Karina Smirnoff
Smirnoff in 2014, photo by Prphotos.com
Birth Name: Karina Smirnova
Place of Birth: Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)
Date of Birth: 2 January, 1978
Ethnicity: Greek, Russian, Jewish
Karina Smirnoff is a Ukrainian-born American professional ballroom dancer. She is known for appearing on a multitude of Dancing with the Stars seasons.
Karina was born in Kharkiv. She has stated that her father is Greek and her mother is Russian. In 2009, OK! Magazine wrote that Karina is “half Jewish” and “considers herself a Christian.”
Her family moved to the U.S. in 1993. She attended high school in The Bronx. Her parents own a liquor store in Staten Island.
Karina has a son with her partner Justinas Duknauskas.
Correction.
Isn’t Karina’s father Jewish or half Jewish? I can’t find any quotes from her directly but it’s mentioned several times on various websites.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/arts/article/dancing_rabbis_will_cha-cha_for_charity_20110329
Plus she once wished her fans through twitter a happy Pesach, using Pesach instead of Passover seems like a Jewish thing to do, although I could see how that could be completely circumstantial, anyone with access to the internet or even certain dictionaries could be privy to that term.
Yes, it’s very confusing. I’ve seen it written that one of her parents is Jewish, but she seems never to have said so herself. I don’t know what to make of it.
I know when she was engaged to Maksim Chmerkovskiy she said that there would probably be a rabbi and priest present, but that could have been as easily for Maksim’s benefit as it could be for her’s. Plus I found the quote here http://www.celebuzz.com/2009-03-27/karina-and-maksim-share-their-wedding-plans/
Yet I cant’ find the direct quote from OKmagazine’s site.