Marina Vlady — actress with roots in the Russian Empire
Marina Vlady rose to international fame in the 1950s–70s, winning the Cannes Best Actress prize in 1962 for 'La Steppa.' A prolific Franco-Russian actress, she starred in Godard's '2 or 3 Things I Know About Her' and became known as much for her art as her turbulent marriage to Vladimir Vysotsky.
"Father Vladimir de Poliakoff fled post-revolutionary Russia, settling the family in France."
Migration storyTracing the roots — Moscow (Ancestry)
Born Marina de Poliakoff-Boudberg, she inherited her Russian identity directly from her father Vladimir de Poliakoff, a White émigré. She spoke Russian fluently, navigated Soviet bureaucracy to support Vysotsky, and wrote a memoir, 'Vladimir,' memorializing their cross-curtain love.
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Moscow (Ancestry). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.
A career defined by ambition
""Vladimir was Russia for me — its poetry, its madness, its soul.""