Childhood and adolescence
Svetlana was born in the small town of Ostrov, Pskov region, where the great Pushkin stayed several times.
Her father was a military man, and the girl had to travel a lot with her parents to different garrisons before the family finally settled in Volgograd. Our heroine spent her school years there, which she remembers with particular warmth. Swimming in the Volga, fishing with her father and huge Astrakhan watermelons were integral elements of childhood, which she later missed so much in adulthood.
Svetlana Chuikina in her youth
From an early age, Svetlana dreamed of becoming an actress, watched her favorite Soviet films dozens of times and imagined herself in the place of the main characters. She practiced monologues she had seen on TV, and in the evenings, dressed in her mother’s outfits, she performed mini-performances in front of her parents. At school she willingly participated in amateur performances, sang and danced, and recited poetry beautifully.
By the final exams, Svetlana no longer had any doubts about what she would devote her future life to. The girl planned to go to Moscow to get a theater education there. But her mother was afraid to let her only daughter go to the capital alone and persuaded Sveta to continue her education at a local university. Chuikina easily passed the entrance exams and became a student in the theater department of the Saratov Conservatory (workshop of A.G. Galko). Very soon she became the best in the course, and in 1997 she graduated from the university with honors.
Life lessons
Moscow did not turn out to be hospitable for provincial actors. The trio methodically and persistently went around the theaters one after another, but to no avail. A few weeks later, Chuikina was nevertheless offered a job at the small Modern theater, which had almost no work, which means the income was scanty.
One day the director approached Svetlana and said that the stage needed to be washed. She didn’t know that the small theater has very few staff, and such offers are considered the norm, and stated that she was an actress, not a cleaner, and would not do anything like that! And she soon paid for her pride: she was kicked out of the theater. To have enough for a table and a room in the Moscow region, she got a job as a cleaner in a beauty salon.
The actress decided that fate was throwing her tests for a reason. In the beauty salon I often observed the clients - and they are very different there! How many characters, how many types, how many characteristic gestures, facial expressions, and words Sveta gleaned from this treasury of human destinies! After all, women go to the salon not only to get themselves in order, but also to gossip.
However, by spring, Chuikina realized that it was time to end such non-core activities: there was no point in living from hand to mouth in the city that she was going to conquer. I decided to go to theater school in the capital. She hid her first education and went to the Moscow Art Theater School. There they quickly saw through her, punishing her strictly: “You, girl, need to play, not study!”
So ingloriously, having achieved nothing, Chuikina went home.
Actor career
After graduation, Chuikina was enrolled in the troupe of the Saratov Drama Theater, where she served for two seasons. She was immediately given roles in leading repertoire performances, including Dunyasha in The Cherry Orchard, Donna Anna in Living Portrait, May in Madness of Love and Antigone in the play of the same name by Jean Anouilh. But the dream of conquering the capital’s stage did not leave our heroine, and soon Svetlana quit the theater and went to Moscow.
Svetlana Chuikina on stage
For several months she knocked around the doors of the capital's theaters in search of work, until she ended up in a small troupe of the Modern theater studio. But even there, they were in no hurry to give the provincial actress serious roles, preferring to use her in crowd scenes or sideshows. One day, a girl was even offered to work as a cleaner in her free time, which she was very offended by, and slammed the door and left the theater. If only she knew that in exactly a month she would be washing floors in a beauty salon to earn a living!
Watching the rich clients, she thought a lot about the vicissitudes of fate, which seemed so unfair to her then. But still, Svetlana did not give up and tried to enter the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio. There they quickly saw through her and did not give the certified actress a chance to find herself back on the student bench.
Svetlana Chuikina in the theater
Upset, Chuikina returned to Volgograd and got a job at a local theater. But she was not offered any interesting roles, and her repertoire as a whole left much to be desired. A year later, the actress decided to try her luck again in Moscow, and if she was unlucky, to leave the profession.
This time she stayed with her father's friend, who soon became her husband. Personal life improved, and soon positive dynamics emerged in the professional sphere. Chuikina played a secretary in the TV series “Brigada,” which instantly became a cult favorite and won the hearts of a multimillion-dollar audience. And literally a few months after filming, Svetlana successfully passed the casting for the main role in the series “Nina,” which became her finest hour. Ironically, when working on the image of a successful fashion model, the actress was very useful in the observations made at one time in a beauty salon.
Svetlana Chuikina in the TV series “Nina”
The heroine in her performance turned out to be so bright and lively that for a long time the audience associated Svetlana with this particular image. But in Chuikina’s filmography there are many other interesting works, including Lola in the TV series “Lola and the Marquis” (2004), Alla in the touching drama “Parisian Love of Kostya Gumankova” (2004), Tomka in the crime detective “The Hunt for the Red Deer” (2005 ), Galya in “Gromovykh” (2007), Lena in the melodrama “On the Way to the Heart” (2007).
Svetlana Chuikina in the TV series “Brigade”
2011 turned out to be a particularly successful year for the actress - she played leading roles in three major projects at once - the melodrama “The Groom”, the comedy “Koroleva’s New Dress” and the social drama “The Vicissitudes of Love”.
Biography
Svetlana Chuikina was born on the spring holiday - May 1, in the family of a military man in the city of Ostrov, which is located on the banks of the Velikaya River in the Pskov region.
Due to his father's profession, the family moved frequently. When little Sveta was one month old, the family moved to another city to follow her father’s place of service. From an early age, Sveta began to show interest in the world of art. She loved to recite poems to her parents, dance, and also show scenes she saw on TV. Svetlana studied at secondary school No. 44 in the city of Volgograd.
Since childhood, the girl dreamed of becoming an actress and moving to Moscow. In 1993, she successfully graduated from school. Already by the time she entered the theater university, the girl knew that she wanted to study only in the capital, but her mother was afraid for her only daughter and did not let her go to Moscow.
I had to find a compromise: the girl entered the theater department at the Sobinov Conservatory in Saratov.
Svetlana studied acting from 1993 to 1997 in the workshop of People's Artist Alexander Grigorievich Galko (1938-1916). From the first year, studying took up almost all of her time. Svetlana was a hardworking and diligent student, one of the best on the course.
She preferred reading books and lectures on her specialty to entertainment and walks with friends. At the university, the girl had a nickname - “Epikhodov - 33 misfortunes” , since, despite diligence in her studies, the girl, due to her absent-mindedness, found herself in various comical situations.
In 1997, Svetlana graduated from a higher educational institution with honors and became a qualified theater and film actress.
After graduating from a theater university, the girl’s creative biography began with the actress’s enrollment in the troupe of the Drama Theater in Saratov . The girl took part mainly in classical theater productions.
On the stage, the actress could be seen in various performances, including:
- "Platonov" (Grekova);
- "Madness of Love" (May);
- “The Cherry Orchard” (Dunyasha);
- "Antigone" (Antigone).
Despite good prospects in the theater, the girl, after working only for a season (1997-1998), quits and goes to conquer Moscow.
She worked for some period at the little-known Modern Theater, in which she had almost no roles. Wanting to develop further, the actress quit the theater, but could not find a job. For some time she even had to work as a cleaner in a beauty salon to pay for housing and food in the capital.
Unable to bear such a life, the girl returned to Volgograd, where she worked on the theater stage for several months. But soon she returns to Moscow to find a job she likes there. And successfully.
Having deceived the admissions committee (she hid that she already had a diploma as an actress), she entered the Moscow Art Theater and the Shchukin School, but because of the start of filming, the girl abandoned the idea of becoming a student again.
Svetlana’s first work in cinema brought her fame and great love from the audience. The girl made her debut on television in 2001 , at that time she was 26 years old, in the crime melodrama “Nina. Payback for love,” filmed by directors Vladimir Krasnopolsky and Valery Uskov.
In the film, Svetlana played the main role of Nina Silakova, thanks to which she became recognizable not only among viewers, but also in demand among directors, who began to invite the actress to their projects.
The film tells the story of a famous fashion model whose husband mysteriously disappears. During the course of the film, unexpected facts from the past of her beloved spouse are revealed that will affect her future life.
Afterwards, the actress appeared in the popular project “Brigade”, where she played the role of Bely’s secretary. In the film she starred with such popular actors: Sergei Bezrukov, Andrei Panin, Dmitry Dyuzhev and others.
Svetlana’s filmography includes many memorable films , where she played the roles of interesting characters:
- "Lola and the Marquis" (Lola);
- “Parisian Love of Kostya Gumankova” (Alla Muravina);
- “Gromovs. House of Hope" (Galya);
- “On the way to the heart” (Lena Rodionova);
- "Yaroslav. A thousand years later" (Raida);
- “The Vicissitudes of Love” (Irina).
Svetlana played the leading roles in almost all of these projects. The actress’s film images are always convincing and evoke admiration and empathy among the audience. Sometimes Svetlana refuses roles, especially those where close relatives of her heroine, in particular children, must die in the script for the film.
In December 2020, NTV aired the crime thriller “Rustle,” in which the actress played the role of Natalya Shatrova. In the same year, the mystical series “Anna the Detective” premiered, where the actress played the role of Yegor’s mother.
In 2020, the actress worked on the stage of the Theater of Nations in the production of “The Audience” directed by Gleb Panfilov, where she played the role of Bobo McDonald, Elizabeth’s nanny.
At the moment, several films with Svetlana’s participation are in production: “The Makarovs” (Olga Makarova), “Adoption Clinic” (Elena Petrovna), as well as the military drama “Balkan Frontier” (Marta) and others.
The actress's filmography includes more than 30 films of various genres. She does not strive for great popularity; she only acts in projects that are interesting to her.
Personal life of Svetlana Chuikina
The actress’s husband was her father’s friend, Vadim, to whom Svetlana brought a gift from her dad during her second visit to Moscow. Vadim remembered her from the age of seven, and was simply dumbfounded when he saw a luxurious, slender blonde on the threshold. He immediately asked the girl out on a date, introduced her to his son from his first marriage, and soon proposed marriage.
Actress Svetlana Chuikina
Svetlana was not at all embarrassed by the ten-year age difference; on the contrary, she immediately felt affection for the charming, self-confident businessman and, without hesitation, agreed to him. The wedding took place when the filming of “Nina” was in full swing.
Svetlana Chuikina with her son
Soon the couple had a baby, Nikita, who became the main meaning of life for the actress, sometimes even to the detriment of her professional career. When her son grew up, the actress returned to the screen again and continues to delight her loyal fans with bright, interesting roles.
Personal life
Svetlana lives an exemplary life, she has a loving husband, Vadim, and a son, Nikita. It is noteworthy that Vadim’s parents were friends with the actress’s parents and she, as a seven-year-old child, once saw her future chosen one, who at that time turned 18, but Svetlana practically does not remember these events.
Svetlana Chuikina
When Chuikina went to Moscow, her parents asked to give Vadim a gift - Volga fish. But who would have thought that fleeting communication would turn into a long romance and marriage: the actress admitted that she was a secretive person, but she found it easy and comfortable to communicate with her future husband.
Svetlana Chuikina with her son
For her own wedding, Svetlana chose a non-trivial outfit: instead of a white dress and veil, the girl chose a blue robe. But the day after the celebration, the blonde was not looking forward to relaxing with her lover, but to working on the set. Later, the newlyweds went on a trip to Europe. It is also known that Svetlana Chuikina is terribly afraid of heights and believes that romantic relationships between actors are a hindrance to work.
