Childhood and youth
In addition to secondary school, the girl also attended a music school, where she studied piano. Maria also took singing lessons in the choir. Maria often fought with her brother in childhood, as they were of opposite characters. At the same time, both were very sarcastic. As a teenager, the girl’s room was hung with posters of actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.
After graduating from school, at the insistence of her parents, Maria studied at the State University of St. Petersburg (SPbSU) from 1995 to 2000. The internship took place in the contract department of the bank, which was an unbearable routine work for the girl. The silence in the offices suffocated her. As a result, the girl graduated from high school and received a diploma of higher legal education. Seminars on civil law at that time at the girl’s university were taught by Dmitry Medvedev.
At the same time, the craving for the world of art did not leave her; during her student period, Maria worked part-time as a model. The first modeling agency where the girl started working was Modus Vivendi. First, Maria tried herself as a model, and later as an actress (2006) in commercials (“Actimel”, “Morozko” and others). The first filming took place in the video of the famous singer Valeria.
Maria took up acting professionally quite late, but already consciously. Later he decides to go to study at the Institute of Culture and Art in St. Petersburg (SPIKI) , department of dramatic art. At first, Maria’s father was critical of acting, but later, after seeing his daughter on television, he changed his mind.
Creative activity
In 2020, Maria began her career as a blogger. The girl created a channel on YouTube and began recording videos. Initially, Yuzhakova filmed a large number of challenges. However, soon she changed the format a little and began telling people about fashion, beauty and her life.
In 4 years, the number of subscribers on Masha’s YouTube channel exceeded 500 thousand. She often talks about life in America and about her school, in which many things seem wild to our people. The girl is on good terms with Katya Adushkina. They often appear together in videos and photos.
Masha is also very popular on Instagram. More than 400 thousand people have subscribed to it there. She regularly posts photos with friends, relaxing and studying. There, the blogger communicates with his subscribers and shares plans for the future.
View this post on Instagram
Guys, I’m glad to share with you that I created an account about nutrition [email protected] ⠀ ⠀ So I’ll be glad if you liked this idea. Hope to see everyone there ❤️
A post shared by Masha Yuzhakova (@yuzhakova_masha) on Mar 17, 2019 at 9:52am PDT
Professional activity
Maria has been seriously involved in filming since 2006. The first film projects for the young actress were the film “Rush Hour” by director Oleg Fesenko (the role of doctor Olga) and the medical saga “A Medical Secret” (the role of Svetlana). The films premiered in 2006.
To date, Maria's filmography includes more than 30 multi-genre works on TV and cinema . Very often the girl appears in episodic roles. Significant works from 2008 to 2017 in Maria’s career are:
- "Sea Devils. Tornado. Fates" (Marina Gromova);
- “Streets of Broken Lanterns-11” (Marina);
- "White Arrow. Retribution" (Anna Blinova);
- “Syomin. Retribution" (Maria Kotova);
- “I believe him” (Evgenia Tarasova).
Over the past two years, the actress has been seen in six projects, such as “Major-3”, “Sea Devils. Frontiers of the Motherland”, “Lost Place”, “Street”, “Alien” and “Medicine Man”.
Zhiganova Maria Alexandrovna
Born August 4, 1978 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). Graduated from music school. In 2000 graduated from St. Petersburg State University. In 2008 Graduated from the Department of Dramatic Art of St. Petersburg State University of Cinematography.
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- actress (24)
6
Pregnancy test 2 (2019, TV series, directed by Oleg Asadulin, Anton Sivers, etc.) cameo role / Kira
4.7/6
Witch Doctor (2019, TV series, directed by Yaroslav Mochalov) supporting role / Emma
6.4/8
Alien (2018, multi-part, directed by Pavel Malkov) (credited as M. Zhiganova)
cameo role / Marina Zhdanova
5.8/6
Major 3 (2017, TV series, directed by Igor Tverdokhlebov) supporting role / cashier at the airport
5.3/12
A hurricane wind is expected (2017, multi-episode, directed by Stanislav Dremov) main role / Svetlana
5.8/6
Rescuer (2016, television, directed by Alexandra Butko) main role / Polina Uvarova
7.8/4
High stakes (2015, TV series, directed by Bogdan Drobyazko)
6.3/3
White arrow. Retribution (2015, TV series, directed by Alexander Stroev, Alexey Shikin) supporting role / Nyura / Anna Germanovna
5.5/11
Russian character (2014, television, dir. Alexander Yakimchuk) supporting role / Olga
6.4/15
Sea Devils. Tornado. Fates (2013, TV series, directed by Alexander Kartokhin, Pavel Malkov, etc.) main role / Marina
7.1/33
Son of the Father of Nations (2013, TV series, directed by Sergei Shcherbin) episodic role / Tatyana Sotnikova
6.3/28
Special squad "Storm" (2013, TV series, directed by Valery Ibragimov) / Smagina
5.8/5
I believe him! (2012, TV series, directed by Pavel Malkov, Nadezhda Yakusheva) main character / Evgenia Tarasova
5.7/3 2
Semin. Retribution (2011, TV series, directed by Sergey Lyalin)
6.0/4
Streets of broken lamps. Cops 11 (2011, TV series, directed by Andrey Astrakhantsev, Aisyuak Yumagulov, etc.) / Marina
5.2/11
Kamenskaya 6 (2011, TV series, directed by Marat Kim, Egor Anashkin) / Tamara Aleksandrovna Danilevskaya
6.7/34
Casting. Season 4 (2011, TV series, directed by Sergei Poluyanov, Shakir Zagidullin, etc.) / Jagiello
5.8/11
Farewell, Makarov! (2010-2010, TV series, directed by Maxim Brius) supporting role / Dina
6.2/40
Secrets of the investigation 6 (2006, TV series, directed by Mikhail Wasserbaum) (credited as M. Zhiganova)
cameo role / Irina
6.5/34
Gangster Petersburg 9. Dutch Passage (2006, TV series, directed by Sergei Vinokurov) / Julia
6.1/15
Club (all seasons) (2006-2008, TV series, directed by Pavel Bardin, Kirill Kuzin, etc.) / Victoria / Angela
5.8/75
Medical secret (2006, TV series, directed by Alexander Sukharev, Oleg Sheremet, etc.) / Svetlana
6.0/21
Secret assignments (2006, TV series, directed by Alexander Khvan) / Maria / journalist
6.5/6
Rush Hour (2006, dir. Oleg Fesenko) (credited: uncredited)
cameo role / Olga / doctor
5.1/49
Personal life
Maria is not married and has no children. She would not want her future husband to engage in acting. As a child, the actress did not have her first love. Maria fell seriously in love at the age of 20. The young man was her absolute opposite. They were together for several years. The relationship was difficult.
He considers himself not a homely person, but at the same time he loves comfort and his home. The actress has a brother who lives in Vienna today. He is a businessman by profession and has nothing to do with the creative field. Maria chose legal education because that was what her father wanted. He also had the profession of a lawyer, like the girl’s grandfather.
Interesting Facts
- For her magical look, Maria is called the Russian Ornella Muti. If she had not become an actress, she would have opened a bakery (from an interview). He loves the smell of fresh bread and coffee.
- Prefers extreme sports. Snowboarding.
- He loves to drive a car.
- He plays table tennis, rollerblades, and reads a lot.
- If it were possible to live many lives, Maria would want to choose a different profession each time.
- Most of Maria’s friends have been since childhood – in this she is conservative. A girl rarely makes friends with actors. She feels good when people want to get to know her for the sake of self-interest.
- He does not like beach holidays, and is also not a museum person. Prefers walks in an unfamiliar city. I like traveling around Asia, Vietnam, Thailand. Dreams of visiting India. Afraid of insects and spiders. In the subway you never stand on the edge of the platform.
- Doesn't like to read glossy magazines and never follows fashion. Dresses according to intuition. He doesn't like to go shopping, he always does it very quickly.
