Famous Ukrainians

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Name Famous For
President John Adams   2nd president of US (1797-1801); [per researcher Lavrentiy Krupnik; I couldn't find written acknowledgement]
Adolf Dassler   A young lad nicknamed Adidas who escaped to America just before the Nazi occupation and founded a sportswear company
Victor Petrenko   1992 Olympic Skating God Medalist
Oksana Baiul   1994 Olympic Skating Gold Medalist
Sergei Bubka   World record pole vaulter, won 1988 Seoul Olympic gold shattered pole vault record 35 times
Lenny Krayzelburg   2000 US Olympic Swimming Gold Medalist
Wayne Gretsky   NHL Hall of Fame Hockey Player
Mike Ditka   NFL Coach/ Hall of Fame Player
Andy Warhol   Famous Pittsburgh modern artist
Wally Szczerbiak   NBA Basketball play from Pittsburgh PA
Vitali Klitschko   WBO Heavyweight Boxing Champ; Kyiv city mayor
Alex Trebek   Host of 'Jeopardy' TV game show, executive producer of other shows, actor
Jack Palance   Oscar winning actor, in 'Batman', 'City Slickers' many other movies
Milla Jovovich   L'Oreal supermodel and actress who started in 'The 5th Element' with Bruce Willis, producer, director
Mila Kunis   Award winning actress, Christan Dior model; Owns Quarantine Wine with Ashton Kutcher
Michael Bolton   Singer, songwriter, won six American music awards and two Grammy Awards
Igor Sikorsky   Inventor of the helicopter, won 7 awards, founded Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and developed Pan American Airways ocean-crossing flying boats in the 1930s
Roman Kroitor   Founder and inventory of IMAX, award winning filmaker, producer, director,
Nicholas Holonyak   Inventor of the LED, numerous worldwide awards; holds 41 patents;
Yulia Tymoshenko   First female Prime Minister in 2005 (again in 2007-2010) and led the Orange Revolution; Forbes' list of most powerful women, world wide recognition for her crown of braids
Ani Lorak   Ukrainian pop singer, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur and UN Goodwill Ambassador
Karina Smirnoff   Ballroom dancer, 5 times US National Champion, World Trophy Champion and Asian Open Champion, among others.
Vasyl Lomachenko   Boxer, world champion in 3 weight classes, 396 wins and 1 loss;
Leon Trotsky   Marxist, important opposition to Joseph Stalin, killed in 1940
Olga Kurylenko   model, actress, best known as a James Bond girl
Sophie Tucker   Singer, comedian, actress, radio personality, known for her risque songs, 'last of the red hot mamas' , performed in vaudville and Ziegfeld follies
Fedir Pirotsky   Electric tram inventor; Railway electification system;
Dustin Hoffman   actor, most famous films: The Graduate; Rain Man; Marathon Man and Meet the Fockers
Andriy Shevchenko   football player and manager, all time scorer for Ukraine; won various titles in Milan, Ukraine, Italy, and England
Sergei Prokofiev   Composer and pianist,
Volodymyr Zelenskiy   comedian, screenwriter, director , producer and then president of Ukraine since 2019
Olena Zelenska   First lady of Ukraine, film and theater
Vladimir Horowitz   classical pianist
Jan Koum  

founder of WhatsApp, billionaire

Louis B Mayer   Film producer
Vladimir the Great   Grand Prince of Kiev 9th century; Prince of Novgorod; ruler of the Kievan Rus when Ukraine was great, died 1015
Yaroslav the Wise   Prince 0789 AD; died 1054
Bohdan Khmelnytsky   Cossack warrior 1595 AD
Petro Poroshenko   5th president of Ukraine 2014-2019,
Nick Adams   film and television star of 'The Rebel' (1959-1962), early death from drug overdose
Stepan Bandera   Ukrainian revolutional leader of OUN, inspiration for Ukrainian freedom from Poland, Germany and Russia; imprisoned by the Nazi army
Taras Shevchenko   Poet; prose writer, playwright, artist and political figure, Ukrainian revolutionary inspiration, symbolized freedom for Ukraine, died 1871
Alexander Archipenko   world famous 'spatial' sculpture; introduced sculpto painting; applied geometry in his sculpting, adopting principles of cubism, graphic artist
Lee Strasberg   Movie director; The Group Theatre, invented The Method which consists of many psychological and physical exercices meant to break down the actor's barriers between real life and life on stage
?   Blind Ukrainian poet in Japan in 1920 by order of the emperor became a national poet of Japan [not verified]
   

see: https://www.pittsburghukrainians.com
 

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