From Hollywood stars to famous musicians
Mila Kunis grew up with her Jewish parents in Soviet Ukraine. Her family had suffered greatly in the Holocaust and her parents taught her to hide her religion, while still maintaining a strong sense of her identity privately.
Rita Ora’s parents are Albanian and she was born in Yugoslavia in 1990, known today as Kosovo. Yugoslavia was falling apart at the time and those who were ethnically Albanian came under attack. They escaped the country in 1991 when Ora was just a baby.
Famed psychologist Sigmund Freud was born in Austria in 1858. He rose to prominence by revolutionizing the way we treat mental illness and was highly influential, even towards the end of his life.
Latvian-born Mikhail Baryshnikov rose to fame in the Soviet Union as one of their top ballet dancers. He had a successful career, but by his mid-twenties he yearned to work with innovative choreographers outside of the Soviet Union.
Queen Elizabeth’s late husband Prince Philip was born a prince of both Greece and Denmark. His father (top right) was a prince and his uncle was King Constantine I of Greece. Philip was born during the Greco-Turkish War, at which time his family lost power and were banished from the country.
While touring with the Bolshoi Ballet in Canada in 1974, Baryshnikov suddenly disappeared. It turned out he had pulled off a carefully planned defection, escaping his KGB handlers to gain political asylum in Canada. He worked with the Canadian National Ballet for a time before moving to the US. He is considered one of the greatest ballet dancers and choreographers of all time.
The family was evacuated in a British naval vessel, and baby Philip was transported in a fruit box. Prince Philip went on to marry into the British royal family, but his mother, Princess Alice, returned to Greece, where she became a nun and worked for the Red Cross.
Sources: (Insider) (Slice)
They returned to Czechoslovakia when the war ended, but were forced to escape once again when the communist regime started there. They found political asylum in the US, where Madeleine Albright has lived ever since. Albright went on to have an exemplary political career. She wrote in her memoir that she only learned of her Jewish heritage later in life.
Madeleine Albright is famed as the first woman to serve as United States Secretary of State. She was born in Czechoslovakia in 1937, just a couple of years before the Nazis invaded. Her family fled to England in 1938 where they converted from Judaism to Christianity.
Rapper K’naan grew up in Somalia, where a savage civil war broke out when he was a child. He was nearly killed by a hand grenade when he was 11 years old, which marked the decision for his family to escape the conflict. His family escaped to New York, where his father already worked as a taxi driver.
After six months in New York, they moved to Toronto. K’naan is now a vocal advocate for refugees in Canada. He uses his success to support refugee aid programs and speak out against the war in Somalia.
Iman is known for being the world’s first Black supermodel, and the wife of the late David Bowie. She started her life in Somalia in 1955, but while she was away at boarding school in Egypt a coup overturned the Somalian government. Her father was in danger as an ambassador, and the family became refugees in 1972 when she was 16 years old.
Spektor’s family are Jewish and suffered under the Soviet regime. When she was nine years old, they fled to New York. Spektor continued to study music there and became a major success.
Andy Garcia was one of the biggest stars in America in the 1990s. But he started out in Cuba where his mother was an English teacher and his father was both an attorney and an avocado farmer. The Bay of Pigs Invasion occurred when Garcia was five years old.
At that time, his family fled to Miami and started a new life there. They created totally new careers for themselves and founded a successful perfume company. Garcia still feels passionately connected to his home country, although he didn’t visit it for many years.
Her family were displaced by the war and her father had to go into hiding from the Sri Lankan army. They lived as refugees for a while and ended up settling in the UK.
Wyclef Jean was part of the band known as the Fugees with Lauryn Hill and fellow-Haitian Pras Michel. The word fugee was a derogatory term often used to describe Haitian refugees. Jean started a foundation to help Haiti in 2001.
Wyclef Jean was born in Haiti in 1969. His family left the country to escape the totalitarian regime of the dictator president, François Duvalier. Like many Haitian refugees at the time, they settled in the US.
They relocated to London and Ora and her two siblings were raised there. The family name was originally Sahatçiu, but they changed it to Ora because it was another Albanian name that was easier to pronounce.
Her father lived in captivity under Fidel Castro’s army for two years before he reunited with his family in Miami. Estefan gained her US citizenship in 1974 and went on to become one of the best-selling female singers of all time.
Her family left the Ukraine in 1991 due to religious persecution when she was seven years old. They moved to Los Angeles and were given visas as religious refugees. The entire family had only US$250 dollars to their name and didn’t speak English. Within three years, Kunis had landed her first acting role.
The incredible Gloria Estefan was born in Havana, Cuba, during the height of the Cold War. She was born in 1957, and in 1959 her family fled to avoid the Cuban Revolution. They moved to Miami, but her father joined the US Army and returned to fight in the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
They relocated to Kenya where Iman was discovered by an American photographer in 1979. She moved to New York to pursue a career as a model and became a political and social activist, working to fight global poverty and support young women and girls.
Many celebrities and famous figures have been refugees in their lives, and by sharing their stories they help us empathize with the millions of displaced people around the world. Refugees are responsible for some of the greatest music of our time. They have made pioneering advances in the fields of physics, psychology, literature, and art. The world as we know it would not be the same if they had not been given a chance to contribute to society.
Let's take a look at some of the most famous and influential refugees in the world, and learn about their journeys to success. Click through the gallery to get started.
Famous people who had to flee their home countries
In honor of World Refugee Day on June 20
CELEBRITY World
The UN Refugee Agency estimates that there are currently over 100 million forcibly displaced people in the world. It's hard to get your head around a number like that, but it clearly shows that refugees make up a huge part of our society. However, it's all too easy to lose sight of the human beings behind the numbers. Influential figures who were once refugees help put a face to the cause.
Many celebrities and famous figures have been refugees in their lives, and by sharing their stories they help us empathize with the millions of displaced people around the world. Refugees are responsible for some of the greatest music of our time. They have made pioneering advances in the fields of physics, psychology, literature, and art. The world as we know it would not be the same if they had not been given a chance to contribute to society.
Let's take a look at some of the most famous and influential refugees in the world, and learn about their journeys to success. Click through the gallery to get started.