Charles Bronson
Take a closer look at his face and you will realise that Charlie Bronson does indeed bear more than a passing resemblance to a typical Lithuanian farmer tending his fields somewhere outside Panavezys. Although his father died when Charles was just ten, he had already propagated another 14 brothers and sisters to accompany the soon-to-be famous youngster.

John Candy
Canadian funny man John Candy was actually of mixed Lithuanian descent. Demonstrating that North Americans can genuinely be funny (even if it does require both their parents to come from Europe) Candy is best remembered for his roles in the Blues Brothers and the classic road movie ‘Planes, trains and automobiles’. Tragically John Candy died in 1994 aged just 43.

John Gielgud
Proving the old adage that the very finest members of the British upper class are foreigners, plumb-in-the-mouth Shakespearean actor Sir John Gielgud was actually born to a Lithuanian father. Gielgud is considered by many to have been one of the greatest actors of his era until he died at the grand old age of 96.

Sean Penn
This very fine actor, often undervalued, due to him being remembered more for having been Malawian child snatcher Madonna’s first husband, has strong Lithuanian connections. Sean Penn’s father had more than a drop of Lithuanian blood in him…these days Penn spends a lot of time away from the movie industry campaigning against social injustices and the policies of the Bush administration.

Robert Zemeckis
Zemeckis is one of the few Lithuanians to make it famous who still retains a name, which sounds obviously Lithuanian. Zemeckis helped define the popcorn cinema of the 1980s with his directing of classics such as ‘Back to the Future’ and ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit?’

Hannibal Lecter
Fictional character Hannibal Lecter first appeared in a number of novels before he hit the big screen in 1981. Lecter’s character was born in 1933 in Lithuania. It’s still not clear whether actor Anthony Hopkins, who famously played the mad flesh-eating weirdo, took some of his inspiration for playing Lecter from his own sometimes wild personality. Some speculate that that was the very reason why Hopkins (Who used to be Welsh rather than Lithuanian) swapped the valleys of south Wales to become a US citizen in 2000.

Bob Dylan
The great Bob Dylan was actually the great Robert Allen Zimmerman. The singer-songwriter, musician cum cowboy actor remains one of the great icons of the 1960s. “Blowin’ in the wind” is still the anti-war song of choice for millions of people around the world along with John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance”

Valdas Adamkus
Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus is pretty well known in international political circles. One little known fact is that he actually served under the Ronald Regan administration during the 1980s before moving back to Lithuania and becoming President in 1998. The energetic 81-year old Adamkus seems to be most active on the political front these days when it comes to events in nearby Ukraine.