Biography
Leonid Parfenov is known as an opposition public figure, a star of modern television journalism and a fighter for people's rights. He is the author of documentaries about popular cultural figures, sports, politics and historical events of the 20th century.
Journalist Leonid Parfenov
In 2018, another one was added to all these characteristics - the former TV presenter became a blogger on YouTube.
On NTV
In 1993, he moved to the newly created NTV channel, where he would work for more than 10 years. In 1994 he received the first TEFI figurine. In 1995-1996, he was the author of the first two parts of the popular New Year's show “Old Songs about the Main Thing” (ORT), the idea of which came to him in the early 90s.
In 1997, the presenter reformatted its author’s program, turning “Namedni” from an “information program of non-political news” into a documentary cycle, each episode of which talks about the events of a particular year from 1960 to 2003. For example:
“Another year, another series. Today is the 80th year. Sakharov was exiled to Gorky, the Iran-Iraq War, the Moscow Olympics, Juneteenth, Reagan - President, “Time Machine”, we are at war in Afghanistan, “Moscow does not believe in tears”, shortage of plumbing, “Hammer Center”, Sheremetyevo-2, sheepskin coats, the murder of John Lennon."
All episodes were subsequently released on videocassettes and DVDs.
From April 1997 to March 1999, in parallel with his craft activities, he also held the position of chief producer of NTV, and from December 1997 he was on the board of directors of the channel: he was responsible for design, broadcast network, and third-party programs. Under his leadership and with his direct participation, in the fall of 1997, the scandalous and new for that time program “About This” was launched with Elena Hanga as the host - the project was the first talk show about sex in the history of domestic television. In the late 1990s - late 2000s, he was often invited to the jury of the KVN Major League.
From November 2000 to May 2003, the NTV channel aired a series of historical documentaries “Russian Empire”, the format of which was similar to the “Namedni” project and was dedicated to the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg and the Russian Empire. The films included a narrative about the period of the country's history from Peter the Great to Nicholas II.
In 2001, the channel's management changed. This event caused a split among the channel's employees. During a conflict with new managers, he took the side of the new management. Some colleagues reproached him for betrayal (some on air, others in personal conversations). After the dismissal of some of the employees, Parfenov became the general producer, but only for the duration of the “transition period”. On April 16, 2001, the NTV editorial board was created, which included Tatyana Mitkova, Vladimir Kulistikov, Parfenov and a number of other journalists. Leonid earned a reputation as a strikebreaker, but he himself emphasized that he was not afraid of it. Over time, conflicts and disagreements with the majority of colleagues who did not understand his position at that time were exhausted, although Parfenov did not change his opinion about those events and does not regret his actions.
On May 31, 2004, the “Namedni” program (which, in addition to the documentary cycle, was also a weekly news program) was closed, and Parfenov himself was fired from NTV, according to the management “for violating corporate ethics,” according to many and Parfenov himself - because censorship. From 2004 to 2014, he was the author of documentaries that were shown on Channel One. Documentary films “Oh, world - you are sport!” were released. (about the Olympics), “Lucy” (about Lyudmila Gurchenko), “And personally Leonid Ilyich” (about Brezhnev), “Zvorykin-Muromets” (Russian engineer, the founding father of world television), “Bird-Gogol”, “Ridge of Russia” (about the Ural Mountains), “The Color of the Nation” (about the Russian photographer and inventor of color photography in Russia, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky).
Childhood and youth
Leonid Gennadievich Parfenov was born in 1960 in the city of Cherepovets, the regional center of the Vologda region. Six years later, his younger brother Vladimir was born there. The boys' father worked as an engineer at a factory, and their mother was a teacher. Parfenov admitted that his childhood in Cherepovets, although prosperous, was terribly boring. The father often took his son hunting, but other than that, Parfenov Jr. had little joy.
At school, the boy had no one to communicate with, because at an early age Leonid became interested in literature and by the 7th grade he already had a very decent intellectual background. In the small regional center there was simply no teenager who could compete with Lenya in erudition. However, Parfenov studied poorly; he was never good at exact sciences.
Leonid Parfenov in childhood
Already at the age of 13, Leonid wrote extensive and serious articles for regional newspapers. For one of them, the teenager received a luxurious reward: a trip to the famous children's camp of the Soviet Union "Artek", where he met the same young enthusiasts. Even while in Crimea, Parfenov continued to write to the local newspaper, expressing an interesting and original position on the tasks of modern teenagers, while his peers preferred to spend time in relaxation and collective entertainment.
The parents gradually came to terms with their son’s decision to become a journalist. But even they found it difficult to believe that the ambitious Leonid would choose Zhdanov Leningrad State University. Parfenov himself did not doubt his own abilities at all and easily passed the entrance exams. Since then, a new life began for Leonid.
Leonid Parfenov in his youth
The guy instantly joined the cultural life of Leningrad, radically changed his wardrobe and made many useful contacts. Having made friends with Bulgarian students, Parfenov got the opportunity to vacation outside the USSR every year and at first was shocked by the layer of culture that opened before his eyes.
The student was even more struck by the realization of the fact how dense the information filter was, which did not allow anything “Western” to reach the residents of the Soviet Union. And these discoveries made Leonid Parfenov doubt that he wanted to live under the current state of affairs.
Parfenov's wife is a happy woman
Elena loves to tell different stories about her husband, especially the story of their acquaintance - somehow she accidentally came across an essay by young Parfenov about Boris Grebenshchikov and the Aquarium group, and the author’s style immediately made her heart beat faster. Well, when she met him in person, events began to develop very quickly - very soon the young people realized that they loved each other and got married.
Today, a couple of television workers have two wonderful children - Ivan and Maria. By the way, Elena had a desire to have a son and daughter with this combination of names even before marriage - and it came true.
Leonid Parfenov and his wife are not only a married couple, but also excellent friends. They love to plan together and immediately implement even the most daring plans.
Parfenov’s wife embarrassedly admits that in her entire long married life she never felt bad or uninterested next to her husband.
Books by Elena Chekalova
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A television
In 1982, after an internship in the GDR, journalist Parfenov left the walls of his alma mater and, by assignment, returned back to Cherepovets, where the young specialist was to work for the next 4 years. Gradually, Leonid’s articles began to appear in the capital’s publications, and within a year and a half the young man himself transferred from the newspaper to local television. This was an unprecedented success for a recent university graduate, especially since Leonid Parfenov had never studied the skills of a TV presenter and announcer.
Leonid Parfenov at the beginning of his career
In 1986, Eduard Sagalayev, editor-in-chief of programs for youth of the Central Television of the Soviet Union, invited Leonid to the capital as a special correspondent. Of course, Parfenov could not refuse such a chance. The journalist worked for 2 years on the television program “Peace and Youth” and collaborated with several other programs on the Central Television.
And in 1988, the young man was invited to the television channel that had just been created by Anatoly Malkin and Kira Proshutinskaya. There, Leonid Parfenov met Igor Ugolnikov and Valdis Pelsh, Alexei Kortnev and others, who later became famous colleagues who changed the face of Soviet television at the turn of the decades.
Leonid Parfenov, Igor Ugolnikov and Konstantin Ernst
A year later, the television journalist was entrusted with conducting the author’s information program “Namedni,” which subsequently made Leonid famous throughout the Soviet Union.
Both the format of the program and the behavior of the presenter on air were unexpectedly bold, even defiant. The realities of the new, late Soviet era required a different format, and Leonid managed to create a picture that the viewer liked. However, the following year the TV presenter was suspended for making too harsh statements regarding the resignation of prominent political figure Eduard Shevardnadze.
Leonid Parfenov in the “Namedni” program
The disgrace did not last long and, on the whole, passed almost unnoticed for Leonid’s career. In addition, after the collapse of the USSR, thanks to the freedom of speech that emerged, many newspapers, magazines, radio stations and television studios were formed. A talented journalist had plenty to choose from. In the same 1991, Parfenov joined the VID television company, created by Vladislav Listyev.
In 1993, the TV presenter began collaborating with another newcomer among television companies - NTV. There, the journalist resurrected his favorite brainchild, the previously closed project “Namedni”. 1994 ended for Parfenov with the first TEFI award in his professional biography for the program he invented, “NTV - New Year’s Television.”
Leonid Parfenov at the TEFI award ceremony
The following year, Leonid joined the talk show “Hero of the Day” as a host, the format of which included live interviews with prominent Russian cultural and political figures. At the same time, Parfenov, in collaboration with Konstantin Ernst, came up with the New Year’s show “Old Songs about the Main Thing,” which quickly gained popularity among viewers in the post-Soviet space. Parfenov and Ernst subtly played on the audience’s desire to see something new and unusual, combining in one program popular stars, a new musical format for Russian television, and Soviet songs familiar to the target audience from childhood.
From 1997 to 1999, Leonid was on the board of directors of the TV channel and was also the general producer. The television project “Namedni” was transformed into a series of documentary-historical films. A total of 16 episodes were released as part of the Russian Empire project.
Journalist and TV presenter Leonid Parfenov
The series covered the life of Russia from 1697 to 1917 and was dedicated to the rulers of the state from Peter the Great to Nicholas II. The films were released until mid-2004, until Parfenov was fired from NTV. Then the journalist began collaborating with Channel One, for which he created documentaries.
Spectators and critics were delighted with the painting “The Color of the Nation,” dedicated to the founder of color photographs and the publisher of a magazine for fans of this art form, Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky. The film told not so much about a person, but about what Russia has lost since the beginning of the 20th century, from architectural monuments to spiritual values.
Leonid Parfenov in the film "Gogol the Bird"
For the 200th anniversary of the writer Nikolai Gogol, the TV presenter made the film “Gogol the Bird,” which tells about the author of “The Nose” and “The Inspector General” as an avant-garde artist of his time. Excerpts of works were read by Oleg Tabakov, Zemfira, Evgeny Mironov.
The heroes of Leonid's documentary stories were Galina Volchek and Lyudmila Zykina, Oleg Efremov and Mikhail Gorbachev, Gennady Khazanov and Vladimir Nabokov. “300 Years of the New Year” is dedicated to the history of the emergence of the holiday in Russia. "Gambit. At the Scene of Events" served as a kind of preface to the film based on the book by Boris Akunin; the director and author of the novel walked through the battlefields of the Russian-Turkish War.
Leonid Parfenov on the set of the film "The Ridge of Russia"
“The Ridge of Russia” is a story about the Ural region, filmed in road movie format in collaboration with writer Alexander Ivanov. This is the author of the novels “The Geographer Drank His Globe Away”, “Dorm-on-Blood”, “The Heart of Parma”, based on which new feature films have already been filmed and will appear in the near future.
Since then, Leonid has managed to release several book-albums, work as editor-in-chief of a news magazine, star in a video for the song “Rap Prayer in Support of Faith” and begin close cooperation with the Dozhd information channel. Here the man became a co-host of the Parfenov and Posner program, then the Parfenov television magazine, both projects lasted less than a year.
Leonid Parfenov in the program “Parfenov and Posner”
For his dedicated work in the field of television broadcasting, Leonid Gennadievich received an award named after Vlad Listyev in 2010, with whom he managed to work in the 90s.
Leonid Parfenov has been repeatedly awarded by both colleagues and appreciative audiences. It is unlikely that there will be at least one other journalist who has received the TEFI award 4 times in 15 years.
Leonid Parfenov with the Vlad Listyev Prize
In January 2020, Parfenov joined the Open University educational project, for which he prepared a lesson on the responsibility of elites and the new language of media.
In the spring of 2016, the first film of Parfenov’s new documentary project “Russian Jews” was announced. The trilogy is about the influence of Russian-speaking Jews on the history of the whole world. The first series of the project covered the years 1918-1948. The specific theme of the film immediately raised the question of the nationality of the journalist. The author did not comment on his interest in his roots and calls himself a Russian journalist.
Trailer for Leonid Parfenov’s film “Russian Jews”
The man said that the project about Jews is just the beginning; subsequently it is planned to make films about Russian Germans and Georgians, nations that, together with the Jews, according to Leonid’s theory, became the main ones that mixed with the Russian people.
In 2020, the presenter presented the film “Russian Jews. 1918-1948" in Riga. Soon the RTVI channel (formerly NTV-International) presented a new entertainment program - “The Other Day at Karaoke”. Parfenov and the studio guests reminisced and sang hits of past years.
Host of the TV show “The Other Day at Karaoke” Leonid Parfenov
Now Parfenov is not visible on any TV channel. As the journalist himself admitted in an interview, he is not officially employed anywhere, but he works as much in the self-employment format as he did not do in television studios. In addition, the TV presenter was one of the advisers to the President of the Russian Federation in the field of ensuring the rights and freedoms of citizens.
Start of a career in television
In 1982 he returned to Cherepovets. was a correspondent for the newspaper Vologda Komsomolets. He wrote articles for the newspaper on the most current topics (youth culture, fashion, art), in particular, he wrote a number of notes about the Leningrad rock club. After some time, two resolutions were issued on behalf of the Vologda Regional Committee of the CPSU: “On shortcomings in the newspaper “Vologda Komsomolets”” and “On serious shortcomings in the newspaper “Vologda Komsomolets”. After them, Parfyonov was forced to resign from the newspaper. Starts working on Vologda Regional TV in Cherepovets. At the same time, I initially had no desire to work “on camera.”
In 1988 he moved to the capital and began working for Author's Television. Together with Andrei Razbash, he released a documentary film consisting of three episodes: “Children of the 20th Congress” about the generation of the sixties. The film was shot in 1987, but viewers were able to see it only in 1988. The film was shown in more than 9 countries around the world. In the early 90s, he became a regular author of various programs and projects on television, and was an interviewer and documentarian. One of the most notable projects of those years was “Portrait against a Background.” Among the heroes of his programs are politicians and artists: Gaidar, Zykina, Rutskoy, Pugacheva, Shevardnadze, Nazarbayev, Kirillov, Magomayev, Grebenshchikov, Bogdan Titomir. Recordings of many episodes can still be found on YouTube.
Books
In 2008, Leonid won the “Best Journalist Book” award for the series “Namedni. Our era. Events, people, phenomena." A year later, he received the Book of the Year prize from the Rospechat agency. Parfenov does not consider himself a writer, since he has only 2 professions - journalist and TV presenter.
“And the book is hardcover journalism.”
Writer Leonid Parfenov
The publications are based on the television project “Namedni”. The first 6 volumes followed a progressive chronology: each decade from the 60s to the mid-2000s was given a book. Then - the appeal in the pre-war years. Leonid explained that in Russia of the 21st century there is almost nothing left of “Sovietism” and the lessons of the past are being forgotten.
The “Russian Empire” cycle is dedicated to the period from Peter the Great to the October Revolution. The author again toured the places he visited, presenting to the audience the series of the same name, expanded and supplemented the material.
Leonid Parfenov
“Literature about me. Leonid Parfenov” was released in digital audio format. In the book, the TV presenter answered questions from writer and columnist Dmitry Bykov about working on television, school friends, musical tastes and other aspects of life.
Together with his wife Elena, Leonid released a collection of recipes, “Eat!”, which contains culinary hits, from simple ones to those requiring patience in preparation. Parfenov was responsible for selecting illustrations.
Biography of Leonid Parfenov
Leonid Parfenov is a talented Russian journalist, modern media legend, writer and screenwriter, creator of the “Namedni” and “Russian Empire” projects, author of the “Parthenon” YouTube channel. Documentary director, public figure. A five-time winner of the TEFI Prize, he was awarded the Zvorykin-Muromets Prize by the Union of Journalists of Russia in the nomination “consistent piece work against the backdrop of conveyor television.” Winner of the "Golden Pen".
In the photo: Leonid Parfenov
Personal life
Parfenov met his wife Elena Chekalova through his profession. Having seen Leonid’s article in the newspaper, journalist Chekalova was eager to see the talented young man with his own eyes. A friend came to visit Lena and brought Parfenov for company. From then on, a romance began, ending with a wedding in 1987.
Wedding of Elena Chekalova and Leonid Parfenov
Chekalova worked on Channel One and hosted the culinary section “There is Happiness!” in the Morning program. At the end of 2013, the woman was fired, according to Elena, for her husband’s political views and for supporting Alexei Navalny, who was running for mayor of Moscow. But, of course, they didn’t say this to their face. Moreover, false information was posted on the website: supposedly the TV presenter has other projects. This is perhaps the only time the Parfenov family attracted the attention of the press. The personal life of the journalist, neither in his youth nor after years of marriage, became a source of rumors and gossip.
Leonid Parfenov with his wife Elena Chekalova, daughter Maria and son Ivan
The couple have two adult children - a son and a daughter. Ivan graduated from the university in Milan and, according to some sources, works at RIA Novosti; according to others, he is developing the Asian direction in the Apostol communications holding, whose general director at one time was Tina Kandelaki. Maria studied in London, at the Faculty of Media and Sociology at City University, and is involved in the family restaurant business.
Leonid Parfenov, Elena Chekalova, Ivan Parfenov and Maria Broitman with their family
In 2015, Leonid Parfenov became related to banker Mikhail Broitman: Ivan married the daughter of an entrepreneur, Maria, a graduate of the London Architectural Association School of Architecture. The wedding was celebrated according to Jewish customs. Photos from the celebration and subsequent honeymoon were published by glossy publications. After 3 years, the journalist became a grandfather.
Childhood
Chekalova Elena Valerievna was born on January 8, 1967 in Moscow. Her mother was a literary editor and dictionary compiler by profession. But my father worked as a journalist for the newspaper Sovetskaya Pravda. In such a creative family, it couldn’t have been any other way; the daughter followed in her parents’ footsteps. True, from childhood the girl also loved to cook. It was she who often stood in the kitchen when guests gathered in the house.
Elena also dreamed of becoming a teacher since childhood. After school, she entered the Faculty of Philology at Moscow State University. She graduated with success and worked in her specialty for some time. She taught Russian at the Geological Exploration Institute.
Leonid Parfenov now
In an interview with Echo of Moscow in 2020, Leonid Parfenov said:
“Either YouTube doesn’t need me or YouTube doesn’t need me, but for some reason this story doesn’t add up.”
In 2018, apparently, everything came together, and the journalist opened his own channel. I didn’t hesitate with the name, I played with the surname – “Parthenon”. Bright and recognizable. Leonid Gennadievich calls the videos a diary of events for the week. The first issue received over 500 thousand views in a couple of days.
Leonid Parfenov in the show "Parthenon"
Parfenov is assisted by producer Ilya Ovcharenko, a former manager of VGTRK and Rambler, and co-host Valentin Petukhov, whom the Internet community knows under the nickname Wylsacom. Leonid surprises his colleagues by responding to user comments, which, by and large, few people do on the Internet.
The rise in popularity of the blog was ensured by the personality of the journalist, Ilya believes. Parfenov knows how to present information in such a way that the viewer on the other side of the screen becomes an interlocutor. By the way, the owner of the channel himself, in an interview with Dozhd given in January 2019, called his activities on YouTube not blogging, but journalism.
Leonid Parfenov in 2020
The Parthenon has become more than just a way for the former TV presenter to express himself. The media cited an estimate from a blogger research agency, which suggested that the creator of the channel earned 22.9 million rubles in a year. Parfenov himself reacted calmly to these words:
“I didn’t add up. Even the money that was mentioned there is small. In general, the money there is not crazy, to put it mildly. And the material incentive for me is the weakest.”
Leonid is not interested in current television either as a viewer or as a specialist who understands the process of creating content. Therefore, the journalist does not watch TV, but resonant news or a film can be obtained on the Internet.
Other activities
Leonid Parfenov is a multifaceted personality. Over a long career, you could be seen on the jury of KVN and “Minutes of Fame”, in the programs “What are our years!” and “The Magical World of Disney,” in promotional videos and even in music videos, for example, in “Rap Prayer in Support of Faith,” which he performed together with Ksenia Sobchak and Vasya Oblomov. Rap prayer in support of faith Parfenov also published a book-album “The other day. Our Era” in six volumes – by decade. The publication gained such popularity that in 2010 Parfenov began work on an additional fifth volume, “Namedni XXI. New contours of the 2000s” and even announced a competition on LiveJournal among subscribers to write it.
Presentation of the third volume “The other day”
In 2010, the journalist was the first among his colleagues to receive the Vladislav Listyev Prize worth one million rubles. Leonid's speech at the ceremony sounded incriminating of the situation on Russian television channels at that time - he sharply criticized the current situation, to which those present responded with applause. Parfenov's speech at the Prize named after. Vlad Listyev in 2010 A year later, Parfenov again surprised his fans by starring in Vladimir Mirzoev’s feature film “Boris Godunov” in the role of Vasily Shchelkalov, Duma clerk and printer.
Leonid also participated in the Open University educational project, preparing a special lesson in 2020 about the new media language, the future of journalism and the responsibility of power elites. Parfenov also presented his next documentary project called “Russian Jews” in Riga. Three episodes of the film tell about the period from 1918 to 1948, about the influence of this Russian-speaking nation on world history.
Leonid Parfenov in the documentary “Russian Jews”
In response to the emerging interest not only in the film, but also in his own nationality, Parfenov called himself a Russian journalist. His own theory is that Jews, Georgians and Germans are the main nations that first mixed with the Russian nation. At the same time, Parfenov organized a new project on the RTVI channel “The Other Day at Karaoke.” The guests of his program, together with the host, enjoyed reminiscing and singing songs of past years. Russian Jews. Film one In 2017-2018, the journalist disappeared from television channels. In one of his interviews, Parfenov admitted that he does not have an official job, but, being a self-employed creative person, he works much more and more fruitfully. Moreover, it was during this period that he became one of the advisers to the president of the country on the rights and freedoms of citizens and the further development of society.
For a long time, Leonid was not associated with Internet projects, but one fine day he opened his own channel on YouTube, calling it “Parthenon”: In 2020, Parfenov also resumed his project on YouTube called “Namedni. Our Era” and the programs began to be published twice a month. The NTV company filed claims against the presenter regarding the use of the brand, the copyright holder of which, as it turned out, became in 2020, applying to Rospatent with an application for trademark registration.
Screensaver of the issue about 1960
Parfenov got out of the situation elegantly - program releases began to begin with the date, for example, “1960 with Leonid Parfenov.” The presenter jokes about this that he can only be proud that in twenty-five years on NTV, “Namedni” has become the most popular brand. First, a series of documentaries about the period from 1946 to 1960 appeared on the channel, and then a series of films about modern Russia (since 2004).
