Elya Baskin

Russian actor (born 1950)

Elya Baskin
Born	Ilya Zalmanovich Baskin (1950-08-11) 11 August 1950 (age 73) Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1971–present

Ilya Zalmanovich Baskin (Russian: Илья Залманович Баскин; born 11 August 1950), known professionally as Elya Baskin, is a Russian-American character actor.^[1] He first gained attention for his role in Moscow on the Hudson (1984), as Robin Williams' character's best friend.^[2] He is also known for playing Peter Parker's landlord, Mr. Ditkovich, in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007) and cosmonaut Max Brailovsky in 1984's 2010: The Year We Make Contact.

Biography

Baskin was born to a Jewish family in Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union, the son of Frieda and Zalman Baskin.^[3] He attended Moscow's prestigious Theatre and Variety Arts College and won a Festival of Young Actors Award at the Moscow Comedy Theatre.^[3]

He defected to the United States in 1976.^[3] He has built a considerable career in TV and film, and is often cast as Eastern European characters.^[2]

Filmography

Film

Telegram (Телеграмма) (1972) – teacher (uncredited)
Not a Word About Football (Ни слова о футболе) (1974) – music teacher
Three Days in Moscow (Три дня в Москве) (1974) – passerby
The World's Greatest Lover (1977) – Actor with Bad Breath
Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979) – Book-keeper
Being There (1979) – Karpatov
Raise the Titanic (1980) – Marganin
American Pop (1981) – Tuba Player
Moscow on the Hudson (1984) – Anatoly Cherkasov
2010 (1984) – Maxim Brailovsky
The Name of the Rose (1986) – Severinus
Streets of Gold (1986) – Klebanov
Combat High (1986) – Interpreter
Vice Versa (1988) – Professor Kerschner
Zits (1988) – Vladimir Timoshenko
DeepStar Six (1989) – Dr. Burciaga
The Slice of Life (1989) – Foreign Man
Enemies: A Love Story (1989) – Yasha Kobik
The Pickle (1993) – Russian Cab Driver
Love Affair (1994) – Ship Captain
New York Skyride (1994)
Spy Hard (1996) – Professor Ukrinsky
Forest Warrior (1996) – Buster
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) – General Borschevsky
Air Force One (1997) – Andrei Kolchak
October Sky (1999) – Ike Bykovsky
Running Red (1999) – Strelkin
Thirteen Days (2000) – Anatoly Dobrynin
Heartbreakers (2001) – Vladimir, Kremlin Waiter
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (2004) – Dr. Stepniak
Spider-Man 2 (2004) – Mr. Ditkovich
Wheelmen (2005) – Vladimir
Confessions of a Pit Fighter (2005) – Nick
The Elder Son (2006) – Uncle Fedya
Color of the Cross (2006) – Caiphas
Spider-Man 3 (2007) – Mr. Ditkovich
The Dukes (2007) – Murph
Say It in Russian (2007) – Victor
God's Smile or The Odessa Story (2008) – Tad, a lawyer
Angels & Demons (2009) – Cardinal Petrov
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) – Cosmonaut Dimitri
Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian (2013) – Dr. Jokl
The Hive (2014) – Yuri Yegorov
Silent Screams (2015) – Andrei
Supervized (2019) - Brian
Reagan (2024) - B.E. Kertchman

Television

Big School-Break (Большая перемена) (1972) – student
MacGyver (1986–1987) – Yuri Demetri
Roseanne (1989) – Foreign Man
True Blue (1989–1990) – Yuri
Northern Exposure (1991) – Nikolai Appolanov
Quantum Leap (1991) – Major Yuri Kosenko
The Larry Sanders Show (1995) – Nicolae
Ellen (1996) – Sergei
Walker, Texas Ranger (1993–1996) – Corp. Yuri Petrovsky / Misha
Mad About You (1996–1997) – Vladimir
Felicity (1999) – Bela
Becker (1999–2000) – Alexi
The Invisible Man (2001) – Dimitri Yevchenko
Deadly Force 2 (Убойная сила-2) (2001) – Makarov
The West Wing (2005) – Mr. Zubatov
Criminal Minds (2007) – Arseny Lysowsky
Heroes (2007) – Ivan Spector
Rizzoli and Isles (2012–2013) – Dr. Vladmir Papov
Castle (2014) – Sergei Vetotchkin
The San Pedro Beach Bums
MacGyver (2016) – Alexander Orlov
Madam Secretary (2017) – Dito Pirosmani
Homeland (2018) – Viktor Makarov, Russian ambassador

Video games

Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge (2001) - Additional voices
SOCOM II U.S. Navy SEALs (2003) - Additional Russia VO
Prey (2017) - Yuri Andronov
Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021) - Boris Petrov

References

^ "Elya Baskin". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07.
^ ^a ^b "Актер Илья Баскин: В Голливуде я играл, в основном, иностранцев – думаю, это и есть моя ниша". Российская газета (in Russian). 30 June 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c Elya Baskin profile, filmreference.com; accessed 11 March 2015.