Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow — actress with roots in the Russian Empire

Gwyneth Paltrow won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Shakespeare in Love (1998) and starred in the Iron Man franchise. She later founded Goop, a lifestyle brand.

Tracing the roots — Minsk / N. Novgorod

Paltrow's great-grandfather Simcha Paltrovitch emigrated from Minsk, then part of the Russian Empire. That Ashkenazi Jewish heritage from the Pale of Settlement is part of her paternal family's American story.

Historical context

Russian Empire · c. 1721–1917

Minsk / N. Novgorod. At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.

Map: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)

A career defined by ambition