Biography
In his youth, as a student, Evgeny Knyazev did not miss a single lecture, and now the rector of the Shchukin Theater School believes that the years spent at the university are priceless. Today's youth mistakenly believe that mastering the Internet and the ability to press buttons on gadgets is a way to acquire knowledge.
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Actor Evgeny Knyazev
It is only in the audience that the skills of a craftsman are instilled, and acting is a craft, although it cannot be fully taught if a person does not feel, absorb and transform. Talent will develop if the priority is not the desire to sell oneself at a higher price, but the noble goal of becoming an artist.
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On the Internet you can often find photos of Evgeny Knyazev in which he is captured with his family. Also, photographs often appear on the Internet where an artist is filmed while working on a film set or on a theater stage.
Childhood and youth
Evgeny Vladimirovich Knyazev was born on August 9, 1955 in the village of Skuratovo, Tula region, not far from the famous Yasnaya Polyana. In addition to Zhenya himself, there were 3 more sisters in the family. His mother was a housewife, and his father was a miner. We didn't live well. The dream of a theatrical stage settled in Zhenya’s heart from an early age, but its realization was long and difficult.
After graduating from school in 1972, Evgeniy goes to Moscow in the hope of entering the Shchukin Theater School. But hopes are not justified, and the young man has to go to the Mining Institute. But even there his childhood dreams do not leave him.
Starting from the 3rd year, Evgeniy actively participates in student activities. While doing an internship in Leningrad, the future actor decided to test his strength again and entered Ruben Argamerzyan’s course at LGITMiK. But the work that had been started had to be completed, and in 1978 Zhenya received a diploma from the Mining Institute.
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The second attempt to storm the theater school was successful, and Evgeny Knyazev was enrolled in the course of teacher Lyudmila Vladimirovna Stavskaya. It is not so easy to move from one student bench to another, but Evgeniy’s interest in understanding acting skills prevailed. A big role in Knyazev’s development as an actor was played by his mentor, who knew how to find the key to each student.
At that time, the Shchukin School actually became Zhenya’s home. During the day, together with his close friend Evgeniy Dvorzhetsky, the young man worked in the wardrobe, and after that he went to theaters and read a lot. Knyazev tried to absorb bit by bit everything that could be useful in the future.
Evgeniy Knyazev: the beginning of the journey
The performer of the role of Wolf Messing was born in the Tula region, this happened in August 1955. The biography of Evgeny Knyazev indicates that he was born into a family far from the world of art. His father worked in a mine, and his mother raised children. Evgeniy has three sisters.
Knyazev showed interest in the acting profession as a child. He played his first roles in school plays, and productions with his participation were always a success with the audience. By the time he graduated from school, he firmly decided to connect his life with dramatic art.
Theater
After graduating from college in 1982, Evgeniy went to work at the Vakhtangov Theater. Knyazev was invited there by Evgeny Simonov, who immediately discerned the artist’s character and temperament. Eugene’s debut on the theater stage was the role of Gaetan in the production of “The Rose and the Cross”.
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Evgeny Knyazev in the theater
A real breakthrough in his theatrical biography came with his role in the play “The Three Ages of Casanova,” presented to the public in 1985. This is a production by Evgeny Rubenkovich, who himself brought together Tsvetaeva’s plays and gave them a common name. Due to her young age, Knyazev’s wife got the role of the young Casanova, the character’s mature years were embodied by Vasily Lanovoy, and his advanced years by Yuri Yakovlev. The audience greeted this performance with delight.
After that, Knyazev played the roles of Don Guan in “Little Tragedies,” Count Obolyaninov and others, each of which he approached seriously.
In 1992, Evgeny Knyazev met Pyotr Fomenko, and this acquaintance became very fruitful. Starting with a small but interesting role in the play “The Case,” the actor subsequently participated in all of Fomenko’s productions. 1993 brings the role of Neznamov in the play “Guilty Without Guilt,” for which Knyazev receives the State Prize. In 1996, he was Herman in “The Queen of Spades”, and in 1999 he was busy in “The Miracle of St. Anthony” in the role of Achille.
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Evgeny Knyazev in the play “The Queen of Spades”
The collaboration between Knyazev and Fomenko ended with Pyotr Naumovich completely immersed in the idea of creating his own theater, and Evgeny Vladimirovich remained in his native Vakhtangov. And although he did not find roles there that were congenial in spirit, he nevertheless rejected two offers to move to other theaters.
Feeling a lack of interest in working at the Vakhtangov Theater, Evgeniy began playing in enterprises and acting as a guest actor. The images that Knyazev embodies are interesting and unexpected. Among Evgeniy’s bright theatrical roles are Berlioz in the production “Berlioz”, Barrot in the play “Artaud and His Double”, as well as the hero in the play “Provocations”.
Since the late 90s, the artist taught at his alma mater, and in 2003, his fellow teachers elected Knyazev as rector of Shchuka. Evgeniy managed to both play and lead. In 2010, with the arrival of director Rimas Tuminas at the Vakhtangov Theater, the actor seemed to have a new life on stage.
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Evgeny Knyazev and Lyudmila Chursina in the play "The Karenina Spouses"
Evgeny Vladimirovich shines in the role of Arbenin in Lermontov's "Masquerade", for which he received the "Theater Star", conveys the drama of Alexei Karenin through dance in the production "Anna Karenina", completely resolved in choreographic language. In “Oedipus the King,” 3 generations of the theater institute appeared on the stage: Knyazev himself, his student Viktor Dobronravov and his mentor Lyudmila Maksakova.
In relation to the play “Smile on Us, Lord,” no other epithets were encountered in the press other than “stunning” and “grandiose.” Knyazev played together with Sergei Makovetsky, Yulia Rutberg, Alexei Guskov, Viktor Sukhorukov. And, as critics have noted, the word “played” is not enough in this case.
“This is something completely separate. A kind of confessional acting existence, when on stage there are both the heroes of the play and just people. The Word is heard in the play. That's it - with a capital letter. And the viewer follows not the plot, but the thought. He’s watching – banally, but, to be fair, with bated breath.”
Hereditary miner
When a person achieves success in his professional activity, his life path, his biography is already written according to certain rules.
Evgeny Vladimirovich Knyazev was born into a miner’s family. This happened in August 1955. Parents lived in a small workers' village near Tula. In addition to the boy, three more girls were growing up in the house. The father brought good money into the house, which allowed the mother not to work and do housework. In those years, miners were paid decent wages and were not delayed. From a young age, the child observed respectful and calm relationships in the house.
During his school years, Zhenya, like most children, made plans and dreamed of becoming a pilot, a firefighter, or a policeman. According to the regulations in force at that time, each school presented performances at the regional amateur art show. The young pioneer Knyazev participated in such events with great desire. Even then, some teachers and friends predicted his career as an artist. The father was reserved about this hobby and jokingly called his son an artist from the burnt theater. Jokes aside, Evgeniy became seriously ill with the acting profession.
From an early age, Evgeniy was distinguished by his persistent character. After graduating from school in 1972, he went to the capital to become a student at the Shchukin Theater School. The first attempt to enroll was unsuccessful - there was not enough talent. Well, I had to enter the Mining Institute so as not to upset my father. While receiving a technical education, Knyazev studied with great enthusiasm in the student theater of miniatures. Work in his specialty did not interest him at all and, having received his diploma, he went to re-enroll at Shchuka.
Movies
Knyazev is mostly a theater actor, but he has dozens of film roles to his credit. Evgeniy’s first screen work was as a teacher of Russian language and literature Andrei Petrushov in the film “Working on Mistakes.”
Evgeny Knyazev (still from the film “Working on Mistakes”)
At the same time, several more films with the artist’s participation were released. Among them are the philosophical fairy tale “A Fantastic Story”, the detective story “Method of Murder”, the historical drama about the love of a count and a serf “Countess Sheremetyev” and others.
With the beginning of the new millennium, Evgeniy appears again on television screens. Work in such series as “Maroseyka, 12”, “Simple Truths” and “The Fifth Angel” gives a new impetus to cinematic activity. The actor remains true to his principle of choosing a project: interest in the production and partners.
The most recognizable was the main role of Knyazev in the film “Wolf Messing”. Director Vladimir Krasnopolsky knew in advance who he wanted to see in this role, so the candidacy of the performer was practically not discussed.
Evgeny Knyazev as Wolf Messing (still from the series “Wolf Messing”)
Having secured the actor’s consent a year before the start of filming, Krasnopolsky then simply introduced him to the film crew already in makeup and costume. Not only the almost identical height of Evgeniy and the mentalist (178 and 173 cm), but also the striking physiognomic similarity played into their hands.
The artist reincarnated as Messing once again in Sergei Ginzburg’s war drama “Son of the Father of Nations,” which tells the story of the fate of Vasily Stalin. Gela Meskhi starred in this role. In the image of Joseph Vissarionovich himself, Evgeny appeared in the biographical series “Orlova and Alexandrov” with the participation of Anatoly Bely and Olesya Sudzilovskaya.
Evgeny Knyazev and Olesya Sudzilovskaya (still from the series “Orlova and Alexandrov”)
Thanks to his pronounced type, Knyazev had the opportunity to play the ideologist of Marxism Leon Trotsky more than once. In 2006, it was a film adaptation of the novel “The Nine Lives of Nestor Makhno,” in which Pavel Derevyanko embodied the central character. 7 years later, another biopic followed - “The Passion of Chapai”, where the role of the bright military leader went to Sergei Strelnikov.
Another political figure of the revolutionary years in Evgeniy’s collection of images is Grigory Zinoviev. The actor played this role in the project of Estonian filmmakers “December Heat”.
The series of films about famous personalities was continued by the film about Marina Tsvetaeva “Mirrors”, where Knyazev played the role of the poet Boris Pasternak. In the series “Vangelia”, Elena Yakovleva tried on the image of the soothsayer, Evgeniy played the father of little Vanga. In the crime drama “Unaccountable”, Knyazev’s hero was driving the car of oligarch Boris Berezovsky.
Evgeny Knyazev (still from the film “Mirrors”)
The breadth of Evgeniy Vladimirovich’s role is demonstrated by a passionate lover of horses, a psychology professor whose students help people in the “Happiness Group”, the father of a teenage daughter, who is not an authority for her because he lives in two families, in the melodrama “Boy and Girl”.
In the drama “Star of the Epoch,” Knyazev’s screen and real life are intertwined. Evgeniy, an actor and teacher, played the director of a theater for working youth, who simultaneously teaches at a theater school.
Personal life
Speaking about his personal life, Evgeniy emphasizes the importance of family. With his wife Elena Dunaeva, an art historian by training and a teacher at the Shchukin School, the actor raised two children. The daughters graduated from GITIS, Alexandra graduated from the production department, Asya (Anastasia) chose theater directing.
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Knyazev is a member of the Public Council of the Russian Jewish Congress. The organization was founded by media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky as a charitable association of representatives of this nationality.
Evgeniy Vladimirovich is not personally present on social networks, but the artist’s photos are freely available on the Internet and are published on the Vakhtangov Theater page on Instagram.
Personal life of celebrities.
Personal life of Evgeny Knyazev , actor, theater teacher, rector of the Theater School named after. Shchukin, despite the fact that he loves his work, is more important to him than anything else, and he has never hidden this. He has long and happily been married to art critic Elena Dunaeva, with whom he is raising two daughters - Alexandra and Anastasia. However, work also means a lot to him.
Evgeniy Vladimirovich did not come to the acting profession right away. After school, he decided to become an engineer and entered the Polytechnic Institute. But the theater was always present in Knyazev’s biography - from an early age he was a member of the “Dialogue” theater-studio in the Trade Union Palace of Culture, where he spent all his free time. Every year the studio held creative evenings, during which meetings were held with teachers of theater schools and studios from different cities.
In the photo - Evgeny Knyazev with his family
At one of these evenings, a teacher from the Theater School named after. Shchukina Lyudmila Savskaya, who immediately noted Evgeniy’s talent. This meeting played an important role in the personal life of Evgeny Knyazev - he listened to Savskaya’s words and, having received a diploma in mining engineering, entered her theater school for a course. Despite the fact that he again had to sit on the student bench, studying at the theater school fascinated him so much that Evgeniy literally did not leave its walls day or night. He went to theatrical performances, read, and also worked there as a cloakroom attendant.
In the last courses of “Pike”, Knyazev was accepted into the troupe of the theater. Vakhtangov. A few years later, Evgeny Knyazev began collaborating with Pyotr Fomenko, who involved him in several performances, and for the role of Neznamov in the production “Guilty Without Guilt” he was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation. All this time, he continued to be a member of the Vakhtangov Theater troupe, despite the fact that he received invitations from other theaters.
At this time, Evgeny Knyazev already had a family in his personal life, and his daughter was growing up, born in 1976, when he was twenty-one years old. He and his wife were always one, and Evgeniy, returning home, despite the fact that he sometimes collapsed from fatigue, went to the bathroom to rinse his diapers. A year after the birth of their first daughter Alexandra, their family was replenished with one more child - daughter Anastasia. Now Evgeniy’s daughters are already adults, and they all still live as a friendly family, organizing joint holidays, the most favorite of which has always been the New Year, which they celebrate only together.
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Evgeny Knyazev now
In 2018, Evgeny Knyazev starred in Vladimir Krasnopolsky’s series “The Expropriator.” The plot of the film precedes the events of the popular detective drama “Gangster Petersburg” and tells the story of the formative years of a crime boss nicknamed Baron. The artist played a relative of his mother, a then-novice petty thief.
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Evgeny Knyazev
By the end of 2020, the actor’s filmography included a film written and directed by Viktor Merezhko “We Didn’t Expect.” The main role of an old musician who ended up in a nursing home was played by Oleg Basilashvili.
