Steven Berkoff (b August 3, 1937) is an English actor, writer and director, from a Russian Jewish family.

Steven Berkoff (centre) is also a respected and prominent stage writer, actor and director.

Born Leslie Steven Berks, he is best known for villainous roles such as the corrupt art dealer Victor Maitland in Beverly Hills Cop, a gangster in The Krays, the sadistic Soviet officer Col. Podovsky in Rambo: First Blood Part II and even Adolf Hitler in War and Remembrance. He appeared in the James Bond film Octopussy as General Orlov, and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Hagath in the episode “Business as Usual” and in the miniseries Children of Dune as Stilgar.

Berkoff is also a respected and prominent stage writer, actor and director. His work includes East (1975), West (1983) and adaptations of Kafka’s The Trial (1971) and The Metamorphosis (1969). In the late 1980s he directed an acclaimed interpretation of Salome (play) by Oscar Wilde in the Gate Theatre, Dublin and, later, the UK. He trained in mime and physical theatre alongside Jacques Lecoq in Paris and also at Webber Douglas in London. He is renowned for his unique style of heightened physical theatre which has been coined total theatre.