Russian America (Russian: Русская Америка, Russkaya Amerika) was the name of Russian colonial possessions in the Americas from 1733 to 1867 that today is the U.S. state of Alaska and settlements farther south in California. Formal incorporation of the possessions did not take place until a ukase (a proclamation or decree of the tsar) in 1799, which established a monopoly for the Russian-American Company and also granted the Russian Orthodox Church certain rights in the new possessions.

The earliest written accounts indicate that the first Europeans to reach Alaska came from Russia. In 1648 Semyon Dezhnev sailed from the mouth of the Kolyma River through the Arctic Ocean and around the eastern tip of Asia to the Anadyr River. One legend holds that some of his boats were carried off course and reached Alaska. However, no evidence of settlement survives. Dezhnev's discovery was never forwarded to the central government, leaving open the question of whether or not Siberia was connected to North America. In 1725, Tsar Peter I of Russia called for another expedition.

Milena "Mila" Kunis (Russian: Милена "Mилa" Кунис; Ukrainian: Мілена "Miлa" Куніс; born August 14, 1983;  /ˈmiːlə ˈkuːnɪs/) is an American actress. At the age of seven, she moved from Ukraine to Los Angeles, California with her family. After being enrolled in acting classes to help learn English, she was soon discovered by an agent. She appeared in TV shows and commercials, before her first significant role, playing Jackie Burkhart on the TV series That '70s Show. A year later, she was cast as the voice of Meg Griffin on the animated series Family Guy.

Her breakout film role came in 2008, playing Rachel Jansen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Subsequent film roles included Mona Sax in Max Payne, Solara in The Book of Eli, and Jamie in Friends with Benefits. Her performance as Lily in Black Swan gained her worldwide accolades, including receiving the Premio Marcello Mastroianni for Best Young Actor or Actress at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, and nominations for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.

Graham William Walker, known by his stage name Graham Norton, (born 4 April 1963) is an Irish actor, comedian, television presenter and columnist. He is the host of comedy chat programme The Graham Norton Show on BBC One in the UK and BBC America in the US. Hot Press has described him as "the 21st century's answer to Terry Wogan", with both men sharing an Irish background and the common link of being a BBC Radio 2 presenter and the BBC television commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest. Norton has won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Entertainment Performance on five occassions.

Norton was born in Clondalkin, a suburb of Dublin, but grew up in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland to a Protestant family. He was educated at Bandon Grammar School, in County Cork and then University College Cork but did not complete his studies.

In 1992 his stand-up comedy drag act in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as a tea-towel clad Mother Teresa of Calcutta made the press when Scottish Television's religious affairs department mistakenly thought he represented the real Mother Teresa.

Oleg Borisovich Vidov (Russian: Олег Борисович Видов; born 11 June 1943) is a Russian actor. He appeared in 50 films since 1961. He was a sex symbol of his generation in Russia, and many of his films are still played on Russian television today.

In 1985, he defected to the U.S. and began acting in films and television there. Oleg and his wife obtained international distribution rights to the award-winning Soyuzmultfilm Studio animation library in 1992 and helped popularize Russian animation around the world.

Today, Vidov is Chairman of the Board at Malibu Beach Recovery Center, a drug treatment facility in Malibu, California. Oleg and his wife Joan Borsten-Vidov, who is the CEO, acquired the center in yet another business venture when they purchased it from Dr. Yakov Marshak (the facility was previously known as the Marshak Clinic). The Malibu Beach Recovery Center has been featured on television shows such as A&E's Intervention and Oprah.