Famous Russians a to z

Roman Arkadyevich Abramovich is a Russian business tycoon, one of the richest men in the world and owner of the Chelsea Football Club.

Scholar Isaac Asimov was one of the 20th century's most prolific writers, writing in many genres. He was known for sci-fi works like Foundation and I, Robot.

Isaak Babel was a Russian writer of Jewish descent known for his masterful short stories. He was imprisoned and executed in the Stalin era.

Sergey Brin created Google, the world's most popular search engine. Brin and Larry Page, Google's co-creator, still manage the company and are billionaires.

Russian-born American poet Joseph Brodsky was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987 for his important lyric and elegiac poems.

Yul Brynner was an actor of stage and screen most famous for portraying King Mongkut of Siam in The King and I.

Catherine II was empress of Russia, and led her country into the political and cultural life of Europe, carrying on the work begun by Peter the Great.

Marc Chagall was a French artist whose work was generally based on emotional association rather than traditional pictorial fundamentals.

Anna Chapman became famous in June 2010, when she was arrested in New York and accused of spying for the Russian government.

Anton Chekhov is best known for his short stories and plays, including The Proposal, The Wedding and The Anniversary.

Gala Dalí is best known as the wife, business manager and muse of Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí.

Art critic Sergei Diaghilev started the artistic collaboration the Ballet Russes, which toured worldwide and was a forerunner of the Royal Ballet.

Alexandra Feodorovna was consort of the Russian Czar Nicholas II. Her rule precipitated the collapse of Russia's imperial government. She was murdered, along with her entire family, in 1918.

Yuri Gagarin was a Soviet cosmonaut who in 1961 became the first man to travel into space

Mikhail Gorbachev was the first president of the Soviet Union, serving from 1990 to 1991. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace for contributing to the break-up of the USSR.

Ekaterina Gordeeva is a Russian figure skater who, with her late partner and husband Sergei Grinkov, was a two-time Olympian and four-time world champion.

Maxim Gorky was a Russian author who wrote about the lower depths of society. He was a critic of both Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, and died under mysterious circumstances.

Ivan the Terrible, or Ivan IV, was the first tsar of all Russia. During his reign (1533-1584), Ivan acquired vast amounts of land through ruthless means, creating a centrally controlled government.

Anna Ivanovna was empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740.

Russian-born painter Wassily Kandinsky is credited as a leader in avant-garde art as one of the founders of pure abstraction in painting in the early 20th century.

Anatoly Yevgenyevich Karpov was a Russian chess grandmaster and world champion from 1975-1985.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev publicized Stalin's crimes, initiated the Cuban Missile Crisis and established a more open form of Communism in the USSR.

Anna Kournikova is a Russian professional tennis player, well known for her beauty. At her peak, she was one of the best known players worldwide.

Vladimir Lenin was founder of the Russian Communist Party, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and architect and first head of the Soviet state.

Russian painter, typographer and designer El Lissitzky was a major contributor to the modern Constructivist movement.

Louis B. Mayer was a film mogul and the most influential person in Hollywood from the mid-1920s to the late-1940s.

Dmitry Medvedev served under Vladimir Putin and succeeded him as president of Russia in 2008.

Dmitri Mendeleyev was a Russian chemist who developed the periodic classification of the elements.

Alexis Mikhailovich, father of Peter the Great, was tsar of Russia from 1645 to 1676. He passed a code of laws which legally defined serfdom.

Modest Mussorgsky was a 19th century Russian composer. His most famous works include "Night on Bald Mountain," "Boris Godunov" and "Pictures at an Exhibition."

Alexei Nikolaevich was the only son of Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia, and the tsarina Alexandra. He was killed with his family during the Russian Revolution.

Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia was commander in chief of Tzar Nicholas II's army during WWI. The Russian Revolution ended his career.

Anastasia was the daughter of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II. After she and her family were executed, rumors claimed that she might have survived.

Famed Russian-born male dancer Rudolf Nureyev was a soloist for the Kirov Ballet and a choreographer for the Paris Opera Ballet.

Lee Harvey Oswald was a former U.S. Marine who was accused of killing President John F. Kennedy. While in police custody, Oswald was murdered by Jack Ruby.

Ignacy Paderewski was a world famous concert pianist who also became Poland’s first prime minister in 1919.

Paul I of Russia served as the nation's emperor for a brief, tyrannical five years before he was assassinated 1801.

Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov studied "conditioned reflex" through an experiment that made hungry dogs salivate at the sound of a dinner bell.

Anna Pavlova was a famous Russian prima ballerina and choreographer. The company she founded in 1911 was the first to tour ballet around the world.

Peter III was the Emperor of Russia for a mere six months in 1762 before he was overthrown by his wife, Catherine the Great, and assassinated in 1762.

Peter the Great was a Russian czar in the late 17th century, who is best known for his extensive reforms in an attempt to establish Russia as a great nation.

Alexei Petrovich was the son of Peter the Great and heir to the Russian throne. He was sentenced to death by his father.

Russian serial killer Alexander Pichushkin, nicknamed "The Chessboard Killer," was caught in Moscow and convicted in 2007 of killing 48 people.

Vladimir Putin served as president of Russia from 2000 to 2008, and was re-elected to the presidency in 2012. He previously served as Russia's prime minister.

Rasputin is best known for his role as a mystical adviser in the court of Czar Nicholas II of Russia.

Nicholas II was the last tsar of Russia under Romanov rule. His poor handling of Bloody Sunday and Russia’s role in World War I led to his abdication and execution.

Russian-born painter Mark Rothko was a pioneer of the Abstract Expressionist movement during the mid-20th century.

Maria Sharapova has won various honors throughout her career, including the 2012 French Open and a silver medal in women's singles at the 2012 Olympics.

Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union for more than two decades, instituting a reign of terror while modernizing Russia and helping to defeat Nazism.

Constantin Stanislavski was a Russian stage actor and director who developed the naturalistic performance technique known as the "Stanislavsky method," or method acting.

Theater director Lee Strasberg co-founded the Group Theatre, where he directed experimental plays, and later became artistic director of the Actors Studio.

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer best known as one of the most influential composers in the twentieth century for ballets such as The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring.

Pytor Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer best known for his popular ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker.

Russian author Leo Tolstoy wrote the acclaimed novels War and Peace, Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and still ranks among the world's top writers.

Communist Leon Trotsky helped ignite the Russian Revolution of 1917, and built the Red Army afterward. He was exiled and later assassinated by Soviet agents.

Boris Yeltsin was the first freely elected President of Russia. He voluntarily resigned from the post after nine years, leaving the job to Putin.

With his home film camera, Dallas businessman Abraham Zapruder recorded the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. This footage is one of the few films of this historic event.