Social Entertainment / People

Elya Baskin

Acting · Born August 11, 1950 · Riga, Latvian SSR, USSR [now Latvia]

Baskin was born in Riga, the son of Frieda and Zalman Baskin.  He attended Moscow's prestigious Theatre and Variety Arts College and won a Festival of Young Actors Award at the Moscow Comedy Theatre. Baskin immigrated to the United States in 1976.  He has built a considerable career in TV and movies, and is often cast as a Russian, due to his ancestry and accent. He has ultimately become one of the most popular choices whenever a Russian is needed in a TV-episode or a major movie production.  He is also a regular on the long-running Internet program "Outlaw Radio" hosted by Matt Alan, where he makes amusing commentary on contemporary topics, and does comedic interaction with fellow actor Richard Tyson and author Burl Barer, among many others.

Movies with Elya Baskin

• Spider-Man 3 (2007) — Mr. Ditkovitch
• Angels & Demons (2009) — Cardinal Petrov
• Spider-Man 2 (2004) — Mr. Ditkovitch
• Air Force One (1997) — Andrei Kolchak
• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) — General Borschevsky
• The Name of the Rose (1986) — Severinus
• Spy Hard (1996) — Professor Ukrinsky
• October Sky (1999) — Ike Bykovsky
• 2010 (1984) — Maxim Brailovsky
• Thirteen Days (2000) — Anotoly Dobrinyn
• Being There (1979) — Karpatov
• Vice Versa (1988) — Kerschner

TV shows with Elya Baskin

• True Blue (1989) — Yuri