Raikin Ben-Ari，Russian-born actor, stage director, and teacher, mostly in America. Ben-Ari, whose family name was Raikin, was born near Kiev (now in Ukraine). He took his father's last name as his first name and called himself Raikin Ben-Ari, or "Raikin, son of a lion." After training at a polytechnic school in the sciences, Ben-Ari became interested in theatre.