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| 6 | %% IP thread for reference: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1514179125000494900 |
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| 11 | ->'''Franchise/IndianaJones:''' Well, the way you're sinking your teeth into those wubble-u's, I should think maybe... Eastern Ukraine.\ |
| 12 | '''Creator/MikeNelson:''' Hm, I was thinking Fake-istan. |
| 13 | -->-- Podcast/RiffTrax for ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Very few characters from Russia (or the rest of the former [[UsefulNotes/UnionOfSovietSocialistRepublics Soviet Union]], for that matter) in Western television are played by native Russians. This was a particular case in the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, for obvious reasons. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | As with FakeAmerican, FakeBrit and all types of FakeNationality, the quality of the imitation of the Russian accents varies from the very good to the awful to the [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent not-even-attempted]]. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | For convenience's sake, this trope covers the whole of the former Soviet Union on its post-UsefulNotes/WorldWarII boundaries. Fake Russian ''text'' is TheBackwardsR. As such, this also covers other ethnic groups in the Soviet Union. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | ---- |
| 22 | !!Examples |
| 23 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 24 | |
| 25 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 26 | * Aleksandr the Russian Meerkat from ''Advertising/CompareTheMeerkat'' is voiced by [[OopNorth Cumberland]] actor Simon Greenall. |
| 27 | [[/folder]] |
| 28 | |
| 29 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 30 | * ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': Lovro, to an egregious degree in the dub. Creator/KentWilliams gives him a heavy Russian accent, but his lines are full of figurative and idiomatic expressions that would be unlikely for a non-native speaker to use. |
| 31 | * ''Manga/BungouStrayDogs'' has the Russian Fyodor Dostoevsky given an accent in the dub, courtesy of Creator/RayChase. |
| 32 | * Simon the sushi tout in ''Literature/{{Durarara}}''. |
| 33 | ** His voice actor doesn't even bother himself with imitating Russian accent -- he just uses a [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign generic foreign one]], which (as it is Japan, after all) just happens to be English. He's actually a Russian of African descent since his parents were [[AllThereInTheManual African Americans who settled in the Soviet Union]] during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. |
| 34 | ** His [[Creator/PatrickSeitz dub voice actor]] does adopt a Russian accent for the role--except when reading inner monologue. |
| 35 | ** When Simon and Izaya try to converse in Russian in the anime, both their actors mangled the language so much that it didn't even register as Russian to the native ear. |
| 36 | * The anime adaptation of ''Literature/GinbanKaleidoscope'' had a terrific example of this in one of the episodes, where a Russian girl got lost in Japan. Not only is the accent so heavy, a native speaker would barely make out what the characters were saying, but the very way mother and daughter address each other is all wrong. You wouldn't believe it one bit if a mother called her daughter, well, actually "daughter", not by name; and especially the most formal form of the word, in Russian, which allows for tons of milder and friendlier word variations. |
| 37 | * From ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' we have [[MoeAnthropomorphism Russia]], whose American actor has a distinct generic Russian accent, not that the fangirls seem to mind. Considering that the show is based on national stereotypes, this actually makes sense. |
| 38 | * [[ButNotTooForeign Half-Russian]] Freesia Yagyuu spoke heavily Japanese accented Russian at times in ''[[Anime/JubeiChan Jubei Chan 2]]''. Her mother being a member of a Siberian tribe from 300 years ago, she nevertheless makes many modern Russian stereotypical references. Subversively, this is because she's far smarter than she lets on, and her goofy "Rapanese" persona is fake. |
| 39 | * [[ColonelBadass Sergei Smirnov]], and Sergei's [[CallingTheOldManOut estranged son]] Andrei from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00''. Also from the same series is [[{{Retcon}} Kazakh]] Allelujah Haptism, [[AnimeAccentAbsence neither of whom has a least bit of accent]]. The in-universe HandWave is, the HRL is a melting pot for Russians, Indians and Chinese people. |
| 40 | * In the two English dubs of the 39th/35th episode of ''Manga/SailorMoon'', the two Russian figure skaters, Misha and Janelyn/Janelle, were voiced by local actors. |
| 41 | * ''Anime/YuriOnIce'' has a few Russian characters that have the appropriate accents in the dub -- Yurio (Creator/MicahSolusod), Victor (Creator/JerryJewell, using a much less exaggerated accent than he did in ''Hetalia''), and Yakov (Daman Mills). |
| 42 | [[/folder]] |
| 43 | |
| 44 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 45 | * In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', Creator/AAPessimal gave up any attempt to reproduce a Russian accent in spoken Morporkian after a bout of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness featuring his Far Überwaldean [[note]]Russian[[/note]] witches, Olga and Irena. It just did not look or sound right on the page. They're still Discworld "Russians" but their Russian-ness is now inferred in other ways: the word ''[[OhCrap govno]]!" crops up a lot, for instance, but that's as close as it gets. |
| 46 | [[/folder]] |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 49 | * ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'': At least the parents try to put on Russian accents, Fievel and Tanya sound like regular Americans even before they emigrate to America. |
| 50 | * Mr. Bobinsky in ''WesternAnimation/{{Coraline}}'' is voiced by English actor Creator/IanMcShane, complete with a [[LargeHam funnily overwrought accent]] and surprisingly decent GratuitousRussian. |
| 51 | * Dr. Jumba Jookiba (voiced by American actor Creator/DavidOgdenStiers) in ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'', a [[WordOfGod Kweltekwanian]] alien, speaks with a vaguely Russian accent if only because he is a [[MadScientist Idiot Sci-]], [[InsistentTerminology erm,]] EvilGenius. |
| 52 | * None of the voice actors in ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}'' are Russian, and their accents (as well as the attempts to speak the language) are wildly off the mark. |
| 53 | * North (Creator/AlecBaldwin) from ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians''. |
| 54 | * Gru (Creator/SteveCarell) and his mother (Creator/JulieAndrews) from ''Franchise/DespicableMe''. In the third film, this is continued with Gru's twin brother Dru. |
| 55 | * The Trunkovs and Ivan's voice actors from ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars 2}}''. At least the Trunkovs' character design was based on a real Soviet-era model, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ZAZ-968_front.jpg ZAZ-968 Zaporozhets]]. Plot necessity forced Ivan to be based on a [[http://balewagons.com/images/uploads/0000/0731/Novembe_18__Custom_John_Deere_Semi_Rigs__Goose_Chairs_017.jpg 1955-57 Chevy truck]] like Mater - had they planned the sequel at the same time as the original movie they could've made Mater a [[http://www.imcdb.org/i252171.jpg 1956 Ford]] so Ivan could be a [[http://motoburg.com/images/zil-130-01.jpg ZIL-130]]. |
| 56 | * Vitaly the HuskyRusskie Siberian Tiger from ''WesternAnimation/Madagascar3EuropesMostWanted'' is voiced by good ol' Creator/BryanCranston. |
| 57 | [[/folder]] |
| 58 | |
| 59 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 60 | * An old habit in the Film/JamesBond series: |
| 61 | ** ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'': GirlOfTheWeek Tatiana Romanova, played by the Italian Creator/DanielaBianchi, and Rosa Klebb, played by the Austrian-born Creator/LotteLenya. |
| 62 | ** German actor Creator/WalterGotell played General Gogol in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'', ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'', ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'', ''Film/AViewToAKill'' and ''Film/TheLivingDaylights''. He also played Morzeny (probably Russian too) in ''From Russia With Love''. There was also his secretary Rublevitch, played by the Austrian Eva Rueber-Staier. |
| 63 | ** American actress Creator/BarbaraBach as KGB agent Anya Amasova in ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'', and her fellow KGB lover played by Michael Billington. |
| 64 | ** ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'' features General Orlov (played by British actor Creator/StevenBerkoff), who serves his Fake Russian with a side of Shatner speak and an order of LargeHam (it should be noted, however, that Berkoff's family has some roots in Russia, so it's mitigated). The film also had British actor Paul Hardwick as the Soviet Chairman (who may or may not be UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev). |
| 65 | ** Creator/JohnRhysDavies took a break from [[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk Egyptian]] and [[VideoGame/WingCommander Scottish]] characters to play General Leonid Pushkin in ''Film/TheLivingDaylights''. He's actually Welsh. |
| 66 | ** Creator/RobbieColtrane (Scottish) portrayed Russian Valentin Zukovsky in ''Film/GoldenEye'' and ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough''. ''[=GoldenEye=]'' features many more of these characters, though Creator/SeanBean's Alec Trevelyan/Janus has the excuse of explicitly growing up in Great Britain despite having Cossack parents. Natalya Simonova's actress, Creator/IzabellaScorupco, while she grew up and lives in Sweden, is at least Slavic (Polish), but still not Russian. Creator/FamkeJanssen (Dutch) plays the Georgian [[MurderousThighs sadomasochistic assassin]] Xenia Onatopp, German Creator/GottfriedJohn plays General Ourumov, Creator/AlanCumming (Scottish) plays computer programmer Boris Grishenko. There's also Creator/TchekyKaryo (French of Turkish Sephardic Jewish and Greek descent) as Defense Minister Dmitri Mishkin. |
| 67 | ** Creator/RobertCarlyle (also Scottish) played Russian terrorist Renard in ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough''. |
| 68 | ** ''Film/NoTimeToDie'': Kazan native Lyutsifer Safin is played by Creator/RamiMalek, an American of Coptic Egyptian descent. There's also Dr. Obruchev, who's played by Swedish-Danish actor Creator/DavidDencik. |
| 69 | * ''Film/{{Mandalay}}'': Tanya Bodoroff is a Russian refugee living in British India. The actress who plays her, Creator/KayFrancis, is American. Katya Sergova, of Russian ascent, was considered for the role to avoid this. Alas, Francis proved to be a better fit for the role. |
| 70 | * ''Film/WhiteNights'' cast Soviet defector and ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov as a Soviet defector and ballet dancer who accidentally winds up back in the Soviet Union. |
| 71 | ** Jerzy Skolimowski, a Pole, was cast as the chief KGB officer assigned to keep track of him. |
| 72 | ** Creator/IsabellaRossellini (Swedish-Italian) is featured as a Russian. |
| 73 | ** Creator/HelenMirren (born Ilyena Vasilievna Mironov), who is actually half-Russian, half-British. |
| 74 | * In ''Film/DrStrangelove'', the Russian ambassador is played by British actor, Peter Bull. Though to be fair he's not really fooling any-one. |
| 75 | * Creator/GideonEmery, also a British actor, plays the Russian mobster Sergei in ''Film/{{Takers}}''. |
| 76 | * Ed O'Ross, who hails from Pittsburgh, PA, has played Russians several times in both TV and film. |
| 77 | * In Hollywood, Russian characters have been played by Swedish actors on a number of occasions. This has apparently led some to perceive Swedish accents as Russian ones even when they are not intended as such. Examples include: |
| 78 | ** The actor who plays Ivan Drago in ''Film/RockyIV'' is Creator/DolphLundgren, a Swede. |
| 79 | ** Creator/PeterStormare, another Swede, played a Russian cosmonaut in ''Film/Armageddon1998''. He also got to be a Russian in ''Film/BadBoysII'' and ''Playing God''. He was also a Soviet MadScientist in ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3''. Apparently he plays a convincing enough Russian to do it over and over. |
| 80 | ** Creator/LenaOlin, ''Series/{{Alias}}''- plus Isabella Rossellini. |
| 81 | ** Creator/GretaGarbo in ''Film/GrandHotel'', ''Film/{{Ninotchka}}'' (where the other three important Russian characters are played by German actors) and ''Anna Karenina''. |
| 82 | ** In another Nordic/Russian connection, the Russian terrorist villain of the Creator/JackieChan film ''The Spy Next Door'' is played by [[Series/LazyTown Magnus Scheving]], an ''Icelander''. |
| 83 | ** Swedish actor Creator/MichaelNyqvist plays the Russian mob boss Viggo Tarasov in ''Film/JohnWick''. Similarly, in ''Film/JohnWickChapter2'', "frequent fake Russian" Creator/PeterStormare plays Abram Tarasov, brother to the aforementioned Viggo. |
| 84 | * The film ''Film/K19TheWidowmaker'', set aboard a Russian submarine, is 138 minutes of non-stop fake Russian. From Creator/LiamNeeson, Creator/PeterSarsgaard and ''Creator/HarrisonFord,'' of all people (Ford has stated in an interview that many were afraid to "invest in me with a Russian accent"). Neeson wisely gives up and [[OohMeAccentsSlipping reverts to his Irish brogue about halfway through the movie.]] |
| 85 | ** Amazingly, the Russian dub happily rectifies all of the awkwardness. The translation and dubbing were apparently given much thought and labor, and the end result is suprisingly convincing, bold and heartfelt performances in Russian (even though some expressions still betray a little of the foreigner's perspective). Russian dub version of the movie shows very sure and organic performances of noble and humane Russian sailors in a (sorely lacking) Russian heroic-but-tragic war movie, with acting by Ford, Neeson, Sarsgaard and others as a cool bonus. |
| 86 | * ''Film/EasternPromises''. Creator/ViggoMortensen spent some time unaccompanied in the rural region of Russia his character is meant to originate from to not only absorb the dialect, but the regional culture as well. His costars did not however go to such lengths. |
| 87 | * Creator/SeanConnery plays the half-Lithuanian, half-Russian submarine commander ([[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent with hish ushual Shcottish acshent]]) Marko Ramius in ''Film/TheHuntForRedOctober''. There are a number of other examples in that film alone, including the two other main Russian characters played by Sam Neill (New Zealander) and Creator/TimCurry (English), Peter "[[Series/{{Spooks}} Harry Pearce]]" Firth (English), and Stellan Skarsgård, a Swedish actor, who has a small role as a Soviet submarine captain sent to hunt down the defecting eponymous vessel. |
| 88 | ** Brilliantly averted, however, by Creator/AlecBaldwin in the same film, as Jack Ryan, who ''nailed'' the pronunciation of his Russian lines perfectly. |
| 89 | * ''Film/TheRussiaHouse'' features American Creator/MichellePfeiffer and Austrian Klaus Maria Brandauer, both as Russians. |
| 90 | * ''Film/{{Firefox}}''. (No, not the browser, a movie with Creator/ClintEastwood.) "You have to think think think in (fake) Russian (fake) Russian (fake) Russian...." |
| 91 | ** Justified, as Eastwood's character is supposed to be ''half''-Russian, and was born and raised in the United States. His accent being a bit off is understandable. How he manages to fool Russian soldiers with his horrible accent is a different matter. |
| 92 | * Creator/NicoleKidman (Australian), Creator/MathieuKassovitz and Creator/VincentCassel (two Frenchmen) play Russians in ''Film/BirthdayGirl''. In fairness, the fact that Kidman's character is ''not'' Russian is part of the plot. |
| 93 | * ''Film/EnemyAtTheGates'', set during the siege of Stalingrad, featured Jude Law, Rachel Weisz and Joseph Fiennes as members of the Soviet army... plus Bob Hoskins as (rather unconvincing -- he failed to [[ChewingTheScenery Chew The Scenery]] enough) Nikita Khrushchev. All of them are Brits. None of them used fake-Russian accents in that movie, however. Some of the American actors affected British accents as well. Led to some oddity when the Germans were primarily American actors, using American accents. |
| 94 | * ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' features Creator/CateBlanchett (Australian) as an Eastern Ukrainian Soviet, and she reportedly did pretty well - while gleefully ChewingTheScenery. |
| 95 | ** Cate Blanchett also played a glamorous Russian dancer in the earlier (and much lesser known) film, ''The Man Who Cried''. |
| 96 | ** Averted with Spalko's [[TheDragon Dragon]] Colonel Dovchenko, who is played by the Moscow-born Igor Jijikine and speaks Russian without an accent. The character's last name indicates Ukrainian origins, though. |
| 97 | * In addition to the usual "British and Americans as Russians", ''Film/DoctorZhivago'' also stars Egyptian-born Omar Sharif as the title character. |
| 98 | * In the action/parody ''Film/CatsAndDogs'' there's a villainous cat-burgler (that's a cat who is a burglar) armed with numerous [[ShoePhone spy-gadgets]] known only as '[[NoNameGiven The Russian]]', who naturally speaks in the stereotypical Russian accent used by [[DirtyCommunists Cold War villains]]. |
| 99 | * None other than our favorite Austrian, Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, in the movie ''Film/RedHeat.'' Ed O'Ross (from Pittsburgh) tells Arnold's character to "Go to arse" (could be translated as "Go to Hell") in a perfect Russian with Georgian accent. Which was the only correctly pronounced Russian phrase in the whole movie. |
| 100 | * Creator/RobinWilliams in ''Film/MoscowOnTheHudson''. Williams was particularly dedicated to being fluent in Russian for the role. Years later, he could still carry on a conversation in the language. |
| 101 | * ''Film/ThePresidentsAnalyst'' - Severn Darden plays a sympathetic KGB agent with an accent like a toned-down Mischa Auer (comic actor known for "Mad Russian" roles) - when we first see him he is speaking in Russian with a superior. |
| 102 | * ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' has Beatrice Rosen (French-American) as the Russian prima ballerina who lectures Harvey Dent, and Richie Coster (English) as the Chechen gangster (not Russian in the strict sense, but he portrays his character as a stereotypical [[TheMafiya Russian mafioso]]). |
| 103 | * ''Film/TheHunt2012'' has Nadja played by Alexandra Rapaport, a Swedish actress. Her parents are Polish and Spanish. |
| 104 | * ''Film/LittleOdessa'': in this story set in a Russian-Jewish community of Brighton Beach, everybody except for some minor characters is played by Americans or Brits. Due to the fact that these are Russian-Americans, the lack of Russian accent and presence of American accent in the Russian dialogue would be intentional for some characters. |
| 105 | * ''Film/LordOfWar'': Creator/NicolasCage as Ukranian-pretending-to-be-Jewish arms dealer Yuri Orlov. Funny how Orlov is not a very Ukranian surname.[[note]]Ukrainian surnames tend to have the suffixes "ko", "enko", "yuk" or none at all; "ov" is distinctly Russian. Although with the number of ethnic Russians in Ukraine, it wouldn't be out of place there either.[[/note]] Cage, as well as his brother played by Creator/JaredLeto, even manage several lines in Ukranian on-screen - surprisingly recognizable, at least compared to many other instances. Averted with several secondary characters, like Yuri's uncle, who are played by actual Ukranians and get their lines straight. Yuri's military uncle is played by Yevgeniy Lazarev, famed Belarusian actor--close, though not Ukrainian--who's got plethora of American and Russian film roles. |
| 106 | * Curiously enough, the Tartars (derived from real life Tatars) in ''Film/TheGoldenCompass'' speak perfect Russian! That can be considered a part of the Fake Russian phenomenon, because, well, real Tatar language is quite different from Russian. While it's arguably true for the book/movie (where one guesses the Muscovites had not united Rus', though it's not stated outright), it's worth noting that most real life Tatars do speak fluent Russian, Tatarstan being part of the Russian Federation, after all. |
| 107 | * Zlatko Burić (Croatian) as Yuri Karpov (the oligarch), Johann Urb (Estonian) as Sasha (the pilot), and Beatrice Rosen (again!!!) as Tamara (the oligarch's mistress) in ''[[Film/TwoThousandTwelve 2012]]''. Also, Zinaid Memisevic (Bosnian) as Sergey Karpenko (Russian president). His interpreter, played by Igor Morozov, is the ''only'' "true" Russian in the movie. |
| 108 | * Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse: |
| 109 | ** Creator/MickeyRourke plays Russian supervillain Ivan Vanko (a cross between Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash) in ''Film/IronMan2''. Rourke spent time in a Russian supermax prison just to absorb some local flavor and was coached on the language by his Russian girlfriend. In the same film, Creator/ScarlettJohansson makes her debut as Natasha Romanoff / ComicBook/BlackWidow, who was Russian in the comics, but is not said to be Russian in the film, and [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent nothing in her performance even hints at it]]. |
| 110 | ** In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', we see Natasha conversing in Russian while under interrogation (by a Russian officer played by Polish actor Jerzy Skolimowski, who is speaking Russian, but NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent). Later in the film, she tells Loki in a ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: "I'm Russian...or was" (which is true to the mainstream Marvel continuity, wherein Natasha naturalized herself and got American citizenship[[note]]In Russian, there's a distinction between ''russkaya'' (ethnic Russian, feminine form) and ''rossiyanka'' (citizen of the Russian Federation, feminine form; can include Tatars, Bashkirs, Armenians, etc.). Both are translated as "Russian" into English. Obviously, here Natasha means the latter, as one can't exactly change one's ethnic origins.[[/note]]). |
| 111 | ** In the ''Fury's Big Week'' comic (prequel to the ''Avengers'' film), the mutated Samuel Sterns (a.k.a. the comics' Leader) drops a hint at Natasha being originally from Stalingrad (now Volgograd), after picking up on her accent. |
| 112 | ** In-universe in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''. [[spoiler:The titular Winter Soldier is made to look like a Russian assassin by using Russian-made weapons, speaking in Russian, and having a red star painted on his prosthetic arm, but in reality he's Bucky Barnes, an American from New York being controlled by American agents.]] |
| 113 | *** [[spoiler: And that isn't even the end of it. Those American agents happen to be members of HYDRA, a secret society that originated in Nazi Germany, and the Winter Soldier - as a consequence of being portrayed by [[Creator/SebastianStan a Romanian-American]] actor - speaks Russian with a Romanian accent. Is this the LogicalExtreme of this trope? Probably.]] |
| 114 | ** Black Widow also brought in more fake Russian people in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' (French Julie Delpy as coach Madame B.) and [[Film/BlackWidow2021 her solo movie]] (Brits Creator/FlorencePugh and Creator/RachelWeisz as former Black Widows, while American Creator/DavidHarbour plays the Red Guardian). In those cases, there are Russian accents, which just shows that Natasha's lack of one is an indicator she has defected long ago (which also makes it funny on how in Natasha's solo movie, of [[DeepCoverAgent four Russians who spent three years pretending to be an American family]], only Natasha herself has learned to not sound Russian anymore). |
| 115 | * In Creator/BillyWilder's ''Film/OneTwoThree'', the Russian characters are played by Austrian and German actors. |
| 116 | * ''Film/{{Salt}}'' has two Polish actors playing the Soviet defector and the Russian president, and the American Corey Stoll playing one of the undercover agents (though like the rest of the agents in the movie, [[DeepCoverAgent he's lived his whole adult life in America]]). |
| 117 | * British Creator/DanielCraig played Belarussian Tuvia Bielski in ''Film/{{Defiance}}''. His accent when speaking Russian was less than convincing. |
| 118 | * Variously averted, subverted, and played straight in ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact''. By the numbers: |
| 119 | ** Dana Elcar is not Russian in any way, and his accent as Dimitri Moisevich is subpar to say the least. His radio transmissions in Russian had to be dubbed in. |
| 120 | ** Creator/HelenMirren as Tanya Kibruk is an interesting case. She is (of course) English and speaks no Russian, but she is ethnically Russian on her father's side (born Helen Lydia Mironoff) and can do a flawless Russian accent. |
| 121 | ** The remaining Soviets are all either Czech or actually Soviet, even if some of them (e.g. Elya Baskin) aren't actually Russian ''per se'' (Baskin, for instance, is a Latvian from Riga--which at the time was part of the USSR). |
| 122 | * Creator/ShannonElizabeth played Nadia, a Czech (not Russian, but similarly Slavic) in ''Film/AmericanPie''. |
| 123 | * ''Film/StarTrek2009'': Averted somewhat in how Creator/AntonYelchin (Ensign Chekov) was born in Russia and immigrated to the United States as a baby. He would've done an accurate accent and was a native English speaker in RealLife, but he felt it more appropriate to exaggerate it to match Walter Koenig's original performance of the character. |
| 124 | * Creator/RalphFiennes, Creator/LivTyler and everyone else in the 1999 film version of ''Onegin'' plays Russians, but it's a NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent bonanza (with the exception of Tyler... who puts on an English accent so she won't stick out amongst the rest of the cast). |
| 125 | * InUniverse case: in the opening sequence to ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', Barsad, a sniper, poses as a Russian soldier when delivering Dr. Pavel and the three hooded "prisoners" to the CIA agent. He fools the CIA agent by saying the "prisoners" work for Bane, the "masked man", so that the agent and the army soldiers on the plane are unaware until it is too late that Bane is in fact one of the prisoners and will crash the plane....with no survivors. |
| 126 | ** Note that Barsad appears to speak with some kind of light lisp when talking to the CIA agent to disguise his voice. In all of his scenes in Gotham with dialogue, he's a FakeBrit because he speaks with a British accent even though his actor Josh Stewart is American. |
| 127 | * In ''Film/{{Rounders}}'', Creator/JohnMalkovich plays Russian gangster Teddy KGB. His accent is [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent bizarre]]. |
| 128 | * In the [[Film/WarAndPeace1956 1956 American film adaptation]] of ''Literature/WarAndPeace'', the Russian characters are played by actors of various nationalities: the British-Dutch Creator/AudreyHepburn, the Americans Creator/HenryFonda and Creator/MelFerrer, the Italian Vittorio Gassman, the Austrian Creator/OskarHomolka and the Swedish Creator/AnitaEkberg. |
| 129 | * ''Film/PacificRim'' is stuffed to the gills with FakeNationality, but Sasha and Alexis Kaidanovsky, the Russian BattleCouple piloting the [[HuskyRusskie superheavyweight Cherno Alpha]], are portrayed by Canadians Creator/HeatherDoerksen and [[Wrestling/{{Kurrgan}} Robert Maillet]] respectively. |
| 130 | * In ''Film/TheBourneSupremacy'', Russian FSB agent Kirill is portrayed by New Zealand actor Creator/KarlUrban. Urban delivers all of his lines in Russian, in an accent that one Russian speaking reviewer described as 'slightly mangled'. |
| 131 | * ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'': |
| 132 | ** In the original timeline, Colossus is portrayed by Canadian Daniel Cudmore. |
| 133 | ** ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' features Englishman Creator/JasonFlemyng as Azazel (who's a demon in the comics, but turned into a Russian mutant in the film). |
| 134 | ** ''Film/{{Deadpool 2016}}'' depicts Colossus as a HuskyRusskie instead of the non-specific nationality in the other movies... while played by a Serbian, Stefan Kapicic. |
| 135 | ** ''Film/TheNewMutants'' has American-born Anglo-Argentine Creator/AnyaTaylorJoy as ComicBook/{{Magik}} (Colossus' sister in the comics). |
| 136 | * Creator/BrianCox as a former Russian spy named Ivan Simanov in ''Film/Red2010''. |
| 137 | * Creator/StevenSeagal as the title character in ''Driven to Kill''. Most Russians find his attempts at Russian ''mat'' (obscene patois) incredibly hilarious. |
| 138 | * In ''Film/{{Mortdecai}}'', Romanov, the leader of the Russian criminals, is played by Danish actor Ulrich Thomsen. One of his henchmen is played by an actor born in Ukraine. |
| 139 | * The film version of ''Film/TheManFromUncle'', much like its tv predecessor, has a Fake Russian, in this case American Creator/ArmieHammer (although he ''does'' have some Russian heritage). |
| 140 | * ''Film/StVincent2014'' has British Creator/NaomiWatts as a Russian prostitute. |
| 141 | * ''Mail-Order Bride'' has Creator/IvanaMilicevic (Bosnian-American) playing a Russian. |
| 142 | * ''Film/TheSumOfAllFears'': Irish actor Creator/CiaranHinds as the President of the Russian Federation. |
| 143 | * ''Film/{{Boa}}'': Brit Creator/MarkSheppard shows up as a Russian terrorist sent to the Antarctic prison. |
| 144 | * ''Film/GoldThroughTheFire'': Charles Hanson was American, but puts on a passable Russian accent and speaks a bit of Russian in the film playing Russian emigrant Pyotr. |
| 145 | * ''Film/RoomInRome'': Natasha Yarovenko is actually Ukrainian, but played a Russian here. |
| 146 | * ''Film/{{Snatch}}'' has Rade Šerbedžija, a Croatian actor, playing Boris the Blade, a.k.a. "Boris the sneaking fuckin' Russian". The character is from Uzbekistan however. |
| 147 | * ''Film/{{Nobody}}'': Araya Mengesha is really Canadian, with Ethiopian and Eritrean heritage. Here his character Pavel was [[FakeMixedRace half Russian, half Ethiopian]]. |
| 148 | * ''Film/{{Stiletto}}'': Canadian-American Creator/StanaKatic, who has Croatian Serb ancestry, plays Raina, a Russian. |
| 149 | * ''Film/DoctorInTrouble'' has Creator/JoanSims playing a Russian Captain. |
| 150 | * ''Film/{{Austerlitz}}'' (1960) has the French Jean-Louis Richard as [[UsefulNotes/TsarTsarAutocrats Tsar Alexander I]]. |
| 151 | * ''Film/{{Napoleon|2023}}'' (2023) has the French Édouard Philipponnat as Tsar Alexander I. |
| 152 | * ''Film/CarryOnMatron'': The DeletedRole of Mrs. Putzova was played by the British Creator/MarianneStone. |
| 153 | [[/folder]] |
| 154 | |
| 155 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 156 | * Parodied in Creator/DaveBarry's column "The Columnist's Caper", a spy-movie pastiche in which two Russian officers named [[FamousNamedForeigner Rasputin Smirnov]] and Joyce Brothers Karamazov Popov take turns frowning at each other while talking about how the Americans must be kept from interfering with their EvilPlan. When Smirnov asks, "Shouldn't we be speaking Russian?", Popov says that [[JustAStupidAccent they should at least have accents]]. The rest of their lines have them doing every accent but a Russian one. |
| 157 | * In-universe in Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{Joyland}}'', Rozzie Gold - a.k.a. Madame Fortuna, the amusement park's resident fortune teller - adopts a fake Eastern European accent during the summer season because it draws in more tourists. (She's actually from New York.) |
| 158 | * In-universe in ''Literature/FlightOfTheSwan'':. All dancers in the ballet troupe have Russian names (Katia, Maya, Egorova, Natasha, Nadya, and narrator Masha), but two of them are Englishwomen. The name change is to give the impression that theirs is a Russian troupe. |
| 159 | [[/folder]] |
| 160 | |
| 161 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 162 | * In ''Series/TwentyFour'': |
| 163 | ** Julian Sands, a British actor, played BigBad Vladimir Bierko. Creator/MarkSheppard, also British, played Bierko's [[TheDragon Dragon]], and notably [[OohMeAccentsSlipping switched between British and Russian accents]] during his tenure on the show. However, since the nationality of those bad guys was [[AnonymousRinger Generic Central Asian]] it's rather pointless to discuss whether the names and accents were accurate to any particular real Central-Asian / Eastern-European country. Creator/MishaCollins, meanwhile, does a pretty good Russian accent as Alexis Drazen. |
| 164 | ** In Season 8, Russian BigBad Mikhail Novakovich is portrayed by Glasgow-born actor Graham [=McTavish=]. Likewise, Sergei Behzaev in the same season was acted by Berliner Jürgen Prochnow. |
| 165 | ** Australian actor Nick Jameson played Russian President Yuri Suvarov in the fifth, sixth, and eigth seasons. Likewise, John Noble, also of Australian descent, played Anatoly Markov during season 6. |
| 166 | * ''Series/{{Alias}}'': |
| 167 | ** Julian Sark is a borderline case as his exact nationality is never directly confirmed. He's played by American David Anders but the character speaks with an Irish-influenced British accent. The character is not British, however, he was merely educated in Britain and spent a lot of time in Galway. It's eventually revealed he's the son of a Russian diplomat and was sent to Britain at a young age to escape from his father's abusive behaviour. |
| 168 | ** Andrian Lazarey is a Russian diplomat and descendant of the Romanov family. He's Sark's father and is played by American Mark Bramhall, making him a straight example of this trope. |
| 169 | * ''Series/TheAmericans'' : Played straight by the protagonist couple ([[Creator/KeriRussell an American]] and [[Creator/MatthewRhys a Welshman]]) and the handlers ([[Creator/MargoMartindale Claudia]] and [[Creator/FrankLangella Gabriel]]), averted otherwise by most of the supporting Soviet roles. The creative team had an official rule in place that the roles were to be played by Russian actors who spoke the language fluently. |
| 170 | * In an ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode, Creator/SummerGlau played the ghost of a Russian prima ballerina. The accent was fairly decent, as was the ballet--she is a trained dancer. |
| 171 | * ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' has most Russians are played by non-Russians: |
| 172 | ** Anatoliy is played by the Czech-Canadian actor David Nykl (known to ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' fans as Dr. Radek Zelenka). |
| 173 | ** Gregor is played by David Meunier (American). |
| 174 | ** Viktor is played by a Canadian actor (Mike Dopud). |
| 175 | ** Kovar is played by the Swedish Creator/DolphLundgren (AKA [[Film/RockyIV Ivan Drago]]). |
| 176 | ** Isabel Rochev is played by Creator/SummerGlau. |
| 177 | * Averted in ''Series/BabylonFive'' where Claudia Christian uses her own (American) accent for the Russian character Susan Ivanova. The new president at the end of the fourth season was accused of it, but the actress was Polish and also using her own accent. Ivanova was particularly notable for the subtle (and realistic) hints of Russian syntax inserted in her lines - most notably, the line "This, to me, is not a good combination" - which say that, despite her accent, she is a native Russian speaker. (Although some of these might have simply been jokes, as many Russianesque word orderings are similar to those of [[YiddishAsASecondLanguage Yiddish]], and Ivanova is explicitly, if not observantly, Russian Jewish.) |
| 178 | * The 2007 [=BBC1=] adaptation of ''Ballet Shoes'' features at least two, possibly three. With one, Petrova Fossil (played by London-born Yasmin Paige) the accent is not an issue- the character was brought up in England and accordingly has an English accent. She does on occasions have a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yulia_Tymoshenko Yulia Tymoshenko]]-style hairdo (Ukrainian, but near enough). The funny thing is that Timoshenko (nee Grigian) ''isn't Ukrainian'' herself -- she's Russian-Armenian, and speaks Ukrainian with a heavy Russian accent. Her hairdo is an attempt to distance from her roots and lure hardcore Ukrainian nationalists to support her. |
| 179 | * ''Series/{{Barry}}'': Glenn Fleshler and Anthony Carrigan play Chechen mobsters…with Yugoslav names. |
| 180 | * ''Series/BlackBooks'' has an episode with a Russian piano teacher played by Scottish actor. |
| 181 | * The Russian [[Film/TheUsualSuspects Keyser Söze]] {{Expy}} Berlin (Milos Kirchoff) on ''Series/TheBlacklist'' is portrayed by the Swedish Creator/PeterStormare, who has a history of being TypeCast as this kind of character. |
| 182 | * Happens in-universe on ''Series/{{Bones}}''. In one episode, Booth and Brennan [[ItMakesSenseInContext join a circus]] with a KnifeThrowingAct. The circus director tells them that they need a [[TheGimmick gimmick]], and they decide on "Boris & Natasha and their Russian Knives of Death", complete with Booth/Boris in a humongous fur coat and a fake mustache. |
| 183 | * On ''Series/{{Chuck}}'', Russian ArmsDealer Alexei Volkoff is played by former Film/JamesBond, Creator/TimothyDalton. His big reveal had him switch to a Russian accent, but he slips back into an English accent most of the time anyway. It starts to make sense when we learn that [[spoiler:Volkoff was actually an English scientist accidentally implanted with the "Volkoff" cover identity during a CIA experiment.]] |
| 184 | * In the ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' episode "[[Recap/ColumboS2E7TheMostDangerousMatch The Most Dangerous Match]]", the Russian characters are played by Canadians Jack Kruschen and Lloyd Bochner. In a scene, Bochner is speaking "Russian" on the phone - he is actually uttering gibberish lines, not at all sounding like actual Russian dialog. |
| 185 | * The ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode "Honor Among Thieves," involving Russian emigres and the Russian mob, combined actors from all over the place: two were Polish, one was Croatian, several were Americans of Russian descent, and at least one or two were from Russia. |
| 186 | * ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'': Russian brothers Anatoly and Vladimir Ranskahov in season 1 are respectively played by the very much American Gideon Emery and Australian Nikolai Nikoleff. |
| 187 | * Averted on ''{{Series/Deadwood}}'', where the Russian character Blazanov was played by Moscow native Pavel Lychnikoff. |
| 188 | * In ''Series/{{Degrassi|TheNextGeneration}}'', Russian-Canadian teen Zig Novak and his heavily-accented immigrant mother are played by Ricardo Hoyos and Shauna [=MacDonald=] respectively. |
| 189 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'' featured English actress Clare Jenkins putting on a fake Russian accent to play crewmember Tanya Lernov, in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E7TheWheelInSpace The Wheel in Space]]". She was just one of the many British actors putting on a fake accent to play a member of the multinational crew of the Wheel space station in that story. Jenkins would briefly reprise her role the following season in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS6E7TheWarGames The War Games]]". |
| 190 | * In the first few episodes of ''Series/{{Dollhouse}}'', we are led to believe that the character Creator/EnverGjokaj plays is that of Russian mob goon Lubov--of course, [[spoiler:this is only an imprint and he is in fact the active named Victor]]. Worth noting here is that Gjokaj's accent was so good and his name so exotically Eastern-European (though he's actually Albanian) that a lot of viewers never thought to guess his character was anything but what he seemed at first. |
| 191 | ** It's also later established that "Victor" is actually American. |
| 192 | * All of the Russians working in the Soviet Embassy in ''Series/ForeignAffairs1966'' were played by Brits - Creator/RonnieBarker, Joe Melia, and Sonia Graham. |
| 193 | * On ''Series/{{JAG}}'', Harmon Rabb's half brother Sergei Zhukov is played by Canadian Jade Carter. Evidently he won the part over several Russian actors. |
| 194 | * The TV adaptations of Creator/JohnLeCarre's "Karla trilogy" feature, among others, Creator/CurdJurgens (German) as an Estonian exile and Creator/MichaelLonsdale (French) as a Russian bureaucrat. Also Creator/PatrickStewart is Smiley's counterpart and foe Karla, although he more or less dodges this trope by [[spoiler: having no spoken dialogue.]] |
| 195 | * Several episodes of ''[[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Law & Order: SVU]]'' feature bad Russian accents, most glaringly "Russian Love Poem" in the first season. |
| 196 | * The ''[[Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody Suite Life on Deck]]'' episode "Das Boots" had Sasha Matryoshka, a Russian junior chess champion played by Cody Kennedy. |
| 197 | * ''Series/{{Lost}}'': British actress Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana Verdansky. |
| 198 | * The ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' episode "Gold Rush" had several supposedly Russian characters. ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' full stop, really. |
| 199 | * Illya Kuryakin on ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE'', played by the Scottish David [=McCallum=] (who would go on to play Ducky in ''Series/{{NCIS}}''). |
| 200 | * ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': Mike Nelson as a Soviet cosmonaut in a Joel-era episode. |
| 201 | * On ''Series/{{Nikita}}'', one of the main characters is Alexandra Udinov a.k.a. Alex, daughter of a Russian oligarch, played by the half-Portuguese Lyndsy Fonseca. They do say that she had lost her accent over time, wanting to conceal her identity. During flashbacks with an accent, the role is played by Canadian Eliana Jones. |
| 202 | * On ''Series/{{Oz}}'', prisoner Nikolai Stanislofsky is played by American actor Philip Casnoff. His Russian accent when speaking English isn't terrible, but his attempts to insert (phonetically memorized) "Russian" into his speech are quite indecipherable. |
| 203 | * In the revival of ''Series/RedDwarf'', there was a {{Fanservice}}-y science officer called Katerina Bartikovsky, who spoke with some kind of accent. |
| 204 | * ''Series/ReillyAceOfSpies'' features New Zealander Sam Neill playing a Ukrainian Jew pretending to be Irish. With TranslationConvention being used throughout, a load of English actors play Russians using British accents. |
| 205 | * ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOIUgPKPJPE Russian Idol.]]'' |
| 206 | * Lampshaded slightly on ''Series/SexAndTheCity'' with Carrie's inability to pronounce Aleksandr's name. He finally says "Call me 'Bob.'" |
| 207 | * On ''Series/SixFeetUnder,'' Ruth Fisher's Russian employer/paramour Nikolai is played by Ed O'Ross, a Pittsburgh-born and raised American of Czechoslovakian descent (his real last name is Orosz). |
| 208 | * ''Franchise/StargateVerse'': |
| 209 | ** ''Series/StargateSG1'': |
| 210 | *** Dr. Svetlana Markov [sic]; ([[TranslationCorrection corrected]] to Markova in the Russian dub) in the episode "Watergate", portrayed by Marina Sirtis. On the other hand, the two Russian sailors from "Small Victories" look rather authentic, being portrayed by Russians. The one with glasses speaks Ukrainian, almost without an accent. The other one alternates between Russian and Ukrainian. One of them asks what is that noise they hear from the torpedo tube and the other answers "maybe those are the bugs from the [[BilingualBonus previous]] [[NoFourthWall episode]]?". |
| 211 | *** Creator/GarryChalk, Canadian actor of English birth, plays Russian General Chekhov. |
| 212 | *** Captain Daria Voronkova (likely as a nod to the mistake with Svetlana Markov's name, Daniel initially refers to her as "Voronkov") is played by the London-born Françoise Robertson. Canadian Mike Dopud played a Russian colonel in the same episode and would go on to play a number of one-off HumanAlien characters in the show before becoming the regular character Varro in ''Series/StargateUniverse''. |
| 213 | ** Averted by Radek Zelenka in ''Series/StargateAtlantis''. He was originally supposed to be Russian, but the producers changed the character's nationality to fit the actor's Czech origins. While actor David Nykl can speak Czech fluently, having been born in the country to Czech parents, he left at a very young age with his family (after the Prague Spring of 1968) and his actual accent is Canadian. That and it appears he's actually been a fake Russian in the past. Nevertheless, Nykl's Czech accent is pretty much spot-on. |
| 214 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 215 | ** Ensign Chekov from ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries The Original Series]]'': portrayed by an American, albeit one of Lithuanian descent[[note]]If "Walter Koenig" sounds more German than Lithuanian to you--Koenig's family were Ashkenazi Jews (like half the actors on the [[Creator/WilliamShatner bridge]] of the [[Creator/LeonardNimoy Enterprise]]), so he had a Germanic name[[/note]]. His surname, btw, means 'receipt-son'. Apparently a misspelling of Chekhov, which means 'of Czech descent'. |
| 216 | ** In the ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "Our Man Bashir", Nana Visitor (who plays Kira Nerys) is clearly putting on the most ridiculous faux-Russian accent and having loads of fun while at it[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC_fXKgyaQg .]] Explained by the fact that the holodeck program is clearly meant to be a James Bond-replica -- fake Russian accents included (Kira was involved in a shuttle/transporter/holodeck malfunction, which is why she is so in-character). |
| 217 | * In the second season of ''Series/TrueDetective'', Frank Semyon's business partner, Osip Agranov, is played by Irish actor Timothy Murphy. |
| 218 | * ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': |
| 219 | ** American Stefan Gierasch as the Soviet ambassador to the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations in "A Small Talent for War". |
| 220 | ** The entire cast of "Red Snow". |
| 221 | * Sergei Malatov in ''Series/TheWire'', a Ukrainian played by American Chris Ashworth. His last name isn't even a Ukrainian name. [[spoiler:This is likely intentional, as Malatov is part of an international criminal empire led by "the Greek", and most of the Greek's people are implied to be using undercover names and nationalities. At one point the Greek's NumberTwo casually shows another character a whole collection of passports from different countries, all with different names. This tendency towards fake names and nationalities even includes the Greek, who at one point is amused by the fact that the police have no information on him besides [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname his nickname The Greek]]... and he isn't actually Greek.]] |
| 222 | * On ''Series/TheXFiles'', we have Alex Krycek; he speaks fluent Russian (although his name sounds more Czech or Slovak), but claims his parents were 'Cold War immigrants') played by Canadian actor Creator/NicholasLea. |
| 223 | %% This list is arranged in alphabetical order. Please add new entries in the correct alphabetical position! |
| 224 | [[/folder]] |
| 225 | |
| 226 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 227 | * Music/TomLehrer's "Lobachevsky" is sung in a fake Russian accent. One part of the song actually includes lines that are instructed to be sung in Russian (if the audience doesn't speak Russian) or in gobbledygook (if they do). |
| 228 | * The Music/LeningradCowboys are actually Finns. |
| 229 | ** As is the DoomMetal band KYCPK. |
| 230 | ** The Leningrad Cowboys took this trope even further by playing Russians [[{{Fauxreigner}} who claim to be Americans]]. |
| 231 | [[/folder]] |
| 232 | |
| 233 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 234 | * [[Podcast/{{RPGMP3}} Brunsk the Barbarian]], an [[NonPlayerCharacter NPC]] from the Yorkton Gamer Guild's recorded TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}} Actual Play sessions at Podcast/{{RPGMP3}}, has a... ''characteristic'' accent. |
| 235 | [[/folder]] |
| 236 | |
| 237 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 238 | * There have been so many fake ForeignWrestlingHeel Evil Russians in ProfessionalWrestling's storied history that it's simply easier to list the ''real'' Russians involved in the sport on a global level. |
| 239 | ** The Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance had promoted numerous Russian heels throughout its entire existence. The first time real Russians wrestled in an NWA ring did not occur until the 1990 edition of ''Starrcade'' when Victor Zangiev and Salman Hashimikov, two Soviet wrestlers from Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling (who in turn negotiated directly with the Soviet government to acquire them) took part in a tag team tournament. In a sign of the times, the two weren't presented as the stereotypical ForeignWrestlingHeel, but a show of the tournament being a legitimately international affair. |
| 240 | [[/folder]] |
| 241 | |
| 242 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 243 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', members of the "Commies" secret society tend to speak in fake Russian accents. One rulebook recommends using [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Pavel Chekov's]] accent as a guide. |
| 244 | * In ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' core rulebook, there is a picture of a werewolf from the Silver Fang ("Серебряные клыки" in Russian) tribe over the Cathedral of Vasily Blazhenny, titled: "СЕРЕБРЯНЫЦ КЛЫКЦ". This has become a meme among Russian [=WtA=] fans. Perhaps compounded by the fact that the werewolf in question appears to be the signature character King Albrecht; while the Silver Fangs as a tribe are associated with Russia, Albrecht himself is thoroughly American (and, to top things off, once called a Russian Silver Fang he didn't like a "commie bastard"). |
| 245 | [[/folder]] |
| 246 | |
| 247 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 248 | * Not only does ''Theatre/{{Chess}}'' have several Russian characters likely to be played by non-Russians, its creators made the mistake of naming one of them "Svetlana Sergievsky[[note]] For people not familiar with Russian naming conventions, "Sergievsky" is the masculine form of the name; Svetlana, being female, would more properly be "Sergievskaya".[[/note]]". \ |
| 249 | \ |
| 250 | The original Anatoly on the concept album (and the West End production) was Swedish performer Tommy Korberg. His accent is tough to place, sounding somewhere between English (to match the rest of the cast) and his native Swedish. Bjorn Skifs, the original Arbiter, is also Swedish, but his character's nationality is made intentionally ambiguous--pretty much the only thing we can say for certain is that he isn't American or Russian. |
| 251 | [[/folder]] |
| 252 | |
| 253 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 254 | * The [[TheBigGuy Heavy]] from ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', who has a Slavic accent, is played by the same voice actor who does the [[ViolentGlaswegian Demoman]]. |
| 255 | * British actor Creator/GaryOldman put on a fairly convincing Russian accent as the badass Sgt. Reznov in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty: World At War''. |
| 256 | ** Averted, humorously enough in a scene from the first ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' game where you are attempting to ambush and capture Victor Zakhaev. Your character actually sits up in the guard tower with Griggs while Captain Price and Gaz go about DressingAsTheEnemy Griggs says that Soap looks nothing like a Russian. |
| 257 | * [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Juhani.]] The same voice actor went on to portray Jack in VideoGame/MassEffect2, who does not speak with anything remotely resembling a Russian accent. |
| 258 | * ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' and ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert'' both has enough of [[TheBackwardsR linguistic]] and cultural pratfalls in "red balalaika" style that they are ''attractive'' for Russian-speaking players just because of the inherent hilarity (as great EasterEgg feasts). ''Not'' counting such obvious over-the-top things as paratrooper bears. The more "realistic" and "live" images are, the crazier they look. Starting from [[http://community.livejournal.com/ru_klukva_ru/89995.html its trailer]]. On the other hand, as long as [[http://s44.radikal.ru/i104/0808/e3/58d2f274717e.jpg Ivana Milicevic]] in that... "[[{{Stripperiffic}} uniform]]" is there, [[{{Fanservice}} who cares]] about what "regalia" she put on? |
| 259 | ** The crowning bit has to be Creator/TimCurry as the Soviet Premier - who cares about how good his accent is(n't) when [[LargeHam he gets going]]? Strangely, though, unlike most {{Fake Russian}}s he seems to know that "do svidania" roughly means "until next time" not "goodbye forever". |
| 260 | * Bishop Ladja in the Nintendo DS [[TheRemake remake]] of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV''. It helps boost his image as a cold-hearted villain. |
| 261 | * Played with in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV''. Some of the voice actors for TheMafiya aren't Russian, but Dimitri Rascalov's voice actor ''is'' Russian-Israeli. |
| 262 | * Downplayed by [[HuskyRusskie Zarya]] in ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}''. Her voice actress is Ukrainian. |
| 263 | * Creator/{{Jim Cummings|VoiceActor}} does a good job of this in ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' as Minsc, who is from the Franchise/ForgottenRealms land of Rashemen (geographically located in the same area as Belarus/Western Russia). |
| 264 | ** Minsc has the same name (phonetically) the capital city of Belarus; one would hope that he would have something of a Slavic bent. |
| 265 | ** Dynaheir (who is also from Rashemen) and Edwin (from neighboring Thay) are also varying degrees of fake Russian, although Dynaheir edges close to WhatTheHellIsThatAccent, sounding like some sort of mixture of russian and french. Jaheira (from Tethyr, located on the opposite end of Faerun) also had a fake Russian accent in the first ''Baldur's Gate'' for some inexplicable reason, but it's significantly toned down for the second game. |
| 266 | ** Ironically, Imoen became one in [[{{DubPersonalityChange}} Polish dub of the game]], where she inexplicably posses Russian accent. Luckily, she seems to drop it entirely from the second game onwards. |
| 267 | * The voice emotes for Draenei [=PCs=] (and ''most'' [=NPCs=]) in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' have Hollywood-Romanian accents. |
| 268 | * The ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series has many, most notably Revolver Ocelot (voiced by three Americans, but his mother is American). In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', however, which entirely takes place in Russia, nobody has an accent at all, as part of the TranslationConvention. Well, except Granin. |
| 269 | * Mikhail the Russian hitman in the Co-Op Mode of ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' is voiced by an English actor. |
| 270 | * Surprisingly averted in the English version of the video game ''VideoGame/{{Metro 2033}}'', whose voice actors happen to actually ''be'' Russian native speakers (in both the original and the dub), with the exception of Creator/YuriLowenthal and Creator/SteveBlum, who sound quite convincing. For some reason, people complained about the allegedly bad fake Russian accents being cartoonishly goofy and over the top. |
| 271 | ** The voice work improved in the sequel, MetroLastLight. Despite the continued use of Russian actors in the dub, complaints still rolled in about the obviously fake and exaggerated accents. |
| 272 | * The Russian voice option in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' is done by American voice actress Creator/TaraPlatt. The same goes for GeniusBruiser Oleg Kirrlov, voiced by American Mark Allan Stewart. |
| 273 | * Played with in ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'' with Olga Orly. Orly is only pretending to be a Russian waitress (at a Russian restaurant known as the Borscht Bowl Club) in order to cover up her real job as a con artist. |
| 274 | * Earl Boen seems to do this quite often, voicing Sergei Gurlukovitch in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' and Colossus in the first ''VideoGame/XMenLegends''. |
| 275 | * ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' has Peter Beckman as Zangief. Starting with ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'', he adds the slightly broken grammar to it. |
| 276 | * ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter: The Omega Strain'' and ''Dark Mirror'' have Creator/JenniferHale, a Canadian, as Mara Aramov, and she [[OohMeAccentsSlipping doesn't handle the accent too well]]. |
| 277 | * Old Creator/{{Psygnosis}} HumongousMecha simulator ''Krazy Ivan'' starts in the former Soviet Union and has a speaking cast of five. The MilitaryMaverick pilot and his two MissionControl officers [[JustAStupidAccent all sound like they took speech lessons]] from [[WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle Natasha and Boris]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGFuvK6ay9E As the introduction video shows,]] it's crushingly obvious that none of them are native Russians in the slightest. |
| 278 | * ''VideoGame/ShadowWarOfSuccession'' has the allegedly Russian agent Sasha "No von vill stand in my vay!" Romanoff. |
| 279 | * ''Videogame/PlanetSide 2'' has the "Comrade" [[{{Microtransactions}} voicepack]] for Terran Republic soldiers, with a hilariously fake Russian accent with gratuitously rolled Rs; "''I need a r-llll-ide!''". The female version is slightly better, though still fake. |
| 280 | * Maria Tachibana in ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' is half-Russian, though the series plays up her Russian-ness so much that if not for her name you'd never know it's only half (though it's justified by her having a Russian upbringing). Her US voice actress in [[Anime/SakuraWars2000 the anime]] decided to give her a Russian accent, which would have been a nice touch if she could imitate one worth a darn. |
| 281 | * Thunder from ''VideoGame/DirtyBomb'' may be an InUniverse example according to Sparks, who thinks that Thunder just created a whole new identity from nothing following the dirty bomb attacks on London and is just pretending to be Russian. |
| 282 | * ''VideoGame/OhSirTheInsultSimulator'' has Grisha, who is obsessed with Russia despite being born and raised in London. His [[AttackItsWeakPoint weak spot]] is insults involving his origins and (supposed) homeland, like "'''[Your country]''' [is not interesting] [and] [your beloved auntie] '''[was born in]''' [a cheese shop]!" |
| 283 | * ''VideoGame/SilentStorm'' has Russian (and one stereotypical Ukrainian) characters voiced by non-Russians in the English version of the game. Then again, this applies to most nationalities in the game |
| 284 | [[/folder]] |
| 285 | |
| 286 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 287 | * ''Webcomic/AMiracleOfScience'', though it's not clear whether [[http://www.project-apollo.net/mos/mos032.html this]] failure happened in or out of the 'Verse. |
| 288 | * Pitr from ''Webcomic/UserFriendly'' - though he's a LifeEmbellished version of an Estonian co-worker, the author thought it would be funnier to give him a "blatantly fake Slavic accent." (Estonians, for the record, aren't Slavic, though he didn't actually say they were.) |
| 289 | ** Pitr's fake-Russian dialect is actually justified - he spoke standard English at the beginning of the strip. He later adopted the accent to reinforce his "Evil Genius" persona. |
| 290 | ** Pitr actually does have Russian ancestry, as indicated by his bio. At first, he pretended his accent was an attempt to be more connected to his family because he didn't want them to know he was trying to be evil. |
| 291 | [[/folder]] |
| 292 | |
| 293 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 294 | * "The Russian" in ''Theatre/TheLeagueOfSTEAM''. |
| 295 | * Creator/FPSRussia, weapons demonstrator extraordinaire. In one of his behind-the-scenes videos (in which he breaks character and doesn't use a fake Russian accent), he points out that his catchphrase that he's a "Professional Russian" refers to the fake that he's professionally pretending to be Russian. |
| 296 | * ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'' - Craig the Devil (voiced by American actor Chris Netherton, also known as Pablo "Pooby" Sánchez). |
| 297 | [[/folder]] |
| 298 | |
| 299 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 300 | * Linka, the Ukrainian Wind Ring from the Planeteers in ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' was voiced by Creator/KathSoucie, an American voice actress. She can be identified by misplaced inflections and occasionally misusing a phrase. |
| 301 | * Exile, the Russian husky from ''WesternAnimation/RoadRovers'', is voiced by a Black actor of Jamaican descent, Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson. |
| 302 | * Dexter (voiced by Creator/ChristineCavanaugh) from ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'', despite, in fact, being American himself, speaks with an affectionate Russian accent, since all well-known scientists have some kind of European accent. Series creator, Creator/GenndyTartakovsky, was born in the Soviet Union himself, and has stated that Dexter's accent was based on his own from his childhood. |
| 303 | * Jetstorm and Jetfire from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' are voiced with Russian accents. |
| 304 | * Ravage from ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' has a similar accent. |
| 305 | * [[SatireParodyPastiche Parodied]] in ''[[WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Total Drama Action]]'' in the spy episode when Chris claims a butchered accent— the stumped cast guesses Jamaican, Japanese, Swedish, French and Italian in order— is Russian. |
| 306 | * A generation of kids learned how to speak with a bad Russian accent from Boris and Natasha spies from the fictional country of Pottsylvania on ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle''. |
| 307 | * Dr. Andre Chezko from ''WesternAnimation/SpeedRacerTheNextGeneration''. [[spoiler:In-universe. For he is actually none other than Wilson "Sparky" Sparkolemew.]] |
| 308 | * Thorn from ''WesternAnimation/KittyIsNotACat'' is voiced by New Zealand-born actress, Cal Wilson. |
| 309 | * In-Universe, Olaf the emperor penguin from ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}''. The Season 2 finale reveals that he is actually not from Russia, but from Planet Smileyland's equivalent of Antarctica. |
| 310 | * In the Creator/{{Nelvana}} cartoon adaptation of Creator/BrianJacques' ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'', the shrews Log-a-Log and Guosim speak with Russian accents. They are voiced by American-Canadian actor Bruce Dow and Canadian actress Marion Day respectively. It's actually bizarre and inexplicable for these characters to have such accents; the original novel gives no indication of shrew culture having been inspired by Russia in any way. |
| 311 | * Thomas/Nikolai from ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' being voiced by Roger Craig Smith. |
| 312 | * Buff Frog from ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' who speaks in a thick Russian accent, is voiced by an American actor Fred Tataiscore. |
| 313 | * Subverted in one episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', in which the character Meg speaks fluent Russian, due to being voiced by Ukrainian-born actress ''Creator/MilaKunis''. |
| 314 | [[/folder]] |
| 315 | |
| 316 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 317 | There are quite a few real-life examples of people from other parts of the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn former Soviet Union]] being assumed to be Russian; while this was more prevalent when the Soviet Union actually existed, it still crops up from time to time. |
| 318 | * Many TabletopGame/{{chess}} champions were described as "Russian," due to their countries being a part of the Soviet Union, even though they were: |
| 319 | ** Latvian: Mikhail Tal (Mihails Tals) |
| 320 | ** Armenian: Tigran Petrosian |
| 321 | ** Azeri: Garry Kasparov (though ethnic Armenian through his mother and Russian Jewish through his father; he did retain Russian citizenship after the fall of the USSR, though, and presently is active in the Russian opposition to UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin as chairman of the Human Rights Foundation) |
| 322 | * Tofiq Bahramov, the "Russian" linesman from the 1966 UsefulNotes/FIFAWorldCup Final, was actually Azerbaijani, although at the time it was assumed that he was Russian because he was a Soviet citizen. |
| 323 | * Modified example: After the breakup of the Soviet Union other athletes were heard to bemoan the amount of "Russians" now in the games. "It used to be you had to beat the Russian, now you have to beat the Russian, the Kazakh, the Uzbek, the Georgian...THEY'RE ALL RUSSIAN!" |
| 324 | * It should be said that Azerbaijan becomes increasingly more of an aversion as time goes on, because despite being part of the Soviet Union, they're actually Fake ''Turks'' if anything; the Azeri language only differs from the Turkish dialects spoken in eastern Turkey (e.g. Kars, Erzurum) by its vocabulary, which has extensive Russian (instead of French) influence and none of the Atatürk-imposed "purifications" for Arabic and Persian loanwords. |
| 325 | * Actors from central and Eastern European countries working in the USA or the United Kingdom are usually cast as Russians. |
| 326 | ** Croatian/Serbian Creator/RadeSerbedzija has made a Hollywood career out of playing Russians (''Film/TheSaint1997'', ''Film/MissionImpossibleII'', ''Film/SpaceCowboys'', ''Film/{{Snatch}}'', ''Series/TwentyFour''). He chose that career path when he saw how badly an American actor played a Russian role which Šerbedžija had declined out of a sense of inadequacy. Technically, he plays an Uzbek in ''Snatch'', but everyone still refers to him as "that sneaky fucking Russian". |
| 327 | ** As does the Czech Creator/KarelRoden. |
| 328 | ** On British TV, Serbian actors Branka Katić and Dragan Mićanović played Russians on the TV series ''Auf Wiedersehn, Pet''. Katić has also played Russians on ''Trial and Retribution'' and ''H G Wells: War With The World''. |
| 329 | * This applies to various leaders of Russia itself: among others, Catherine the Great was originally a German princess and UsefulNotes/JosefStalin was a Georgian. |
| 330 | ** The entire Romanov Dynasty, by the time of Russian Revolution, was probably far more German than Russian by ancestry, while the preceding Rurikid Dynasty started as Scandinavian. |
| 331 | ** It can become complicated as many nations, now independent, were under the rule of the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union. If "Russian" identifies a subject of the Russian Empire, then a lot of people who were not "ethnic" Russians were still Russians. Russians themselves don't help with this much since their idea of what an "ethnic" Russian is quite flexible. |
| 332 | [[/folder]] |
| 333 |
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