Mikhail Baryshnikov
Born 1948
Russian

Dancer and defector from the former Soviet Union. Inspired by a need for artistic as well as personal freedom, he became one of the leading male dancers of his era, famous for his high leaps as well as director of American Ballet Theater.

Contemporaries
1896–1974Giorgiy Zhukov
1931–2007Boris Yeltsin
1883–1954Andrey Vyshinsky
1902–1982Mikhail Suslov
1906–1977Alexey Stakhanov
1918–2008Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Born 1948Natan Shcharansky
1921–1989Andrey Sakharov
1938–1993Rudolf Nureyev
1890–1950Vaslav Nijinsky
1902–1977Alexander Luria
1894–1971Nikita Khrushchev
1881–1970Alexander Kerensky
Born 1963Gary Kasparov
1893–1991Lazar Kaganovich
1909–1997Sir Isaiah Berlin
1899–1953Lavrenti Beria
1904–1983George Balanchine
1920–1992Isaac Asimov