The actress Stella Arbenina was born as Stella Zoe Whishaw in St. Petersburg. She grew up in Russia and got married with Baron Paul Meyendorff in 1907. Her husband served as a Captain for the Army of Tsar Nicholas II.
When the Russian Revolution broke out they lost her belongings and got arrested. Thanks to the intervention of the Baltic Germans committee they were released again and were able to leave Russia in 1918.