Vera Fyodorovna Komissarzhevskaia (8 November 1864 – 23 February 1910) was a major actress and producer in late 19th century Russia. She, and her brother who was also a famous producer and director, were originally trained by their father Fyodor, who was a prominent opera star and teacher. She started acting officially in productions in 1891, and became a member of the official imperial theater, St. Petersburg’s Alexandrinsky, in 1896. She continued to work there for six years, and was particularly recognized for her acting in the role of Nina Zarechnaya from Chekhov’s The Seagull, which as a production as a whole was unsuccessful.
Komissarzhevskaia also started her own theater in St. Petersburg in 1904, where she produced works by Chekhov, Ibsen, Maeterlink, and even Shakespeare, some of which she also acted in. She toured both Russia and the United States, and had a large enough impact on Russian theater that there is a theater in St. Petersburg named after her, and a biographical film was made about her life in 1980.
All information came from the Encyclopedia Britannica and UpClosed.