplace: Zhytomyr
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Source: Erich Auerbach / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
Emil Gilels
> Known as: “One of the world’s greatest pianists,” according to the new York Times
> Birth year: 1916 (d. 1985)
> Birthplace: Odessa
Source: Keystone / Hulton Archive via Getty Images
Isaac Stern
> Known as: Multiple-Grammy-winning violinist
> Birth year: 1920 (d. 2001)
> Birthplace: Kremenets (then Poland, now Ukraine)
Stanisław Lem
> Known as: Science fiction writer (“Solaris”), futurologist
> Birth year: 1921 (d. 2006)
> Birthplace: Lwów, Second Polish Republic (now Lviv)
Source: Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
Yakov Smirnoff
> Known as: Comedian, actor (“Night Court,” “Brewster’s Millions”)
> Birth year: 1951
> Birthplace: Odessa
Source: Kevin Winter / Staff / Getty Images Entertainment
Milla Jovovich
> Known as: Supermodel, actress (“”Zoolander,” the “Resident Evil” franchise)
> Birth year: 1975
> Birthplace: Kyiv
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Source: Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
Lenny Krayzelburg
> Known as: Multiple Olympic gold-medal-winning swimmer
> Birth year: 1975
> Birthplace: Odessa
Source: David Ramos / Getty Images News via Getty Images
Jan Koum
> Known as: Computer engineer, founder of WhatsApp
> Birth year: 1976
> Birthplace: Kyiv
Source: Tony Duffy / Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
Oksana Baiul
> Known as: Olympic gold-medal-winning figure skater
> Birth year: 1977
> Birthplace: Dnipro
Source: Vanni Bassetti / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
Olga Kurylenko
> Known as: Model, actress, Bond girl (“Quantum of Solace”)
> Birth year: 1979
> Birthplace: Berdyansk
Source: Rich Polk / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
Mila Kunis
> Known as: Actress (“That ’70s Show,” “Black Swan”)
> Birth year: 1983
> Birthplace: Chernivtsi
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