The biography and personal life of Katerina Kovalchuk is similar to the fairy tale about Cinderella. A pretty girl from a poor Russian family living in a distant province managed to become not only a domestic star, but also take the first steps towards conquering Hollywood.
Already as an adult, she learned about her famous older sister, Anna Kovalchuk, familiar to viewers from the television “Secrets of the Investigation.” Katerina’s filmography also has a star role. The girl became famous in the CIS countries after the premiere of “The Serf,” a Ukrainian series about a beauty from the 19th century.
Poor childhood
Katya was born on February 20, 1993 in the capital of the Komi Republic. Among the girl's childhood hobbies, writing poetry and dancing should be noted. Kovalchuk grew up in a poor family, so she really wanted to live a normal life and leave her hometown.
Little Katerina Kovalchuk with her mother
Katya’s mother, along with her stepfather and older sister Nastya, huddled in two rooms of a workers’ dormitory. The future star spent his childhood years there. Children were often left to their own devices, as their parents were constantly absent from work.
I was very afraid of cockroaches, which literally took over the common kitchen in the hostel.
Due to lack of money, Katya wore clothes that her sister used to wear. The girl was embarrassed by her appearance, so she didn’t communicate with many people, but she had no problems studying at school.
Katerina Kovalchuk
To help her family financially, high school student Kovalchuk earned money by cleaning rooms and delivering newspapers, but still there was not enough money. At the prom, the girl wore an old dress, since her parents did not have enough money to buy a new one.
Did you have any work experience outside of your profession?
Of course there was. My childhood was not the most comfortable and simple. Before studying, I worked as a cleaner and at a zoo as an instructor on children's attractions. While I was studying at the university, 2.5 years ago I worked on weekends as a nanny in a children's room.
The actress is rapidly conquering Hollywood
Sister of Katerina Kovalchuk
The first serious changes in the biography of the future actress occurred when she was fifteen years old. One day, Katya’s mother, while watching the next episode of “Secrets of the Investigation” with her daughter, said that the girl was now watching her sister on TV, who played Maria Shvetsova in the popular detective story.
In one of the TV shows, Anna Kovalchuk admitted that as a child she really wanted to have a younger sister, and she grew up with her older brother Pavel.
Katya learned about their family connection through their common father, whom the girl later found and was glad that her parent recognized her. She went to visit her dad in St. Petersburg, where she met her older sister.
Sisters Anna and Katerina Kovalchuk
It turned out that the energetic and optimistic Anna is similar to her in character, but different in appearance.
Studies
At school, Katya wanted to become a journalist or actress, following Anna’s example. Having received a certificate of secondary education, the girl went to her father in St. Petersburg, where she simultaneously entered two higher educational institutions. She could choose between the acting department of the Institute of Humanitarian Education and the journalism department of the Institute of Film and TV. On the advice of her dad, Katya chose the second option, but later changed her mind and transferred to St. Petersburg IGO, where she began studying acting on the course of Ivan Krasko, who helped Kovalchuk get rid of her natural shyness.
Katerina Kovalchuk
In the graduation production of “August: Osage County,” Katya got the role of an elderly drug addict. While studying at the institute, the aspiring actress played a small episode in “The Officer's Wife” on TV.
Anna Kovalchuk congratulated her younger sister on graduating from university. After the graduation performance she presented Katya with a large basket of red roses.
The beginning of a film career
In 2020, Syktyvkar newspapers published an article on the front pages about their talented countrywoman and how Ekaterina Kovalchuk managed to get into American cinema. The day before, one of the Hollywood studios held auditions on the Internet for roles in a short film, which the heroine of our today's story successfully passed, after which she played a young Russian emigrant in “Private.” The main theme of the film was the Civil War in America. Kovalchuk was in Hollywood for two months. There she improved her English. Currently, Katya masters it perfectly.
Katerina Kovalchuk in Hollywood
A year after filming in the USA, the actress played Dasha in the Russian TV series “Betrayal,” and a little later, Nika in “Girl with a Player.” The creators of “The Miraculous” offered Kovalchuk the role of Agafya in their series. Katerina’s heroine lives in one of the forest Old Believer settlements. The actress’s partner on the set was Alexey Shevchenkov.
Katerina Kovalchuk on the set of the series “Miraculous”
The Ministry premiered in 2020. In this television project, Katya starred together with Ivan Oganesyan, Viktor Verzhbitsky and Kirill Safonov.
"Serf"
Kovalchuk’s creative biography took a sharp turn after Ukrainian filmmakers cast her in the role of Ekaterina Verbitskaya in the TV series “The Serf.” More than a hundred young actresses applied for it.
Katerina Kovalchuk in the series “The Serf”
The historical melodrama takes viewers to the mid-19th century, to the Chernigov province, where a young girl from a poor family grew up in a manor house and was raised as a noblewoman. Its owners are the wealthy landowners Chervinsky. They completely control the life of a smart and beautiful woman who dreams of freedom.
It seemed to me that this role was written specifically for me. I coincide with Ekaterina Verbitskaya not only in character, but even in name.
The main character of “The Serf” experienced numerous losses, mental and physical suffering, but did not betray her loved one and won a victory over evil.
Katerina Kovalchuk in the series “The Serf”
On the set of the historical melodrama, Kovalchuk wore tight corsets, wore heavy dresses, practiced ballroom dancing, was flogged with a whip, buried in the ground and drowned.
During a break from working on a flogging scene, I approached the stuntman and asked him to teach me how to use a whip. I wanted to take a spectacular photo for my Instagram page and accidentally injured my right cheek, after which I took the photo with my face made up, but after a day nothing was noticeable.
The most difficult scene for the actress was filming on a winter lake, where her character falls through the ice.
Katerina Kovalchuk on the set of the series “The Serf”
For this purpose, a pool covered with foam was used.
At rehearsals, I dived with my nose pinched in a corset, dress and fur coat with insurance. In addition, to quickly go under water, they hung ten kilograms of additional weight on me. After the dive, I had to signal with my thumb for the stuntmen to pull me out. But I got confused in the water and almost drowned. The next takes had to be done more carefully.
In “The Serf,” Katerina starred with Yulia Aug and Stanislav Boklan, and after the premiere of the series she woke up famous. Ordinary people approached her on the street for autographs, and her relatives were very proud of Katya.
Which scene was the hardest?
There were many difficult scenes. I was buried, I dived into a hole in a corset and crinoline, I set a man on fire and many others. For example, we filmed a scene in the fall when they locked me in the basement and put shackles on my neck and hands. It was very difficult to get used to such a situation. I thought: “What does she feel after sitting there for several nights without food, water, with rats, mice, cockroaches, chafed hands and neck?” I am very sensitive in life, my body is the same and my heroine is the same - she is very fragile. Over and over again, when they flog you, pour water on you, beat you, keep you in the basement... It's very difficult to play such scenes in a row.
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The actress was doused with water and whipped during filming
There was also a difficult scene emotionally, where I was tied to a pole and flogged with a whip. Of course, I wasn’t really spanked, but I didn’t know that even pretending to do it physically was so difficult. When you're acting out, you have to understand how the body behaves when you get hit for real. During the impact, your body bends very much from the post, and I needed to do it without hitting. But it feels like I was really beaten. It is very difficult physically! My whole body hurt after that, even without real blows.
Personal life
Kovalchuk does not like to share the secrets of his personal life with journalists. It is known that the actress does not have a husband or children yet.
To create a family, there must be love, like my Katerina’s - head over heels.
The Serf star spends his free time reading and watching Hollywood classics. Her favorite actress and role model is Audrey Hepburn. The actress is also inspired by good music. Katya doesn’t see her famous sister often, since Anna Kovalchuk’s work schedule is quite busy.
Mother and sister of Katerina Kovalchuk
The actress's friends call her Kitty, like the main character of the series "The Serf". Ekaterina even began signing her Instagram posts “Your Kitty.”
Verbitskaya and I are similar in character, I can also sacrifice a lot for the sake of love.
Although Kovalchuk has a fragile figure, she considers herself a strong and purposeful girl. She also has such traits as gullibility and openness. For this reason, other people sometimes deceive her.
In winter, Katya is actively involved in skiing, and in summer – horse riding.
Katerina Kovalchuk on set
The girl had never smoked in her life. Kovalchuk has no special preferences in food, nor does she have any problems with appetite. She does not diet and maintains her beautiful figure in a natural way. Photos of an elegant girl in a swimsuit appear on her Instagram page from time to time. In ordinary life, the actress does not like to wear trousers.
Catherine the Great got into a comedy: the most striking film images of the Russian Empress
In the plot of “The Great,” the main characters are an Austrian princess who marries the Russian Emperor Peter, in order to later become that same Empress Catherine. Literally everything that happens in the frame, from the palace morals in the spirit of “burn and walk” to the black actor Abraham Popul in the role of Prince Rostov and the ethnic Hindu Sasha Dhawan playing Prince Orlov, has infuriated many fans of historical series, like bulls who are being shaken in front of their noses red rag. However, even among those who do not perceive the slapstick genre in any way in the context of historical figures, there will probably be people who are ready to admit that Elle Fanning is miraculously good in the role of Catherine. “MK” took a closer look at the actress and remembered other stars for whom the role of the Russian Empress was important in their careers.
Elle Fanning (“The Great”, USA-UK, 2020)
The pretty American is only 22 years old, but she began acting as soon as she learned to speak and now her acting filmography already includes six dozen projects. She played cute babies, teenagers with whims, young ladies in costume dramas and can boast of working with big directors like Francis Ford Coppola and Woody Allen.
In “The Great,” El is also an executive producer, and she perceives this project much more broadly than a comedy with obscene jokes, breaking dishes and severed heads. The feminist basis of the plot gives everything that happens in the series additional weight. A girl with liberal views gets a despot and an idiot as her husband and begins her personal struggle for everything progressive. And although her ideas about this progressive are very vague, a feminist with a determined face and a retro dress can still attract an audience much younger and more dynamic than boring fans of collecting historical mistakes.
The main problem here is that good does not outperform evil. Tsar Peter, who is a despot and an idiot, played by Nicholas Hoult, came out as a downright irresistible person in his demonic charm and feminine beads. Fanning plays it out in the series poster. Probably never before has a girl in the image of the future Russian empress shown such indecent gestures.
Marina Alexandrova (“Ekaterina”, Russia, 2014)
The actress admitted that wearing a crown on set was not a fun activity, but the regal accessory suited Marina so well that she got used to the image of the empress for three seasons. Sometimes the persona of Catherine was a little lost in the clutter of historical details, but the audience clearly liked Alexandrov in the image of the empress, although someone noted that the actress lacked weight in this situation, and in the literal sense. Perhaps the most successful line of the series was the relationship between Catherine and Pavel, played by Alexander Yatsenko. In other scenario situations, both Alexandrova and her crown found themselves hostage to what is commonly called a series of federal significance with the feigned dramas and set of cliches and banalities inevitable for such projects.
Yulia Snigir (“Great”, Russia, 2015)
The actress approached the role of Catherine with a very varied resume, which included historical projects. And if we turn our attention only to the person of Snigir in “The Great”, then we can say that she has been fairly successful in creating the image of a woman incredibly greedy for life in its most varied manifestations. But the actress, frankly speaking, was unlucky with the series itself. Sometimes it seemed that the image of the main character in this whole undertaking was of much less importance than the incredible strength of the desire to show what a beautiful country Russia could become if not for the corrupting influence of the West. Fortunately, a few years later, Julia, as compensation, will receive her generous piece of acting happiness in Paolo Sorrentino’s series “The New Pope”.
Helen Mirren (“Catherine the Great”, UK, USA, 2019)
Palace dramas are a classic genre for the British, and Helen Mirren has solid experience of transforming into royalty and, moreover, has Russian roots. There are only four episodes in the series “Catherine the Great,” and this short runtime for television projects may not have been enough to reveal in detail the drama of the empress, but it was enough to once again see how irresistible one of the best actresses on the planet is in the frame. Over the course of four episodes, Catherine, played by Mirren, manages to be both a lover who throws herself into her passion for Potemkin like a whirlpool, and a ruler calculating to the point of inhumanity and a woman in languid anticipation of happiness. Add to this the amazing performance of the actress in period costumes and the equally impressive ability to sit in the saddle. If Helen collects her royal appearances in every sense, then this was one of them.
What is Katerina Kovalchuk doing now?
In 2020, the second season of the historical melodrama “Fortress” was released. Filming of the third part of the series should start in the summer, and its premiere is scheduled for 2021.
Katerina Kovalchuk on the set of the series “The Serf”
Kovalchuk has dreams related to her personal life and professional career.
Someday I will walk the red carpet with Leonardo DiCaprio himself.
It may well be that the future husband of the Russian beauty will be one of the Hollywood stars. The latest news in Kovalchuk’s life can be found on her Instagram account.
Katerina Kovalchuk
In 2020, she began filming the pilot episode of a new American series, in which she played an android girl, the main character of the project. In the near future, the premiere of “Gussar” - a Russian comedy series with the participation of Katerina Kovalchuk - will take place. The actress's partner on the set was the famous domestic comedian Garik Kharlamov.
Do you read books?
Certainly. While filming The Serf, I didn't have much time to read. But it’s been a year since I switched to self-development books. I feel like I need this. Inna Roshchina (plays Orysya) recommended the play “Country of the Blind.” Sometimes I like to read The Little Prince. Because I love this book very much, and I often have it with me. Or a biography of Leonardo DiCaprio, this is my favorite actor and I strive for the same level of acting. Everyone on the set already knows about this (laughs). So I don't have a passion for certain genres or books. I can read comics too.
