Jerry Seinfeld — comedian with roots in the Russian Empire
Jerry Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian and actor who co-created and starred in Seinfeld (NBC, 1989–1998) — widely regarded as the greatest sitcom in television history. His stand-up specials, including 23 Hours to Kill and I'm Telling You for the Last Time, are landmarks of the form.
Tracing the roots — Ukraine / Russia
His father Kálmán Seinfeld was the son of Hungarian and Ukrainian Jewish immigrants — the Seinfeld and Hesselberg families who came from the Russian Empire's borderlands. Jerry grew up on Long Island in a Jewish household, and the observational, detail-obsessed comedy he built his career on is the direct descendant of that immigrant world's humour of survival and assimilation.
.svg?width=900)
Ukraine / Russia. At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.
A career defined by ambition
"There is no such thing as fun for the whole family."