# Celebrities born in places that are no longer the places they were when the celebrity was born there **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2009, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141 "2009-11-19T12:44:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141/21 "2009-11-19T23:08:45Z")
Chang and Eng Bunker, born in Siam. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141/22 "2009-11-20T00:48:54Z")
Victoria Principal claims to have been born the first child of American parents in [Occupied Japan](http://mapsof.net/uploads/static-maps/proposed_postwar_japan_occupation_zones.png)(which though it wasn’t the actual name is how it was referred to then on some[merchandise](http://www.worthpoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/oj-fig-1.jpg)and on some maps). Some dispute her saying that either she was born before 1950 as she claims or she was not the first child born of American parents there, but she was born in Occupied Japan. (Don’t know if this counts, but several entertainers from Mississippi and Louisiana grew up in areas that were pretty much destroyed by Katrina and the buildings associated with their childhoods are not there anymore.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141/23 "2009-11-20T01:54:45Z")
[Goran Visnjic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goran_Visnjic) (Dr. Luka from ER) “was born in the Dalmatian coastal city of Šibenik, Yugoslavia, now Croatia”. Elie Wiesel was born in the 20,000 person Jewish ghetto of Sighet village in Transylvania, then part of the Kingdom of Romania. The Kingdom of Romania ceased to exist when the last monarch (Michael) abdicated in 1947, Transylvania’s borders have changed several times, Sighet’s name has been changed to [Sighetu Marmaţiei](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sighet)and the Jewish population is about 21 (which for perspective is only slightly more than the number of former synagogues that still stand in the city). ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141/24 "2009-11-20T02:03:27Z")
There are a number of musicians born in the former USSR: [Katie Melua](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katie_Melua), [Regina Spektor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_spektor), and [Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_H%C3%BCtz). Noted Canadian actor [Gordon Pinsent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Pinsent) was born in Newfoundland when it was still a self governing British colony. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141/25 "2009-11-20T02:06:53Z")
Chrissie Hynde 😃 ---
**Author:** ![arjee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@arjee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arjee)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141/26 "2009-11-20T03:03:10Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Chrissie Hynde 😃 Hee! I love it when I get a joke! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141/27 "2009-11-22T10:15:31Z")
Vaclav Havel was born in Czechoslovakia. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141/28 "2009-11-22T11:56:57Z")
Ted Stevens was born in the Territory of Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141/29 "2009-11-22T17:09:15Z")
Zsa Zsa Gabor was born in Budapest, then in Austria-Hungary, in 1917. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2009, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141/30 "2009-11-22T17:28:59Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Ted Stevens was born in the Territory of Alaska. Not unless it included [Indianapolis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Stevens) at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141/31 "2009-11-24T19:03:05Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Chrissie Hynde 😃 awesome. Damn you, Limbaugh! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-born-in-places-that-are-no-longer-the-places-they-were-when-the-celebrity-was-born-there/518141.md?page=1)