Spinning his autobiographical narrative freely as improvisations and variations that never cohered to a single story, Yul Brynner was a self-made man in a rather literal sense. His pan-ethnic star image was fuelled by constantly transforming stories of origin and background, some of which were grounded in fact; others not. In one prominent variation, his mother was a Romanian Gypsy who either had or had not died at his birth. In others, she was Bessarabian or half-Romani while his father was half-Jewish, half-Mongolian, or Swiss. Brynner was born either on the island of Sakhalin or among a group of nomadic Roma in an undefined location, under the stars; named either Yul Khan, Thaidje Khan, or Yul Taidje-Khan, his family of royal line either descending from – or having survived the rule of – Ghengis Khan. The first name ‘Yul’ was arguably handed down from his great-great-great-great-grandfather, its meaning in Mongolian being ‘Beyond the Hills,’ or ‘Beyond the Horizon … what you can't see.’

Brynner was brought up in either Beijing or Paris, or both, touring Europe with a circus group or a band of Gypsy performers – or perhaps as a minstrel. Other narrative variations included Buddhist monk training in China, philosophy and science degrees at the Sorbonne, combined with multiple doctorates, a black belt in judo, early service as cavalryman and a stint as driver for the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War resulting in imprisonment and an early loss of hair. An obituary writer notes how, ‘[t]o some, he presented himself as an orphan, to others as a child of privilege. He was either self-taught or a PhD.’ Meanwhile, Brynner's accent gave few clues: ‘It was unplaceable – too thick to be French, too liquid to be Chinese.’

Diverse tales of origin were key to the construction of Brynner's public image as a decidedly foreign actor, yet one with geographically unspecific roots. Richly embellished autobiographical details and inventive artist names were standard fare in 1950s Hollywood, where fantastic personalities had been coined for amplifying star glamour ever since the studios were established three decades prior. Alien origins, both actual and fabricated, held erotic and exotic allure while also constraining careers in multiple ways.