Sylvia Young

Birth Name: Sylvia Bakal

Place of Birth: Whitechapel, London, England

Date of Birth: 18 September 1939

Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish (Russian Jewish)

Sylvia Young is the founder and principal of Sylvia Young Theatre School in London, England. She is the daughter of Sophie (Wexler) and Abraham Bakal. Sylvia is the mother of actress and musician Frances Ruffelle, and the maternal grandmother of musician Eliza Doolittle. She is of Ashkenazi Jewish (Russian Jewish) descent. Sylvia is married to Norman Albert Ruffell.

One of her grandmothers was born in Belgium, to Russian Jewish immigrants. Through that line, she is related to revolutionary Leon Trotsky.

Sources: Sylvia’s birth record –

News article about Sylvia’s ancestry –

Marriage record of Sylvia’s parents –