Mikhail Baryshnikov

Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor born in Riga, in the Latvian SSR, Soviet Union, into a family of ethnic Russians. His mother, Alexandra, a dressmaker, introduced him to theatre, opera, and ballet before her death by suicide when Baryshnikov was twelve years old. His father, Nikolay, was an engineer whom Baryshnikov has described as a strict, nationalist military man.

Baryshnikov began his ballet studies in Riga in 1960, at the age of twelve, and entered the Vaganova School in Leningrad in 1964. He won the top prize in the junior division of the Varna International Ballet Competition and joined the Mariinsky Ballet, then known as the Kirov Ballet, in 1967, making his debut dancing the Peasant pas de deux in Giselle. Soviet choreographers including Oleg Vinogradov, Konstantin Sergeyev, Igor Tchernichov, and Leonid Jakobson recognized his talent and choreographed ballets specifically for him. He made signature roles of Jakobson's 1969 work Vestris and of Albrecht in Giselle. New York Times critic Clive Barnes, writing while Baryshnikov was still in the Soviet Union, called him the most perfect dancer he had ever seen.

On June 29, 1974, while on tour in Toronto with the Bolshoi Ballet, Baryshnikov defected and requested political asylum in Canada. Ballet critic John Fraser assisted in the escape by writing contact phone numbers on a small piece of paper concealed beneath his wedding ring, which he passed to Baryshnikov after distracting a KGB officer at a post-performance banquet. Baryshnikov subsequently joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, where he partnered with Gelsey Kirkland for the first time, the two performing the pas de deux from Don Quixote. His first televised performance following his defection was a guest appearance with the National Ballet of Canada in La Sylphide. He announced at that time that he would not return to the USSR, and after Latvia declared independence on May 4, 1990, he returned there frequently. In 2017, the Republic of Latvia granted him citizenship for extraordinary merit. Since 1986, he has been a naturalized citizen of the United States.

From 1974 to 1978, Baryshnikov served as a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, where he again partnered with Kirkland and worked with choreographers including Jerome Robbins, Glen Tetley, Alvin Ailey, and Twyla Tharp. In December 1975, he and Natalia Makarova appeared prominently in an episode of the BBC television series Arena. In 1978, he joined the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer for fifteen months, making his debut with the company on July 8, 1978, at Saratoga Springs, appearing as Franz in Coppélia. George Balanchine coached him in his distinctive neoclassical style, and Baryshnikov performed signature roles including Apollo, The Prodigal Son, and Rubies. Jerome Robbins created Opus 19/The Dreamer for him during this period. His final performance with the company, on October 12, 1979, was the role of the Poet in Balanchine's La Sonnambula at the Kennedy Center, after which tendonitis and other injuries curtailed his tenure.

Baryshnikov returned to the American Ballet Theatre in September 1980 as artistic director, a position he held until 1989. His Broadway appearances span 1975 to 1989, during which he starred in Metamorphosis and appeared with Ballet Theatre. He received the Theatre World Special Award in 1989.

Beyond the stage, Baryshnikov received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe nomination in 1977 for his portrayal of Yuri Kopeikine in the film The Turning Point. He starred in the film White Nights alongside Gregory Hines, Helen Mirren, and Isabella Rossellini, and held a recurring role in the final season of the television series Sex and the City. His work across ballet, modern dance, theatre, film, and television has made him one of the most widely recognized ballet dancers of the contemporary era.