Vladimir Simonov
National Artist of the Russian Federation
Vladimir Simonov is starring in lots of theatre productions and movies. He is one of the most required actors because of his outstanding drama and comedy talent and special artistic nobility. His ability to influence the audience, to perform ambivalent and vigorous characters is fantastic.
Born on June 7 in Oktyabrsk (the USSR).
In 1980 Vladimir Simonov graduated from the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute (Alla Kazanskaya’s course) and joined the Vakhtangov Theatre company.
In 1983 — 1987 he worked at the Moscow Art Theatre, appearing in leading and supporting roles such as Treplev (‘The Seagull’ by Anton Chekhov) and Waller (‘Tartuffe’ by Moliere).
In 1988 Vladimir Simonov returned to the Vakhtangov Theatre and shortly became one of the Vakhtangov celebrities. The selected roles include: Tartalia and Pantalone (‘Princess Turandot’ by Carlo Gozzi), Chopin (‘Summer in Nohant’ by Yaroslav Ivashkevich), Kopeykin (‘Old Russian Vaudevilles’), Benya Krik (‘Sunset’ by Isaac Babel), Peachum (‘The Beggar’s Opera’ by John Gay), Jean (‘Fröken Julie’ by August Strindberg), Othello (‘Othello’ by William Shakespeare), Colonel (‘Mademoiselle Nitouche’ by Hervé), Pandarus (‘Troilus and Cressida’ by William Shakespeare), Serebryakov (‘Uncle Vanya’ by Anton Chekhov), Rene (‘The Wind in the Poplars’ by Gérald Sibleyras), Retired Hussar (‘Eugene Onegin’ by Alexander Pushkin), Efraim Dudak (‘Give us a smile, oh Lord’ by Grigory Kanovich), Minetti (‘Minetti’ by Thomas Bernhard).
Among the other notable roles in Moscow theatres are Podkolesin (‘The Marriage’ by Nikolay Gogol) and Mayor (‘The Government Inspector’ by Nikolay Gogol) at the K.S. Stanislavsky Theatre; Trigorin (‘The Seagull. Experiment in assimilating the Stanislavsky method’ themed on Anton Chekhov) and Professor Higgins (‘Imago. Pigmalionioum’ themed on Bernard Shaw) at the Theatre of Nations; Voynitsky (‘Uncle Vanya’ by Anton Chekhov), Kuvaldin (‘Guide for those Wishing to get Married’ by Anton Chekhov), Sganarelle (‘The Reluctant Doctor’ by Moliere), Sancho Panza (‘Don Quixote’ by Miguel de Cervantes), several Characters (‘Characters’ themed on Anton Chekhov) and Boris Godunov (‘Boris Godunov’ by Alexander Pushkin) at the Et Cetera Theatre.
On stage and in cinema Vladimir Simonov has worked with famous and extremely skilful directors, among them: Mikhail Schweitzer, Anatoly Efros, Pyotr Fomenko, Ivan Dykhovichny, Peter Stein. He appeared in over 100 movies. Selected filmography includes ‘Life in the Hostel was anything but Lonely’, ‘Tevie the Milkman’, ‘Criminal Talent’, ‘How are you guys doing?’, ‘The Wedding’, ‘Frontier: A Taiga Romance’, ‘Moscow Windows’, ‘Red-hot Saturday’, ‘Life is Full of Fun’, ‘The Key to the Bedroom’, ‘Children of the Arbat street’, ‘The Dead Soul Affair’, ‘Andersen: Life without Love’, ‘A Love in a Million’, ‘Antidur’, ‘Rzhevsky versus Napoleon’, ‘Life and Fate’, ‘Kuprin’, ‘The Third World War’.
Accept from love and recognition by the audience, Vladimir Simonov has received many prizes, among them three awards ‘Seagull’ (one of the main theatre prizes in Russia), the MK newspaper prize, the Andrei Mironov National Prize ‘Figaro’.
In 2012 he was awarded with the Mayor of Moscow prize in the area of literature and the performing arts.
