17 Facts About Aleksandr Demyanenko

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Demyanenko was a Soviet and Russian actor.

Aleksandr Demyanenko is best known for playing the character Shurik in Leonid Gaidai's movies.

Aleksandr Demyanenko was born in Sverdlovsk, Soviet Union in 1937.

Aleksandr Demyanenko's father, Sergei Petrovich, was an actor who graduated from the Lunacharsky State Institute for Theatre Arts.

Sergei later worked as a director at the Sverdlovsk Opera Theatre, and as a child Aleksandr played bit parts at the theatre.

Aleksandr Demyanenko attended a theater workshop at the Palace of Culture and parallel to that he studied piano at a music school.

Aleksandr Demyanenko learned foreign languages with an emphasis on German in middle school and in high school started to sing in a baritone.

In 1961 Aleksandr Demyanenko moved to Leningrad and became staff actor at Lenfilm studio.

Aleksandr Demyanenko then went on to play in A Night Before Christmas, Peace to Him Who Enter and was cast for the title role in Dima Gorin's Career.

Aleksandr Demyanenko was unable to gain popularity for other roles as he was typecast as a scientist due to his tremendous popularity as the nerdy, crime-fighting student Shurik.

Aleksandr Demyanenko frequently provided voice-overs for foreign and domestic films, and even Donatas Banionis admitted that his dubbing was an improvement over his original acting.

Aleksandr Demyanenko appeared in the television movie Old Songs of the Main Things 2 in 1997 playing an aged Shurik.

Aleksandr Demyanenko had a brief role in the TV series Strawberry and reprised his famous role of the nerdy professor in Old Songs of the Main Things 3 in 1998.

Aleksandr Demyanenko was diagnosed with congestive heart failure but was afraid of getting bypass surgery.

Aleksandr Demyanenko divorced Sklyarova when he became involved with voice-over director from Lenfilm Liudmila Demyanenko.

Aleksandr Demyanenko became his second wife and they remained married until his death.

Aleksandr Demyanenko became the stepfather to her daughter Angelica Nevolina, who later became an actress.