Sergei Zhigunov – Russian actor

Sergei Zhigunov is a Russian film and theater actor, producer. By the way, he is Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1995), President of the Russian Film Actors Guild. The actor has played a lot of bright roles.
Sergei was born on January 2, 1963 in Rostov-on-Don. His parents were actors. Zhigunov was a very energetic and creative child. Because of various pranks the boy was twice expelled from music school and was even expelled from secondary school.
You know, Sergei played small roles in his mother’s plays. He was Cheburashka, the young New Year, jackal Tobacco, and many other characters. But Sergei wasn’t going to become an actor. Everything changed when the boy saw Nikolai Karachentsov on the stage. The famous Soviet actor made the greatest impression on the young boy.
After school Sergei went to Moscow and entered the Shchukin Drama School but didn’t finish it. He starred in movies, wrote poetry, composed music and didn’t attend classes. That’s why he was expelled. Sergei went back to Rostov-on-Don, where he played various roles in the local Youth Theatre. However, a year later the guy came back to Moscow and eventually graduated from the Theater School in 1986.

The first major work for the young actor was the film Two Hussars with Alexander Abdulov in the title role.
One single role changed everything in Zhigunov’s life. It was the role of brave and courageous Alexander Belov in the miniseries Naval Cadets, Charge directed by Svetlana Druzhinina, which brought him all-Union glory. During the filming of one episode of the film, the actor was seriously wounded and spent almost a month in the hospital. That’s why Oleg Menshikov voiced his hero in the film.

Since then Zhigunov began to appear in various Soviet and Russian films. He played title roles in the films The Witches Cave, Hearts of Three, The Princess and the Bean as well as in the new part of the famous franchise Vivat, Naval Cadets!.
At some point Sergei decided to try his hand as a producer. Throughout his career, the actor has produced about thirty different films and television series.
Among them the most famous projects are Once in Rostov, What Did The Dead Say, Countess de Monsoreau.
TV series My Fair Nanny where Sergei starred along with Anastasia Zavorotnyuk was the most successful.
In 2014, Zhigunov starred in fantastic comedy The Mystery Of The Princesses.
In 2016, Sergei played the role of Boris Andreevich Chuikin, fugitive oligarch and father of the main character in the comedy series Fugitive Relatives. And in the same year, Sergei played the role of Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Alekseevich Tkach in the detective series Jackal, dedicated to the criminal events of the early 70s.
In 2017, the First Channel premiered the melodrama Chosen One with Zhigunov in the title role. You know, in 2018 the actor appeared in the eight-part melodrama Lonely Papa and in the criminal serial Dinosaur.

Personal life
Vera and Sergei met on the set of the film Chance in 1984. Zhigunov was 20 years old, and his beloved Novikova was five years older. Sergei admitted that it was love at first sight. Novikova was married and had a little daughter. Courtship lasted for two years, maybe it was true love.
The couple divorced in 2007 because of Zhigunov’s love affair with his Fairy Nanny Anastasia Zavorotnyuk.
In October 2009, Sergei re-married actress Vera Novikova, the main love of his life.
His daughter Maria Zhigunova (born on September 5, 1990) starred in the films Stripped and Vovochka.
Sergei adopted Anastasia (born in 1980), Vera Novikova’s daughter from her previous marriage.
His official site: www.zhigunov.su

Sergei Zhigunov – Russian actor