Natalia Oreiro — actress with roots in the Russia
Natalia Oreiro was born in Montevideo on 19 May 1977. She began working in television advertising as a teenager, moved to Buenos Aires, and became one of the best-known actresses and singers of the Río de la Plata. She has no Russian ancestry; her connection with Russia is the audience she found there.
Russian viewers first saw her in the telenovela Ricos y famosos (1997). In 1998 and 1999 she starred in the Argentine telenovela Muñeca Brava, which also carried her first hit songs; the role earned her two nominations for the Martín Fierro award. Sold to some ninety countries, the series was shown in Russia as «Дикий ангел» (Wild Angel) and broadcast there many times over. It made her one of the most popular foreign performers in the country, and Russian audiences took to calling her Natasha.
The popularity outlasted the series. She toured Russia repeatedly as a singer, including a forty-day tour that became the subject of the documentary Nasha Natasha, released on Netflix in 2020. Many of her Russian fans have said the series is what first led them to learn Spanish.
In June 2020 she spoke on a Russian television talk show about wanting a Russian passport and afterwards, on the advice of the Russian embassy in Argentina, submitted a formal application. While the request was pending, fans sent her mock Russian passports of their own making. On 25 October 2021 President Vladimir Putin signed a decree granting Russian citizenship to her and her son, Merlín Atahualpa, born in 2012. They received their passports at the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires on 10 November 2021. She holds the citizenship of Uruguay, Argentina, Spain and Russia.
Her film work includes I'm Gilda (2015), in which she played the Argentine singer Gilda, Casi muerta (2023) and The Woman in Line (2025). As a singer she has released several studio albums and was nominated for a Latin Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Album in 2001. She also serves as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, and has continued to perform in Spanish for Russian audiences, who know many of her songs by heart.
Tracing the roots — Montevideo (Uruguay)
She has no Russian ancestry. Her connection is the popularity she gained in Russia through Muñeca Brava, shown there as «Дикий ангел», and the Russian citizenship granted to her and her son by presidential decree in October 2021.
No Russian ancestry. Russian citizen, with her son Merlín Atahualpa, by presidential decree of 25 October 2021.
Montevideo (Uruguay). Today, the former Soviet space comprises fifteen sovereign independent states.