Biography of Tigran Keosayan
Tigran Keosayan is the son of Soviet director Edmond Keosayan, who left a significant mark on the history of Russian cinema (“The Elusive Avengers,” “When September Comes,” etc.). Like his famous father, Tigran Edmondovich tries to remain true to himself; in all his films, such as “Mirage”, “A Man’s Work” and “Three Comrades”, themes of friendship and fidelity run through them.
In the photo: Tigran Keosayan
Childhood and family
Tigran Keosayan is the youngest son of director Edmond Keosayan and actress Laura Gevorkyan, he was born on January 4, 1966 in Moscow. During his school years, Tigran studied music, but he never saw his life outside the world of cinema. The future director’s first cinematic experience was participation in an episode of his father’s film “The Crown of the Russian Empire, or the Elusive Ones Again.” The father constantly takes the children with him to filming. “We grew up on expeditions,” Tigran later recalled, adding that no one in the family was offended by his father, understanding that this was the director’s job.
In the photo: Tigran Keosayan’s parents and his older brother David
According to Tigran Edmondovich, he loved all his father’s films without exception, but the film “Men”, released in 1973, influenced his decision to devote himself to cinema more than others. In the romantic story about male friendship, which so impressed the future director, Frunzik Mkrtchyan and Armen Dzhigarkhanyan starred, and the role of the beautiful Karine, who deprived her friends of peace, was played by Alla Tumanyan.
Still from the film "Men"
Tigran grew up with his five-year older brother David, who was a dreamer, originally read novels by Harold Robbins and Ian Fleming and dreamed of travel. As an adult, Tigran did not lose his sense of admiration and unconditional love for his brother, who, like him, became a successful filmmaker.
Tigran and David Keosayan
Biography
Tigran Keosayan was born into a family of Moscow Armenians and creative people who devoted their entire lives to the art of cinema. His father Edmond Keosayan is a famous director who directed the cult “The Elusive Avengers.” Mother Laura Gevorkyan is an Honored Artist of Armenia. It is not surprising that Tigran spent his entire childhood on the set. At the age of four, the young artist first showed his talents in his father’s film “The Crown of the Russian Empire, or The Elusive Ones Again.”
In 1983, after graduating from high school, the young man got a job at Mosfilm, where he performed a variety of duties. Dreaming of continuing the family dynasty, in 1984 Tigran Keosayan entered the directing department of the All-Russian State University of Cinematography named after S. A. Gerasimov (VGIK) and began studying in the workshop of Igor Talankin. However, some time later he left his studies and went to serve in the army. Having repaid his due debt to his homeland, Tigran returned to the institute to take Yuri Ozerov’s course.
Youth
After graduating from school, Tigran took the first step towards his dream, trying to enter the famous VGIK, but did not pass the entrance examination.
Many years later, Tigran Edmondovich posted a story on his LiveJournal in which he described the events of the summer of 1983. According to the director, the decision of the members of the examination committee was influenced by a small feuilleton published in the newspaper Izvestia under the biting title “Dad is out of competition.” The authors of the opus explicitly hinted that the famous director was helping his son to enter a cinematic university, which became the cause of a heart attack and the protracted illness of his father that followed.
Tigran Keosayan in his youth
Feeling offended both for himself and for his father, Tigran decided to go to college at all costs. In order not to waste time, he achieved the position of assistant director with Gabriel Egiazarov and, together with the film crew, went to the city of Kalinin to shoot the dramatic film “Parting,” in which Vladimir Samoilov, Valery Afanasyev and Armen Dzhigarkhanyan played. Tigran Keosayan. My hero After working for a year with the famous director, Tigran returned to Moscow and passed his exams brilliantly, becoming a student at VGIK. The first work of course student Igor Talankin was the short film “A Summer Morning’s Dream,” in which he directed his fellow student Fyodor Bondarchuk. After studying for a year, Tigran did not look for opportunities to avoid military service, but went to repay his debt to his homeland. After serving the required term, he returned to the institute and graduated in 1990.
Daughter of Alena Khmelnitskaya - Alexandra Keosayan
Alena Khmelnitskaya’s daughter, Alexandra Keosayan, was born in 1994. The girl studied very well at school, and even graduated as an external student. Immediately after school, her parents sent the girl to the UK, where she studied for two years to master the English language. After training, Sasha received an “IB” diploma, confirming her level of knowledge of English, and after that she left to study in the USA.
Last year, the girl graduated from the New York School of Film Directing, and is still searching for an answer to the question of how to build her future life. Sasha has not yet decided where she wants to live, in the USA or in Russia, but she often comes to visit her mother in Moscow.
First films
In 1991, Tigran appeared in a cameo role in the action adventure film “Joker”, in which the main roles were played by Andrei Boltnev, Valery Storozhik and Tatyana Agafonova.
The following year, Keosayan presented to the Russians his first full-length directorial work, the melodramatic film “Katka and Shiz,” which was enthusiastically received by both viewers and critics. Denis Karasev, Irina Metlitskaya, Sergei Chonishvili and Armen Dzhigarkhanyan played in the film, which was awarded the Golden Knight prize.
Still from the film “Katka and Shiz”
In 1993, Tigran began working on his brother David’s project and for several years was a music video director, creating video clips for Russian performers at the Gold Vision studio. The young director made a video for Mikhail Shufutinsky for the song “Neighbor”. Keosayan also created video clips for songs by Diana Gurtskaya, Irina Allegrova, Igor Sarukhanov and the Time Machine group. Shufutinsky's video directed by Tigran Keosayan In 1997, the director completed work on his second film - the detective melodrama "Poor Sasha", in which the main roles were played by Yulia Chernova, Vera Glagoleva and Valery Garkalin. The film also starred Boris Sichkin, who played the role of a homeless intellectual, and Alexander Zbruev, who appeared as a charming loser. The light New Year's story with a subtle criminal touch was liked by the audience and proved that Tigran Keosayan is not just the son of the director of the legendary "The Elusive Avengers", but is also very promising.
In 1999, two films by Tigran Keosayan were released, and both became notable events in the cultural life of Russia. In the good New Year's comedy with a classic plot about doubles changing places, “The President and His Granddaughter,” the role of the president was brilliantly played by Oleg Tabakov, and the role of his granddaughter and at the same time the role of a girl from an ordinary Moscow family was played by Nadezhda Mikhalkova. The film also stars Vladimir Ilyin, Alena Khmelnitskaya and Dmitry Maryanov.
Still from the film “The President and His Granddaughter”
The detective television project “Death Directory” was remembered by Russians for its star cast and the intriguing plots of each of the twelve telenovelas. The series starred Marina Mogilevskaya, Valery Garkalin, Yulia Rutberg and Alena Khmelnitskaya.
Still from the series “Death Directory”
The year 2000 gave Russian viewers the comedy melodrama “Silver Lily of the Valley,” in which Olesya Zheleznyak played the role of a young provincial girl who dreams of becoming a star. Yuri Stoyanov and Alexander Tsekalo appeared as two rogue producers. Also in the film, viewers again saw the performances of Alena Khmelnitskaya, Vladimir Ilyin and Daniil Belykh. Against the backdrop of perestroika crime thrillers about bandits in red jackets, this story looked elegant and romantic.
Still from the film “Silver Lily of the Valley”
Director and actor
While studying at VGIK, Tigran Keosayan directed his first film - the 18-minute drama “Sunny Beach”, which tells about a soldier who, unable to withstand the bullying of his “grandfathers”, goes on the run. This film starred his university friend Fyodor Bondarchuk, for whom Tigran played in the same 18-minute short film “A Midsummer Morning’s Dream.”
In 1991, Keosayan made his debut in a full-fledged role in the adventure comedy “Joker” by Yuri Kuzmenko. A year later, Tigran Keosayan directed his first full-length feature film, “Katka and Shiz.” And in 1996, his comedy mini-series “Funny Things, Family Matters” was released about four generations of one family, which is forced to adapt to new living conditions and decides to found a “family business” by setting up a laundry in the house.
Real fame for the young director was brought to him by his New Year's comedy “Poor Sasha” with Alexander Zbruev in the title role. The light, funny film told the story of an unlucky security thief Volodya Berezkin, who helps the girl Sasha rob her mother’s bank so that her mother will return home for the New Year. The picture was about, and Alexander Zbruev received a prize at Kinotavr-98 in the category “Best Actor”.
The director's subsequent works also enjoyed considerable success. In 1999, Tigran directed the melodrama “The President and His Granddaughter,” which was awarded a special jury prize at the Kinotavr 2001 festival. And in 2000 - the lyrical comedy “Silver Lily of the Valley”, telling about the vicissitudes of show business. This film was awarded a prize at the Window to Europe 2001 festival. A few years later, a sequel (“Silver Lily of the Valley-2”) appeared on television screens, but as a 12-episode television series.
The series about the Chechen war “A Man’s Work”, where the main roles were played by Fyodor Bondarchuk, Alena Khmelnitskaya, Sergei Veksler, Nikolai Chindyaykin, was also a great directorial success.
In 2003, viewers were finally able to see Keosayan’s next acting work. He played cameraman Nikita Bakradze in Vsevolod Plotkin’s television series “Main Roles.”
In the 2000s, other films by the director were released. The most famous films were: “The Hare over the Abyss”, “Mirage”, as well as the TV series: “Yalta-45”, “Three Comrades”, “Sea. Mountains. Expanded clay."
In 2000, Tigran Keosayan made his debut as a theater director, staging the play “New” on the stage of the Taganka Theater. And in 2003 he was the director and co-producer of the musical “12 Chairs”.
Career blossoming
The beginning of the 2000s marked a new period in the career of Tigran Keosayan. In 2001, the first season of the detective-drama series “A Man’s Work” was released on television, in which the roles of three friends who met in the Chechen war were played by Sergei Veksler, Fyodor Bondarchuk and Alexander Mokhov. In 2002, the director filmed a continuation of the audience’s favorite story, which also starred Vladimir Sterzhakov, Nikolai Chindyaykin and Igor Vernik.
Still from the series “A Man’s Work”
According to viewers, the work of Keosayan and the actors involved in his project compared favorably with “cliched” detective stories and one-off thrillers. In the series “A Man’s Work,” the director focused not on solving crimes, but on the theme of male friendship, which once so struck him in his father’s film “Men.”
Igran Keosayan in the film “Heat”
But the continuation of the comedy drama “Silver Lily of the Valley” was received much cooler than the first part. Viewers noted with regret that the series paid little attention to the fate of their beloved heroine Olesya Zheleznyak. Nevertheless, in the ironic series about the promotion of young and not so talented people, viewers recognized many characters from Russian show business. Tigran Keosayan about friends and politics In 2008, a new work by the director was released, a mixture of a classic detective story and a western. Viewers compared the film “Mirage” with the legendary “White Sun of the Desert”; it is rightfully considered one of the best acting works of Dmitry Maryanov, who played the role of the hero nicknamed the Catcher. The film also stars Alexey Bardukov, Alexey Panin and Alexey Chadov.
Dmitry Maryanov in Keosayan’s film “Mirage”
Russian TV viewers called the 2011 military mini-series “Yalta-45” one of the few that you want to watch again and again. The main roles in the film about the heroism of Soviet intelligence officers were played by Alexander Golubev, Maxim Matveev and Evgeny Miller. Also, quite expectedly, Alena Khmelnitskaya, at that time the director’s beloved woman, appeared in the film.
On the set of the series “Yalta-45”
The 2012 melodramatic series “Three Comrades” continued the director’s favorite theme of true male friendship and devotion. The film pleased fans of the talent of Alexei Serebryakov, who played the role of one of three school friends, but many Russians did not appreciate the obvious reference to the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, considering it an attempt to shift the events of the famous work to Russian realities. The roles of the other two friends were played by Evgeny Pronin and Evgeny Miller. Nadezhda Mikhalkova’s performance was also criticized; according to the majority of Russians, the actress failed to cope with the role, and besides a big name, she again could not offer anything to the audience.
Still from the film “Three Comrades”
In 2013, Tigran Edmondovich presented the melodramatic television project “Sea. Mountains. Expanded clay”, in which already famous actors played (Sergei Gazarov, Larisa Guzeeva and Sergei Nikonenko), and very young ones - Dana Abyzova and Armen Arushanyan. Viewers called the story, the events of which unfolded against the backdrop of preparatory work for the Sochi Olympics, subtle, smart and very funny. However, the native Sochi residents were unhappy, accusing the creators of trying to portray Sochi, which in reality does not exist. Since the script was created by Margarita Simonyan, Keosayan’s new lover, the series did not escape accusations of being initially propaganda-oriented. The plot of the film “Sea. Mountains. Expanded clay" In Tigran Keosayan's 2020 detective-criminal project "Actress", the main role was played by one of the brightest young actresses in Russia, Katerina Shpitsa, and she was accompanied by Vladimir Menshov, Yuri Stoyanov, Yulia Chebakova and Alena Khmelnitskaya. The dramatic role of the investigator investigating the murder of the famous artist Evgenia, who was also once his wife, was played by Vladimir Kapustin. The series earned high marks from viewers, but many were disappointed by the prosaic nature of the reason that pushed one of the story’s heroines to commit a brutal crime.
On the set of the film "Actress"
Tigran Keosayan’s 2020 work received extremely mixed reviews. About the painting “Crimean Bridge. Made with Love,” which starred Katerina Shpitsa, Artyom Tkachenko, Irina Rozanova and Alexey Demidov, film critic Anton Dolin wrote that it reminds him of a crazy time machine, meaning primarily its overly cheerful pseudo-patriotic message.
Still from the film “Crimean Bridge. Made with love"
The critic urged Russians not to identify Keosayan’s film, co-authored again by Margarita Simonyan, with the propaganda creations of film industry figures. In his opinion, the film “Crimean Bridge. Made with love" is an insane phantasmagoria, as divorced from reality as possible. Anton Dolin called the film “a low-grade utopia, after viewing which he wanted to rip off his rose-colored glasses.” The audience supported the boldest critic of Russia, because many also did not like the strange jokes and the deliberate emphasis on the cloudless existence of the Crimeans since the annexation of Crimea to Russia.
Margarita Simonyan now
Margarita supports the policies of the existing political system in Russia. In 2020, she became a confidant of Vladimir Putin during the presidential election campaign. At the same time, the journalist published a post on Telegram about her friend’s renunciation of US citizenship. According to the editor-in-chief of RT, the girl supported the opposition and immigrated to the United States in 2013, but after 4 years she decided to regain her Russian citizenship. The TV journalist duplicated the information in
The reason for the star couple's divorce in 2014 was the director's passion for his new passion - writer and journalist Margarita Simonyan. After the publication of a photo taken at her former mother-in-law’s birthday on January 28, 2018, the Internet was filled with admiring comments from fans of the actress about her friendship with her ex-husband’s new passion.
The dignified behavior of a woman who lived with a man for more than twenty years and managed to maintain honor and dignity after he left for his rival, increased the army of supporters of Khmelnitskaya’s talent several times.
Personal life of Tigran Keosayan
According to Tigran Edmondovich, both in his work and in life he tries to be guided by the rule of three “don’ts” that he inherited from his father: do not envy, do not betray and do not be greedy.
The director's first wife in 1993 was the young actress Alena Khmelnitskaya. Tigran and Alena’s first daughter, Alexandra, was born in 1994, and the second, Ksenia, was born sixteen years later, in 2010.
Tigran Keosayan and Alena Khmelnitskaya
For the first time, Russians learned that the marriage of Tigran Keosayan and Alena Khmelnitskaya, considered one of the strongest and happiest unions in the Russian media space, was under threat of divorce a year after the birth of their youngest daughter, in 2011.
According to some sources, Alena could not stand the betrayal of her director husband, who began to openly appear at events and in public places with Margarita Simonyan, head of the Russia Today propaganda channel.
Tigran Keosayan and Margarita Simonyan
In 2013, Tigran Edmondovich filed for divorce, but having received the desired document, he did not formalize the official marriage with his new girlfriend. In the summer of 2013, the main leader of Russia Today gave birth to a daughter, Maryana, from the director, and a year later, to Keosayan’s joy, she gave him a son, Bagrat. Great interview with Keosayan and Simonyan. The director’s ex-wife and his current life partner are friends and often organize family evenings. Alena Khmelnitskaya, who found herself a divorced woman on the threshold of her fiftieth birthday, was not alone for long. At the end of 2020, it became known that the young entrepreneur Alexander Sinyushin became the actress’s new lover. Simonyan has said more than once that she and Alena have nothing to share.
The director's current and former lovers are friends
In the fall of 2020, Tigran Edmondovich became a father for the fifth time. His life partner Margarita Simonyan gave him a daughter, who received the name Maro.
Personal life
Actress Alena Khmelnitskaya was an aspiring actress. Director Keosayan was looking for a female face unfamiliar to the public for his next commercial. He made a business proposal to the actress, but a romantic relationship began to develop. First they moved in with Alena, and very soon registered their relationship.
A year later, a daughter, Sasha, was born into the family. Initially, the young couple's family life experienced financial difficulties. Tigran's fees were practically not enough for anything. Alena left the theater and got a job as director of a fashion store. More funds appeared in the house, and life began to improve.
Alena starred in all her husband’s films. A daughter, Ksenia, was born, and at the same time that Tigran was giving birth, he was treated for a heart attack. Everything was great, and no one doubted the strength of the family happiness of the Keosayan family. But the press began to notice that the famous director was no longer accompanied by his wife at all events, and he was often in the company of the editor-in-chief of the Russia Today TV channel, Margarita Simonyan.
Soon the director and actor himself filed for divorce and opened his own restaurant with his new wife. They had a daughter and a son. Things don’t always go smoothly both in work and in personal life. Tigran’s biography combines success at work and an unsuccessful first marriage.
Tigran Keosayan now
According to the director, the reaction of Russians to his film “Crimean Bridge.
Made with love,” the script for which was written by Margarita Simonyan, somewhat disappointed him. The first audience reviews of the film “Crimean Bridge” On the Kinopoisk portal, the film received a very low rating, only 2.5 points out of 10. Video blogger BadComedian reminded the audience of millions that in addition to the plot, inappropriate and not very funny jokes and the cartoonish paradise of Crimea, viewers I was outraged by the financing of the film from public funds. The budget of the film amounted to more than 300 million rubles, a third of the amount was allocated out of competition, free of charge, by the Cinema Fund, established by the Government of the Russian Federation and existing, as is known, with taxpayers’ money. Tigran Keosayan continues to host his own show program on the NTV channel “International Sawmill”. The first episodes of the satirical show were released in 2020. Since then, every Saturday evening the director invites figures from the Russian cultural space, athletes, entrepreneurs and politicians to the studio and pleases his compatriots with his signature, sometimes sarcastic, but gentle humor.
Tigran Keosayan hosts the show “International Sawmill”
According to Tigran Edmondovich, throughout 2020 he worked on a new film, which is dedicated to military themes, but he prefers not to disclose the name of the project and the names of the actors involved in the filming.
A television
Tigran Keosayan’s career is also developing successfully on television. Since March 2007, he has become the host of the author's talk show “Evening with Tigran Keosayan” on REN-TV. The program was so popular that after its closure in 2009, the director decided to make a sequel - “Hot Evening with Tigran Keosayan.” The show changed channels and changed its format somewhat. Guests with diametrically opposed opinions on the topic under discussion were invited to the studio.
From 2009 to 2010, the director hosted the program “You and Me” together with his wife, actress Alena Khmelnitskaya. As part of the show, Keosayan and Khmelnitskaya talked about the family life of famous Russian couples and invited them to their studio for interviews.
In 2011, Tigran Keosayan became the host of the talk show “Stop Silence!”, where current topics of everyday life were discussed.
Tigran also often appears on television as a guest or judge. He worked on the projects “Minute of Fame”, “People’s Artist”, “Video Battles”, “Empire of Illusions: The Safronov Brothers”.
Since December 2009, Tigran Edmondovich has been the executive producer of the Perets channel, which was previously widely known under the DTV brand.
