Maria Ouspenskaya
Russian actress (1876–1949)
Who was Maria Ouspenskaya?
Maria Ouspenskaya lived from July 29, 1876 to December 3, 1949. Ouspenskaya was born in Tula, Russia. She taught acting to Lee Strasberg among others, at the American Laboratory Theatre, and in 1929, together with Richard Boleslawski, her colleague from the Moscow Art Theatre, she founded the School of Dramatic Art in New York City. Maria Alekseyevna Ouspenskaya (Russian: Мария Алексеевна Успенская; 29 July 1876 – 3 December 1949) was a Russian actress and acting teacher. She achieved success as a stage actress as a young woman in Russia, and as an older woman in Hollywood films. She studied singing in Warsaw and acting in Moscow. There she was trained by Konstantin Stanislavsky and his assistant Leopold Sulerzhitsky. The Moscow Art Theatre traveled widely throughout Europe, and when it arrived in New York City in 1922, Ouspenskaya decided to stay there. She performed regularly on Broadway over the next decade.
Historical significance
She was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Dodsworth (1936) and Love Affair (1939). Ouspenskaya is the first Russian actress to be nominated for an Oscar. She was a founding member of the First Studio, a theatre studio of the Moscow Art Theatre.