Flaunting the genes of a mother who belongs to the exclusive Triple Crown of Actors and a father whose raw power and classical artistry lends to his distinction as a world-class dancer, Shura Baryshnikov has the perfect stage for success.
Though the woman’s famous parents, Jessica Lange and Mikhail Baryshnikov, never shared a screen together, their five-year relationship ended with the birth of Shura, who in her earlier years said she felt the pressure of carrying a legendary name.
Today, 42-year-old Shura–a carbon copy of her father–is a multimodal performer who’s come to terms with her last name.
Keep reading to find out more about Shura Baryshnikov and her superstar parents!
Born in 1947, Jessica Lange, who started her career as a model, made her film debut in 1976 as the beautiful character who softens the heart of the giant monster, King Kong. Though the film was received poorly by critics, some who said it was too campy, Lange was recognized as a future star with a Golden Globe nomination, her first of 16 in her career.
Tossed into the spotlight, Lange was a highly sought-after actor who over the next few years, appeared in several leading roles like The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) with Jack Nicholson and 1982’s hit comedy film, Tootsie with Dustin Hoffman. Her performance in Tootsie, where she played a soap star, earned her an Academy Award, her first of two (Blue Sky in 1995 was her second win), and a Golden Globe, her second win of five.
Her next big role was in Frances, again playing an actor, in the 1982 film that resulted in nods from the Academy and Golden Globe.
Today, Lange, 74, belongs to the Triple Crown of Actors and holds honors in major categories including two Academy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards (Grey Gardens and in the American Horror Story franchise) and one Tony Award for her performance in the 2016 Broadway production, Long Day’s Journey into Night.
Meanwhile, in 1974, Russian-born prima ballerina Mikhail Baryshnikov, now 75, was on tour with a Moscow dance company and seeking political asylum in Canada.
After a few years, Baryshnikov tiptoed his way from the National Ballet of Canada to the U.S., where he became a principal dancer with the American Ballet, which led to a leading role on the film Turning Point (1974), an Oscar-nominated role where he’s seen as a womanizing Russian ballet dancer.
It was in 1976 when Baryshnikov, the star of Sex and the City, met Lange, who around the same time was in an on and off again relationship with actor and dancer Bob Fosse and was still married to photographer Francisco “Paco” Grande, whom she separated from in the mid 1970s and divorced in 1982.
After five-years together, Baryshnikov and Lange became parents to Aleksandra “Shura” Lange-Baryshnikov, who was born in 1981, and the next year, the mom and dad split.
Lange had two children, Hannah and Sam, with actor Sam Shepard (1982 to 2009) and the star of White Nights (1985), married dancer and writer Lisa Rinehart in 2006. Baryshnikov and Rinehart share children Anna, Peter and Sofia-Luisa.
And though Shura wasn’t planned, the Blue Sky star said she has no regrets.
“I didn’t want to make my life exclusively this career. I wanted some kind of balance, which was why I decided to have the baby,” she told People. “And I take such joy from her. I’m getting into some heavy bonding that never existed before in my life.”
Lange, who had a hectic decade in the 1980s with several award-nominated roles, like in Country and Sweet Dreams and Music Box, took the young Shura to work, exposing her to the industry at a very early age.
“This child is not going to have an orthodox upbringing. I don’t want to leave her for 14 hours, because the most important thing is that she’s around people who love her. It doesn’t matter if it’s on a movie set or in a vine-covered cottage,” Lange said.
Today, Shura, who’s now 42, is an interdisciplinary artist who works as a dancer, a choreographer, a dance educator and an actor, with stage credits in Oscar Wilde’s 2016 production of Salome and Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
“I felt no pressure from my parents to engage in the performing arts,” Shura said. “I think it was important to them that their children find their own paths.”
Adding that bearing the last names of her legendary father and mother has been difficult, Shura says, “The pressure of carrying that name dissuaded me from pursuing dance for a long time.” Shura, a mother of two (Ilse and Adah), continued, “But after my children were through their early childhood, I found myself just not being satisfied with doing anything other than moving. Finally, it was like, well, I have to grow a thick enough skin to think, ‘I’m going to go out into the world with this name, and if people are going to compare me to him, that’s more about them than it is about me.’”
She continued, “I just have to follow my interests and pursue the kind of dance, dancemaking and body movement that is compelling to me, and not do it for any kind for reasons of legacy, but simply because I can’t imagine doing anything else.”
Shura Baryshnikov has a few features similar to her mom, but the rest is all her dad! Which parent do you think she resembles?
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