Yakov Smirnoff biography at QuotationFun

A Short Biography of Yakov Smirnoff

Author Name:

Yakov Smirnoff

Born As:

Yakov Naumovich Pokhis

Other Names:

Born:

24 Jan 1951

Died:





author picture
Comedian, painter and psychology professor                          
                          
                          
                          
Smirnoff is a painter and has frequently featured the Statue of Liberty in his art since receiving his U.S. citizenship.
On the night of the 11 September 2001, terrorist attacks he started a painting inspired by his feelings about the event, based on an image of the Statue of Liberty. Just prior to the first anniversary of the attacks, he paid US$100,000 for his painting to be transformed into a large mural. Its dimensions were 200 feet by 135 feet - 61 m by 41 m.
The mural, titled "America's Heart", is a pointillist-style piece, with one brush-stroke for each victim of the attacks. Sixty volunteers from the Sheet Metal Workers Union erected the mural on a damaged skyscraper overlooking the ruins of the World Trade Center. The mural remained there until November 2003, when it was removed because of storm damage. Various pieces of the mural can now be seen on display at his theater in Branson, Missouri.
The only stipulation he put on the hanging of the mural was that his name not be listed as the painter. He signed it: "The human spirit is not measured by the size of the act, but by the size of the heart".