Evgeniy Lazarev

Born in Minsk, Yevgeni Lazarev was a Russian actor and director who trained at the Moscow Art Theatre School-Studio and performed at the Riga Russian Drama Theatre and the Mayakovsky Theatre. After moving to the United States in the 1990s, he took roles in Hollywood films including The Saint (1997), Lord of War, The Sum of All Fears, and Iron Man 2 as Anton Vanko. On television he appeared in The West Wing, Alias, and the first season of 24 as Nikola Luminović. He also voiced Imran Zakhaev in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007). A professor at the Moscow Art Theatre Studio School and the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts, he taught at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in Los Angeles and the USC School of Cinematic Arts from 2003 to 2016. He was named People's Artist of Russia, received the Order of Honor in 1998, and died in 2016.