Hi there! In this post I will tell you about three eminent people you might have never expected to be Ukrainians or having at least anything to do wih Ukrainian roots.
1. Pope John Paul II
Photo Credit: CHARLES BRAY
Karol Józef Wojty?a is the 264th Pope in history and the first Slavonic Pope ever. Even Viktor Yushchenko, the 3rd President of Ukraine noted that the outstanding Pope John Paul II had “a drop of Ukrainian blood”. I need to note that this drop is quite a big one, since his mother Kilka (Kylyna, polish Emilia) Kachorowska was a pure Ukrainian from Kholmshchyna. Need to note that it is thanks to his mother that John Paul II not only spoke Ukrainian but delivered official speeches in Ukrainian language in his very advanced age. A true legend of the Catholic church Pope John Paul II will always be a great pride of the Ukrainian nation, though being only half-Ukrainian.
2. Milla Jovovich
Photo Credit: danieldurazo
The Fifth Element born in Kyiv in 1975 in a family of Ukrainian actress and a Serbian doctor. Though she spent her first 5 years in Kyiv she hardly speaks even Russian though is still 50% Ukrainian! She began modeling in eleven and made her cinema debut being 13 years old. Though as an actress she was discovered by Luc Besson in “The Fifth Element” where she played alongside with Bruce Willis. Later she played in “The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc” and three sequels of Resident Evil: Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) and Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010).
3. David Duchovny
Photo Credit: shootingstar27
Actor’s father comes from Lviv! And the actor himself was an activist of Ukrainian Youth Association. In his early years he took up all sorts of jobs to pay his studies and everyonein the world knows him today! Twin Peaks and X-files star he received a Golden Globe to make his faraway fatherland proud. Though these series were greatly popular in Ukraine David Duchovny is not widely recognized as a Ukrainian.
I would have also listed Michael Douglas, a grandson of Ukrainian emigrants from Odessa he’s also half-Ukrainian, Andy Warhol and really many scientists – chemists, nuclear engineers and so on. But still the three above discoveries of Ukrainian roots seem most representative to me.
