Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov (born January 27, 1948) is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was the preeminent male classical ballet dancer of the 1970s and 1980s. He subsequently became a noted dance director.

Born into a Russian family in Riga, Baryshnikov had a promising start in the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad before defecting to Canada in 1974