Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov was born on 27 January 1948, in Riga, Latvia, and is an actor and a dancer of Russian and Latvian descent. Mikhail has been active in his career since 1968 and is famous as being one of the best ballet dancers in history, thus, he has definitely earned his wealth thanks to his talent.
So how rich is Mikhail Baryshnikov? Sources have estimated that Mikhail’s net worth is $45 million, virtually all gained through his dancing talent and on various media.
Mikhail Baryshnikov Net Worth $45 Million
What is interesting about Mikhail’s career is that he started dancing in the Kirov Ballet in St Petersburg (then Leningrad), but defected from the USSR to Canada in 1974, and developed his career as a freelancer. This was simply because in the Soviet system, when Latvia was a part of Soviet Union, there were few opportunities to develop any talent. Later on, Mikhail worked in the New York City Ballet, until in 1980 he was announced as the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre. Such a jump in the dancer`s career helped Mikhail to make his net worth much larger. The National Medal of Arts, received in 2000, confirms Mikhail`s innate talent and great performances.
Mikhail Baryshnikov net worth have increased considerably through his appearances on TV, too, with “In Performance Live from Wolf Trap” being his debut in 1976. Mikhail became noted for his American Ballet Theatre production of Tchaikovsky`s “The Nutcracker” on TV. In this performance, Baryshnikov appeared along with such stars as Gelsey Kirkland and Alexander Minz. The production became very popular and watchable on TV, and thus added a significant sum of money to Mikhail Baryshnikov’s net worth. Certainly Tchaikovsky`s ballet has had many other versions, however, only Baryshnikov`s production along with one other have been nominated for an Emmy Award. Moreover, during the 1970s and 1980s Mikhail increased his net worth with incomes from perfomances with the American Ballet Theatre on “Live From Lincoln Center“ and “Great Performances“.
Written by Arthur Laurents and directed by Herbert Ross, “The Turning Point“ (1977) was another source of great revenues enhancing Mikhail Baryshnikov’s net worth. Along with Gregory Hines and Isabella Rossellini, Mikhail also appeared in an American drama “White Nights” (1985), directed by Taylor Hackford. Baryshnikov accumulated more net worth when he appeared as a Russian artist in an American television sitcom “Sex and the City” along with such celebrities as Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis. Most recently, Baryshnikov performed in the action-thriller film “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” (2014). The talented dancer has also been cast in plays ”In Paris”, and “Man in a Case”.
As regards Mikhail`s family, along with American actress Jessica Lange the dancer has a daughter Aleksandra Baryshnikov (born in 1981). Currently, together with the former ballerina Lisa Rinehart whom he married in 2006, Mikhail has three children: Peter (born in 1989), Anna (born in 1992), and Sofia (born in 1994). The family now resides in the Dominican Republic.
Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture, Latvian Theater Award for Actor of the Year, Tony Award for Best Lead Actor in a Play, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Classical Music or Dance Programmi...
Movies
White Nights, The Turning Point, Dancers, The Nutcracker (American Ballet Theatre), Company Business, That's Dancing!, The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez, Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About, Great Pas de Deux, Baryshnikov Dances Sinatra, Baryshnikov Live at Wolf Trap, Place, World's Young Ballet: Mikh...
TV Shows
Sex and the City, Great Performances, Baryshnikov on Broadway, Great Performances: Dance in America
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Quote
1
[on the difficulty of acting in front of the camera, encountered while working on _White Nights (1985)_, and the help he received from acting coach Sandra Seacat, whom he'd met earlier through Jessica Lange, from 12/6/85 Washington Post profile] One of the main things was she helped me relax in front of the camera. The best acting I did on the set was in the improvisations before the takes - that gave me real satisfaction. But keeping the level when the camera was going, that was completely something else. Technicians placing the camera, the director behind you, your throat is dry, and you're trying to forget everything, all distractions, and ask yourself what is this scene really about - that's when the hard work starts.
2
[on being directed by Dmitry Krymov in a play, 2011] I myself didn't agree with many of his choices. But I am not entitled to raise my objections. It's the same with a choreographer. If you commit, you should be a good foot soldier. This is not the place to be a general.
3
Oh, that's nonsense. Sex symbol? A cup of tea will do it. Sex is overrated. Absolutely. Forget about it. A good golf game, a nice conversation with friends, will do better. - On what it is like to be an international sex symbol.
4
That somebody has the vision to put a few steps together and make a dance out of it, there is already a certain power implanted. My job is much easier - it's just to put a light in it. - The Daily Telegraph, 09/02/2004
5
I think I got disappointed over the years about New York, about the States. You know, sometimes you go and visit Europe and see good old socialism in its good part! You see public concern about art, and young people's participation and young faces in the audience. Then you arrive in the States and it is $150 to go to an opera. Ridiculous. We have so much young talent on the streets, but because everything is commercial they finally drift away from their dream of their life. - The Daily Telegraph, 09/02/2004
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Dancers are made, not born.
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No matter what I try to do or explore, my Kirov training, my expertise, and my background call me to return to dancing after all, because that's my real vocation, and I have to serve it.
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No one is born a dancer. You have to want it more than anything.
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[on the late Fred Astaire] "No dancer can watch him and not know that all the rest of us should be in a different business. Astaire is remote. It's as if he were in an incubator, breathing his own air. His perfection is like crystal: you can see through it. It's hopeless to try and imitate him."
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The essence of all art is to have pleasure in giving pleasure.
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I do not try to dance better than anyone else. I only try to to dance better than myself.
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There comes a moment in a young artist's life when he knows he has to bring something to the stage from within himself. He has to put in something in order to be able to take something out.
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I am not the first straight dancer, nor the last.
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Fact
1
Is a fan of cigars.
2
Enjoys fishing.
3
He was Artistic Director of the American Ballet Theatre from 1980 to 1989, until they fired his right-hand man Charles France. Baryshnikov's successor was Kevin McKenzie.
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Appearing in dramatic roles in a series of one-act plays by Samuel Beckett, at the New York Theater Workshop. [December 2007]
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Taught by ballet instructor Bella Kovarsky when he was a child.
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Owner of ballet troupe, "White Oak Dance Project".
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Hobby is golf.
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His and Jessica Lange's daughter is Aleksandra (born 1981).
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He appeared in three of the ballet programs which were Emmy-nominated for "Outstanding Classical Program in the Performing Arts" in the same year - "Giselle", "American Ballet Theatre at the Metropolitan Opera House", and "The Nutcracker". "Giselle" was the one that took home the Emmy, but "The Nutcracker" remains the one that has most often been shown and is consistently the most popular. The other two have not even been released on video or DVD, due to a royalties dispute about all "Live From Lincoln Center" programs.
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He was awarded the American National Medal of the Arts in 2000 by the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington D.C.
11
His name in English means "Michael."
12
He had a romantic relationship with fellow Soviet defector and prima ballerina assoluta Natasha Makarova. She was eight years his senior. She ended it because of this fact and when she needed him back as a sympathetic shoulder to cry on, Baryshnikov was already involved with another young ballerina named Gelsey Kirkland.
13
Daughter Shura (Aleksandra) Baryshnikov, whose mother is Jessica Lange, graduated from Marlboro College in Vermont, the same college that Chris Noth attended in the 70s. [2003]
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When he met Jessica Lange, he spoke little English. Fortunately for him, Lange spoke French, which he could speak fluently.
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Was nominated for Broadway's 1989 Tony Award as Best Actor (Play) for "Metamorphosis."
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Frequently attended legendary New York disco Studio 54.
$45 Million
