The Most Famous

ACTORS from Latvia

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This page contains a list of the greatest Latvian Actors. The pantheon dataset contains 13,578 Actors, 13 of which were born in Latvia. This makes Latvia the birth place of the 48th most number of Actors behind Philippines, and Egypt.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Latvian Actors of all time. This list of famous Latvian Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Latvian Actors.

Photo of Solomon Mikhoels

1. Solomon Mikhoels (1890 - 1948)

With an HPI of 55.98, Solomon Mikhoels is the most famous Latvian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages on wikipedia.

Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels (Yiddish: שלמה מיכאעלס [also spelled שלוימע מיכאעלס during the Soviet era], Russian: Cоломон (Шлойме) Михоэлс, 16 March [O.S. 4 March] 1890 – 13 January 1948) was a Soviet actor and the artistic director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater. Mikhoels served as the chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee during World War II. However, as Joseph Stalin pursued an increasingly anti-Jewish line after the War, Mikhoels's position as a leader of the Jewish community led to increasing persecution from the Soviet state. He was assassinated in Minsk in 1948 by order of Stalin.

Photo of Elya Baskin

2. Elya Baskin (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 55.10, Elya Baskin is the 2nd most famous Latvian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Ilya Zalmanovich Baskin (Russian: Илья Залманович Баскин; born 11 August 1950), known professionally as Elya Baskin, is a Latvian-born Soviet and American character actor. He first gained attention for his role in Moscow on the Hudson (1984), as Robin Williams' character's best friend. He is also known for playing Peter Parker's landlord, Mr. Ditkovich, in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007) and cosmonaut Max Brailovsky in 1984's 2010: The Year We Make Contact.

Photo of Arkady Raikin

3. Arkady Raikin (1911 - 1987)

With an HPI of 52.67, Arkady Raikin is the 3rd most famous Latvian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Arkady Isaakovich Raikin (Russian: Арка́дий Исаа́кович Ра́йкин; 24 October [O.S. 11 October] 1911 – 17 December 1987) was a Soviet stand-up comedian, stage and film actor, theater director, screenwriter and satirist. He led the school of Soviet and Russian humorists for about half a century.

Photo of Laima Vaikule

4. Laima Vaikule (b. 1954)

With an HPI of 51.29, Laima Vaikule is the 4th most famous Latvian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Laima Vaikule (born 31 March 1954) is a Latvian actress, singer, director, and choreographer, best known in Europe and in the former USSR for such popular hits as "Vernissage" and "Charlie," among other songs.

Photo of Vija Artmane

5. Vija Artmane (1929 - 2008)

With an HPI of 51.15, Vija Artmane is the 5th most famous Latvian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Vija Artmane (born Alīda Artmane; 21 August 1929 in Kaive, Sēme Parish – 11 October 2008 in Strenči) was a Latvian theatre and cinema actress.

Photo of Heinz Erhardt

6. Heinz Erhardt (1909 - 1979)

With an HPI of 50.03, Heinz Erhardt is the 6th most famous Latvian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Heinz Erhardt (German: [haɪnts ˈeːɐ̯haʁt]; 20 February 1909 – 5 June 1979) was a German comedian, musician, entertainer, actor, and poet.

Photo of Mikhail Nikolayevich Zadornov

7. Mikhail Nikolayevich Zadornov (1948 - 2017)

With an HPI of 49.00, Mikhail Nikolayevich Zadornov is the 7th most famous Latvian Actor.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Mikhail Nikolayevich Zadornov (Russian: Михаи́л Никола́евич Задо́рнов, Mihaíl Nikolájevič Zadórnov; July 21, 1948 in Jūrmala, Latvian SSR, USSR – November 10, 2017 in Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet and Russian stand-up comedian and writer. Zadornov was born into an artistic family, his father Nikolay Zadornov (1909-1992) being a notable writer from Riga. Zadornov's mother, Elena Matusevich (1909-2003), came from an old noble family, which can trace its roots to the Polish king Stephen Bathory. As a child, Zadornov listened to his father reading him works of literature before he went to sleep, such as classic writings of adventure and suspense, and poems. Zadornov's parents wanted their son to become an engineer, so he went to an engineering institute. Mikhail Zadornov graduated from Moscow Aviation Institute. However, in the early 1980s he started a career as a humorist, and later mockingly remembered his engineering days.

Photo of Rutanya Alda

8. Rutanya Alda (b. 1942)

With an HPI of 48.41, Rutanya Alda is the 8th most famous Latvian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Rutanya Alda (born Rūta Skrastiņa; October 13, 1942) is a Latvian-American actress. She began her career in the late 1960s, and went on to have supporting parts in The Deer Hunter (1978), Rocky II (1979), and Mommie Dearest (1981). She also appeared in a lead role in the horror films Amityville II: The Possession and Girls Nite Out (both 1982).

Photo of Indra Devi

9. Indra Devi (1899 - 2002)

With an HPI of 47.82, Indra Devi is the 9th most famous Latvian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Eugenie Peterson (Latvian: Eiženija Pētersone, Russian: Евгения Васильевна Петерсон; 12 May 1899 – 25 April 2002), known as Indra Devi, was a pioneering teacher of yoga as exercise, and an early disciple of the "father of modern yoga", Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. She went to India in her twenties, becoming a film star there and acquiring the stage name Indra Devi. She was the first woman to study under the yoga guru Krishnamacharya at the Mysore Palace, alongside B.K.S Iyengar and K. Pattabhi Jois who went on to become yoga gurus. Moving to China, she taught the first yoga classes in that country at Madame Chiang Kai-shek's house. Her popularization of yoga in America through her many celebrity pupils in Hollywood, and her books advocating yoga for stress relief, earned her the nickname "first lady of yoga". Her biographer, Michelle Goldberg, wrote that Devi "planted the seeds for the yoga boom of the 1990s".

Photo of Lya Mara

10. Lya Mara (1897 - 1960)

With an HPI of 47.43, Lya Mara is the 10th most famous Latvian Actor.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Lya Mara (born Aleksandra Gudowicz; 1 August 1897 – 1 March 1960) was a Polish actress. She was one of the biggest stars of the German silent cinema.

People

Pantheon has 14 people classified as Latvian actors born between 1890 and 1989. Of these 14, 7 (50.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Latvian actors include Elya Baskin, Laima Vaikule, and Rutanya Alda. The most famous deceased Latvian actors include Solomon Mikhoels, Arkady Raikin, and Vija Artmane. As of April 2024, 1 new Latvian actors have been added to Pantheon including Agata Muceniece.

Living Latvian Actors

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Deceased Latvian Actors

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Newly Added Latvian Actors (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Actors were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 7 most globally memorable Actors since 1700.