Biography
Olga Mashnaya is an actress whom viewers remember primarily as Sophia from the film “Midshipmen, Forward!”
In total, this wonderful artist has more than 50 works in feature films and TV series. Olga did not dream of acting, but at the age of 12 she found herself near the Lenfilm building, where assistant director Emilia Belskaya noticed her. She invited Olga to audition for a new film. Mashnaya agreed. So, quite by accident, Olga entered the world of the film industry.
Immediately after school, Olga Mashnaya left for Moscow. In 1986 she graduated from VGIK, where she studied in the workshop of Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova.
Biography[ | ]
Born in Leningrad on June 29, 1964, into a family of construction workers, her father worked as a plasterer, her mother as a painter. My father had problems with alcohol, which caused tension in the family. Olga did not dream of becoming an actress. When she was 12 years old, she was noticed on the street by assistant director Emilia Belskaya, who was just looking for a teenage girl for a role in the film “First Joys”
and thought that Olga fit the type perfectly. Olga enjoyed being on set, partly because it allowed her to spend more time outside the home. Having finally realized three years later that acting was her calling, she, with the consent of her parents, moved to live with Maximova to start an independent life. She is remembered for her roles in Soviet “school dramas” of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
In 1986 she graduated from VGIK (workshop of Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova), worked at the film studio named after. M. Gorky, played more than forty roles in films.
She tries herself on the theater stage, she played in the play “The Mousetrap” (the last production by Vitaly Solomin).
Personal life[ | ]
- First husband (1983-1987) - Valery Priyomykhov.
- Second husband (1991-1993) - Alexey, was a singer in the church choir. Went to live in Germany[3]. son Dmitry - born June 1, 1992.
Movie
He made his screen debut in 1977 in the film “First Joys,” based on the novels of Konstantin Fedin.
In 1980, a film with her participation, “Adam Marries Eve,” was released. And in the same year she performed her first leading role - Anya in Dinara Asanova’s film “Useless”. The girl played an unbalanced teenager from a problematic family, searching for herself and conflicting with the whole world. Later, the actress admitted that Asanova turned out to be her godmother in the world of cinema.
In the 1980s, she appeared in several high-profile projects that became the center of attention immediately after their release. This is the film story “At the Beginning of the Game” and the melodrama “Everything is the Other Way,” filmed by Vladimir Grammatikov and Vitaly Fetisov.
Soon viewers saw several more films with Mashna’s participation. These are the dramatic film “Tears Were Dripping” by Georgy Danelia and the melodrama “Vassa” by Gleb Panfilov. But the greatest interest among viewers and critics was aroused by Dinara Asanova’s film “The Boys,” in which the wonderful director again invited her “goddaughter.” Olga Mashnaya came to Leningrad and again played a difficult teenager. Her partner was actor Valery Priemykhov.
Following “The Boys,” Priemykhov and Mashnaya starred together in another film by Dinara Asanova - the melodrama “Darling, Dear, Beloved, The Only...”. Olga was then a third-year student.
The career of the young but already famous actress continued after graduating from VGIK: she was immediately accepted into the M. Gorky film studio. Cult films were released here - the comedy "Kin-dza-dza" and the musical film "Above the Rainbow", in which Mashnaya also starred.
Student years
Admission to VGIK is the next victory won by Olga Vladimirovna Mashnaya. The star’s biography indicates that she took a course taught by Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova.
The classes did not force Mashnaya to completely give up working on the set. She again accepted the invitation of Dinara Asanova and played a key role in her project “Dear, dear, beloved, only.” Interestingly, the script was written specifically for her. The film received mixed reviews from critics and acquired a scandalous reputation, which had a positive effect on the popularity of the young actress.
"Midshipmen"
But real fame fell on the actress after the release of Svetlana Druzhinina’s adventure film “Midshipmen, Forward!” Olga, in the image of the gentle and romantic heroine Sophia, Alyosha Korsak's lover, was at the peak of popularity.
The first film in Druzhinina’s historical trilogy, “Midshipmen, Forward!”, was released in 1988. It was followed by the sequels “Vivat, midshipmen” (1991) and “Midshipman-III” (1992). The main roles were played by Dmitry Kharatyan, Sergei Zhigunov and Vladimir Shevelkov.
The film takes place in Russia in the 18th century. Young midshipmen, by the will of fate, find themselves involved in big politics. The stolen archive of Chancellor Bestuzhev, and this could not only ruin his career and life, but also undermine Russia’s relations with many countries. And for the three midshipmen involved in this whirlpool, there is one main law: “It would be an honor!”
Olga said about this work: “I came from aggression to love. Sophia is an important role for me, since such a stereotype has already begun to take shape - they say, the actress is nervous, she can “throw a tantrum” and the like. And there were corresponding proposals. And although I like to play distinct characters, I don’t want to get stuck on one. Therefore, the role of Sophia is to some extent transitional for me. She is a girl with a Russian character - simple, with a calm disposition, in a word, the embodiment of fidelity and love. I'm glad I played this role."
Actor career
With the light hand of Emilia, Olga Mashnaya was taken into Dinara Asanova’s film “Useless”, on the set of which the girl met director and screenwriter Valery Priemykhov. Three years later, they met again on the set of the film “The Boys.”
Olga Mashnaya in the film “Useless”
By that time, Olga was already a student at VGIK and lived in Moscow. During the filming, she had to play naked - according to the plot, she had to go into the water undressed. As the actress recalled, it was on that day, returning from the site on the bus, that she sat in the same seat with Valery Priemykhov, and both felt the tension running between them.
Olga Mashnaya with Valery Priemykhov in the film “The Boys”
The talented actress was willingly invited by famous directors to their projects, and her popularity grew with each film. By the beginning of the nineties, Mashnaya played more than twenty bright, memorable roles in the films “Everything is the other way around,” “Above the Rainbow,” “Kin-dza-dza,” “Vassa,” “The Characters Didn’t Mesh” and many others. But perhaps the most memorable work, which made the young beauty the darling of the whole country, was the role of Sophia, the lover of midshipman Alyosha Korsak (Dmitry Kharatyan) in the film “Midshipmen, Forward” in 1988. According to the actress, the role of Sophia was important to her for another reason. By that time, viewers and filmmakers began to get the impression that Olga’s natural role was hysterical, nervous girls. Mashnaya did not want to become a hostage to one character, so Sofya Zotova, a simple Russian girl, calm and at the same time with a temper, became for her a transition “from aggression to love.” “Midshipmen, forward!”: Olga Mashnaya and Dmitry Kharatyan The advent of the dashing nineties became a difficult period in Mashnaya’s life. She had a hard time separating from her husband (read more about this below) and the lack of new roles associated with the economic collapse in the country.
Olga Mashnaya, young movie star of the 80s
She didn’t act in film for almost ten years, and when she appeared on screens again in the early 2000s, not a trace remained of the slender, graceful beauty. After giving birth, Olga gradually recovered, and even the efforts of plastic surgeons could not return her to her former shape.
Olga Mashnaya and Georgy Danelia on the set of the film “Kin-dza-dza”
Valery Priemykhov gave her a “second life” in cinema, approving her for a small role in his teenage drama “Who If Not Us” with Evgeny Krainov and Artur Smolyaninov.
Still from the film “Who If Not Us”
Now Mashnaya is periodically invited to TV series for supporting roles. Thus, viewers remembered her characteristic heroines in the TV series “The Diary of Doctor Zaitseva” and “Sklifosovsky”.
Series
During the crisis of the 1990s, she almost did not act. In 1998, she played with Valery Priemykhov in the film “Who If Not Us.” In the 2000s, she began acting in television series. She played leading roles in the films “Under the North Star”, “Black Ball”, “Red Room”, “One Day There Will Be Love”, “The Diary of Doctor Zaitseva”.
In August 2020, the premiere of the series “Points of Support” will take place on the Rossiya TV channel, in which Olga Mashnaya starred along with Alexander Lazarev Jr., Stanislav Duzhnikov, Elena Zakharova.
“I don’t like close attention from others, you should always cultivate a sense of proportion and honestly determine your place in life. An actor must be modest. Modest in life, but not in work. In my work, I think you must be decisive - take and give everything to your chosen cause,” says the actress.
Personal life
Olga’s first husband is actor and director Valery Priemykhov, whom she met on the set of the film “The Boys.” She recalled her first meeting with Priemykhov: “He was completely bald! The naked skull made me laugh terribly. Then I blurted out something like: “I’ve never seen a screenwriter with such an open appearance.” Valera felt the mockery and wilted. This surprised me, because he was an adult, almost 40-year-old man.”
They got married in 1983, but divorced four years later. As the actress said, Priemykhov constantly cheated on her. “Women often called him. If I answered the phone, they would breathe expressively into the phone or hang up immediately. Usually his fans introduced themselves as journalists. I didn't want to know about his love affairs. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to survive the betrayal. Therefore, for a long time I pretended that nothing was happening. I didn’t reproach my husband, but only asked that the girls not call at least in the middle of the night,” she recalled.
It happened that Valery beat the actress. “Yes, he could hit. More than once I got it hard. He was aggressive when he was drunk,” she shared. At some point, Olga packed her suitcase and left.
During the filming of the film "Midshipmen, Forward!" Olga had an affair with Dmitry Kharatyan. “I had just left my husband then. Dima also did not go well in his personal life. We were brought together by romance on the set,” said the actress. The second husband, Alexey, was a singer in the church choir. The marriage lasted from 1991-1993. Later Alexey went to live in Germany. The couple had a son, Dmitry, on June 1, 1992.
Based on materials from the sites: KinoPoisk, Rossiya TV channel, StarAndStar.ru, Kino-teatr.ru, RIA Novosti.
Filmography: Actress
- Fulcrum (2017), TV series
- Guardian of the Law (2014)
- Embracing the Sky (2014), TV series
- Italian Vacation (2014)
- Sklifosovsky-3 (2014), TV series
- Zemsky doctor. Love in spite of (2014), TV series
- Diary of Doctor Zaitseva-2 (2012), TV series
- Diary of Doctor Zaitseva (2011), TV series
- Old Men (2010), TV series
- Soldiers-16. Dembel is inevitable (2010), TV series
- Who if not me? Valery Priemykhov (2010), documentary
- Snow on your head (2010)
- The best movie-3 (2010)
- Snow on your head (2009)
- Unclenched Fingers (2009)
- Clairvoyant (2009)
- When We Were Happy (2009)
- One day there will be love (2008), TV series
- On the Bridge (2007)
- Red Room (2005)
- Black Ball (2003)
- Next 2 (2002), TV series
- Under the North Star (2001)
- Special Case (2001)
- A Person of French Nationality (2000)
- Who else if not us (1998)
- Heads and Tails (1995)
- The Lonely Player (1995)
- Vareny's last case (1994)
- Is it good to sleep with someone else's wife?! (1992)
- Island 007 (1991)
- Vivat, midshipmen! (1991)
- St. John's Wort (1990)
- If I want, I will love (1990)
- Svetik (1989)
- Didn't get along (1989)
- Help, brothers! (1988)
- Without a uniform (1988)
- First Meeting, Last Meeting (1987)
- Daughter (1987)
- Midshipmen, forward! (1987)
- Kin-Dza-Dza (1986)
- Somewhere there is war (1986)
- Above the Rainbow (1986)
- Special Case (1984)
- Darling, Darling, Beloved, Only (1984)
- The Boys (1983)
- Vassa (1983)
- Tears Fell (1982)
- It's the other way around (1981)
- At the Beginning of the Game (1981)
- Useless (1980)
- Adam Marries Eve (1980)
- First Joys (1977)
