Sasha Cohen embraces actor's craft

[GoldMedalist]

"Cohen, 22, a Los Angeles native, enrolled in ART's six-week Moscow Art Summer Academy to study theater fundamentals, but she probably could have skipped the movement classes. After all, this is an athlete who can spin four times in the air and land on one foot -- on ice."

Oh, really?

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I think we should let Sasha be an actress, if that is really what she wants. As of now, I see the possibility of her doing marital comedies and girlfiend of masked men saving the universe.

But, would she be able to take off the makeup and look plain jane as Jodie Foster can (police detective or rape victim)? Not easy for now, but maybe 10 years or more with developed acting skills. Remember Jodie wanted to be an actress and did Mean Streets, then got her Yale degree in Theatre, and then won 2 academy awards.

We are not in the Sonia Henie system of Hollywood anymore. We can't even get a star like Esther Williams for Swimming despite all the hyped up sports.

Joe

 

[julietvalcouer]

Joe: it's a lot more than that. In the US, ideally, you assimilate. Russians (or the other ethnic minorites in Ukraine) don't. Throw in that Russia has a long history of some extremely brutal murder and repressing in Ukraine, and it's a matter of both pride and current politics (the faction that tried to murder the current Ukrainian president during the campaign and tried to rig the election are Russo-Ukrainians with backing from Moscow. Fortunately, they failed.) Russia's never entirely accepted that Ukraine isn't theirs.

I'm just having trouble imaging Sasha being anyone but...well, Sasha. I'll have to wait and see if she can pull off the ultimate transition trick--have me watching a movie and just thinking vaguely "Hm, she looks familiar."

 

[Ptichka]

Just read something in an old (2003) Petrenko interview that seems to belong in this thread. He talked about how after the 1994 Olympics, he and Bauil both toured North America. In many places, they met with representatives of the Ukrainian immigrant community, who obviously wanted to honor them as Ukrainian athletes. He says this presented a problem, since Oksana doesn't speak any Ukrainian at all. He himself remembered it from school only (where, he readily admits, he didn't spend nearly enough time as he was always at the rink), but at least he could piece a few sentences together. This is interesting since Petrenko (as opposed to Bauil) does identify strongly with Ukraine and is most likely ethnically Ukrainian as well.

 

[Mathman]

Sasha's Journal

Here is Sasha's latest journal entry. She talks about attending an acting seminar at Harvard over the summer.

http://www.sashacohen.com/journal.shtml

 

[bekalc]

From what I understand Urkaine is pretty well divided in and of itself....There are those who identify with the west, and those in the Ukraine who identify more so with Russia. There is a large Russian minority living in the Ukraine as well. Urkaine also has some cultural meaning for Russia, because in someways one could say the birth place of the Russian nation was at Kiev.

I'm not all trying to get into the politics, I'm just mentioning that Ukraine is very much a divided country. I think that Oksana identifies herself as Russian. What does Petrenko identify himself as?

And Juliet, the situation with the Russian minorities is this, they have been living in that area for a long time some generations and as such they are a bit of a different situation than let's say a family that moves to a foreign country now. I may be an outsider, but if Ukraine is going to work as a country, there is going to have to be some kind of bi-national identity.

 

[R.D.]

Here is Sasha's latest journal entry. She talks about attending an acting seminar at Harvard over the summer.

http://www.sashacohen.com/journal.shtml

Odd, because I thought I remember the article I read on that very seminar said it was at Cambridge.

 

[Mathman]

Harvard University is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Maybe that's where the confusion came in.

 

[R.D.]

oh, that's right...still, though, should have said Harvard to avoid confusion. I was thinking of Cambridge in England...

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Just read something in an old (2003) Petrenko interview that seems to belong in this thread. He talked about how after the 1994 Olympics, he and Bauil both toured North America. In many places, they met with representatives of the Ukrainian immigrant community, who obviously wanted to honor them as Ukrainian athletes. He says this presented a problem, since Oksana doesn't speak any Ukrainian at all. He himself remembered it from school only (where, he readily admits, he didn't spend nearly enough time as he was always at the rink), but at least he could piece a few sentences together. This is interesting since Petrenko (as opposed to Bauil) does identify strongly with Ukraine and is most likely ethnically Ukrainian as well.

Isn't the suffix, 'enko' a Ukrainian way of saying ovich or ov? I believe Plushenko has Ukrainian ancestry at least by his father.

Joe

 

[sillylionlove]

I have learned more about Russian culture in this thread then anywhere else.

 

[kandidy]

This means the total goodbye to competition skate......
That's sad news.... I expected one day this will come.

 

[Ptichka]

Isn't the suffix, 'enko' a Ukrainian way of saying ovich or ov? I believe Plushenko has Ukrainian ancestry at least by his father.

Yes. My friend likes to tell a funny story. When she was in elementary school back in Russia, the teacher was talking to the class about the different ethnicities in the USSR. At one point, she asked all children whose last names end in an "o" to get up. My friend did. The teacher then explained that the children who were standing up were all Ukrainians. The punch line - my friend's last name is Shapiro

 

[IDLERACER]

The punch line - my friend's last name is Shapiro

It would've been even funnier if her last name were Delegado, Barbarino or for that matter, Hirohito.​

 

[Ptichka]

It would've been even funnier if her last name were Delegado, Barbarino or for that matter, Hirohito.​

That would not have been realistic - it was all happening in Russia.