His father Harry simply did not want to live in the USSR.
Recently married to a young woman, Alexander Gordon holds American citizenship but has chosen to live and work in Russia. In a previous conversation with "StarHit," the TV host explained why he does not sever ties with the US.
"The thing is, it's almost impossible to renounce American citizenship. It's very difficult, let's say. First of all, they have what's called an exit tax. That is, if you want to leave, you have to pay. You won't believe how much. They assess all the property you have: bank accounts, real estate, cars, everything. And they require you to give them 30%. At the same time, you remain a tax resident of the United States for the next 5 years," Gordon explained.
He was born on February 20, 1964, in Obninsk to poet and artist Harry Borisovich Gordon and medical worker Antonina Dmitrievna Striga (now Chinin). His father is an ethnic Jew, his mother is Russian, and the family is secular.
Until the age of three, he lived with his family in the village of Belousovo in the Kaluga region, then moved with his parents to Moscow, to the area of the "ZIL" factory. The Gordons lived there for less than a year before moving to Chertanovo, on Dnepropetrovskaya Street. At the time of the family's departure to the US in 1989, privatization in the USSR was just gaining momentum, so their apartment on Dnepropetrovskaya was taken by the state, which Alexander still regrets.
Almost immediately after the birth of his son, Harry Gordon left him with his mother and grandmother. When the boy turned four, his mother met Nikolai Chinin, who later married Antonina Dmitrievna and became a father figure to him. Chinin, as Gordon later said, "was a true Russian hero" and had a significant influence on his upbringing. His mother worked three jobs, so his grandmother often took care of Sasha.
In childhood, he wanted to become an investigator or a theater director. At the age of five, Gordon already had his own puppet theater, which attracted the entire large courtyard to its performances. Another passion of Alexander Gordon was street hockey. During his school years, Gordon decided to joke and posted ads in his neighborhood selling a helicopter, but was later tracked down by law enforcement, who did not understand the joke and invited him for a preventive conversation.
In 1987, he graduated from the acting department of the B. Shchukin Theater School (E. R. Simonov's course). Elena Drobyshova and Nikita Dzhigurd also studied with Alexander Gordon. After graduating from the school, he worked for a year at the Ruben Simonov Theater Studio. He also taught acting in a children's circle.
In 1989, he emigrated to the US with his wife and daughter, where he tried several jobs. Since 1990, he has been a director and announcer at the RTN (Russian Television Network of America). Since 1992, he has been a senior correspondent at WMNB. In 1993, he founded the company "Wostok Entertainment." In 1997, he returned to Russia.
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