Alexey Agranovich: “Carelessness and falling in love are synonymous”

Biography

The talented director of entertainment events, Alexey Agranovich, tried his hand at many areas of art. The VGIK graduate managed to work as an actor, advertising producer and television program host, but eventually found himself as an organizer of grandiose ceremonies and shows. Now he officially represents the famous Russian festival “Kinotavr”, and also works in the Gogol Center theater and the humor troupe “Quartet-I”.

Childhood and youth

Alexey Mikhailovich Agranovich was born in Moscow on October 23, 1970 in the family of Soviet cameraman and director Mikhail Leonidovich Agranovich and actress Emilia Grigorievna Kulik.

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A post shared by Alexey Agranovich (@alexey_agranovich) on Apr 27, 2020 at 3:11am PDT

Alexey Agranovich in childhood (in the center)
Since childhood, moving in the circle of the creative intelligentsia, the boy heard a lot about his father’s work in the films “Look for a Woman”, “Come See Me” and “Repentance”, as well as about the outstanding abilities of his mother, who served as a program announcer All-Union Radio. After graduating from school, where Honored Teacher of the USSR Leonid Milgram taught, Agranovich took courses at the capital's Presence Theater Studio and got a job at the Mosfilm film studio.

The parents did not even think about a different turn of events and were a little surprised when Alexey abandoned all his endeavors and went into the army in 1988. However, military service did not change the genetic predisposition to art. Having been demobilized, Alexey began to freely attend directing and acting classes at VGIK with teachers Sergei Solovyov and Valery Rubinchik.

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Alexey Agranovich in his youth
Later, Agranovich improved his acquired skills at the course of the famous Armen Dzhigarkhanyan and Albert Filozov and played the role of Treplov in the student graduation production of Chekhov's The Seagull. During his studies, Agranovich actively participated in organizing youth projects and trained at the student film festival for several years.

Childhood

Victoria Tolstoganova was born into a family of Moscow intellectuals and received an appropriate upbringing. From early childhood she was quite independent and smart. Her parents did not take very good care of her. At three years old, the girl was already reading quite well. At four, her mother could let her go to the library, which was located in their house, and not worry about anything happening to her. The girl was not afraid to stay at home alone. Until the age of 9, Vika was the only child in the family, but later three more daughters were born, whom the girl had to take care of, since she was the older sister. The children were friendly and independent, they loved animals.

This is what Vika Tolstoganova looked like in her childhood and adolescence

Parents and children worked a lot. They were not scolded if they brought home kittens or puppies in need of help. Mother and father tolerated the fact that their city apartment sometimes resembled a shelter for homeless animals. They believed that it was communication with animals and the desire to take care of them that made girls kinder and more humane.

This is interesting!

One of the four Tolstoganov sisters, Margarita, followed in Victoria’s footsteps and also became an actress.

From childhood, Vika knew how to achieve her goals, be persistent where it was necessary to show character, and strive to be the first in everything. If during a physical education lesson she decided to reach the finals first, then even a nosebleed could not stop her.

At the same time, the girl was very romantic and amorous.

Perhaps it was thanks to her romantic mood that she had a dream of becoming an actress. Until graduation, she attended a theater group several times a week, where she studied performing arts, and later, having received a certificate, she entered preparatory courses at the Moscow Art Theater. The girl was able to get into GITIS only on the third attempt. In addition, she entered VGIK. These were the first decisive steps in the creative biography of Victoria Tolstoganova, the future bright star of the television screen.

Creation

The first page of Alexey’s adult biography was a project related to modern rock music. In 1995, after organizing the DDT concert in the capital, the VGIK graduate became the official representative of the St. Petersburg group and for a year he was staging a show for Yuri Shevchuk and the company.

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Alexey Agranovich and Mikhail Zhvanetsky
At the same time, Agranovich worked with the Novosibirsk team “Kalinov Bridge” and played in a private enterprise called “Anton Chekhov Theater”. Appearing on stage in Leonid Grigorievich Trushkin’s play “Underground,” the young man found time to study marketing. In 1994-1995, torn between creative projects and an actor’s career, Alexey was also involved in controlling productions in the capital’s advertising industry.

Having gained some experience, Agranovich started an independent business and opened a production studio on the basis of the Shar animation studio, where he continued to follow the beaten path, managing the organization of entertainment and special events.

Alexey Agranovich (still from the film “Recluse”)

When the work of the new company ceased to require constant attention, Alexey returned to acting and joined the troupe of the Quartet I theater, created by graduates of the GITIS variety department in 1993. There, the artist regularly appeared in the plays “It's Just Cliches,” “La Comedy, or We Will Entertain You by All Means That Are Good!”, “Acting Games” and “Comedy Club.”

A tall young man (height 186 cm, weight 78 kg) fit perfectly into the creative team and became an excellent stage partner for Rostislav Khait, Leonid Barats, Kamil Larin and Alexander Demidov. Alexei was connected with these comedians not only by the theater: in the late 2000s, friends invited him to play a small role in the author’s film “Quartet I” “What Men Talk About.”

Alexey Agranovich (still from the series “Particle of the Universe”)

In general, Agranovich made his debut in Russian cinema back in 1994 in Eldar Urazbaev’s mystical thriller “Hagi-Tragger”, and later played a number of episodes in the films “Recluse”, “Marriage of Convenience”, “Myths”, “NO-ONE”, “Dovlatov” "and the TV series "Black Room", "Ivan the Terrible", "Natural Selection" and "Particle of the Universe".

In addition, Alexey tried to work as a film director and added to his filmography with the films “Gogol Street” in 2006 and “Glavkniga” in 2015. Despite such activity, Agranovich still had free hours in his work schedule, which he devoted to television. In 2003, he hosted the Russian Football program, and in 2007 he became the head of the entertainment programs department on the STS channel.

However, over time, Agranovich got tired of playing according to written scripts, and he again found himself at the helm, returning to organizing and staging large-scale events.

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Alexey Agranovich with his daughter Varvara at the premiere of the film “The Comedian”
Since 2009, the public has greeted with admiration and gratitude the TEFI award ceremony, the “Person of the Year” and “White Square” awards, Danila Kozlovsky’s show “The Big Dream of an Ordinary Man” and the theatrical performance at the opening of Russian festivals "Kinotavr" and "Edge of the World".

These works made Agranovich famous and in demand. In 2017, the producer was invited to chair the jury of the Arctic Open film competition, and 3 years earlier he was returned to the theater and nominated for the Golden Mask prize for his role as Pyotr Aduev in the play Gogol.

First steps, finding yourself

The first work in the acting filmography of Alexei Agranovich was a short film called “Fragile” based on a musical composition by Sting. His partner then, in 1994, was Marina Blake, and Alexey himself acted in this work not only as an actor, but also as a director and scriptwriter.

This talented short film was awarded a special prize at the Moscow festival “St. Anna”. Just a few months later, the young actor was lucky enough to play a role in an episode in the thriller “Huggy Tragger,” where his colleagues on the set were Evgeny Stychkin and Alexander Porokhovshchikov.

In parallel with this, he began collaborating as a producer with the DDT group - Agranovich was involved in organizing concert activities and staging shows for this legendary group from 1994 to 1995.

During the same period, he collaborated with the famous team from Novosibirsk “Kalinov Most”.

Not forgetting about the stage, the young talented man plays in Leonid Grigoryevich Trushkin’s enterprise play “Underground” and plays the main role of Treplev in “The Seagull” (directed by A. Filozov, Anton Chekhov Theater).

In 1996, Alexey, having received the necessary production experience, created his own, which specializes in organizing and holding special events, holidays and collaborates with the animation studio "Shar". Acting activity is gradually being replaced by active directing and expressing oneself in the production business. Even in his youth, at VGIK, Agranovich enthusiastically organized a student film festival. Now, having his own production company, Alexey was able to fully reveal his organizational skills.

Personal life

In the early 2010s, the second wife of producer and director Agranovich became the popular Russian actress Victoria Tolstoganova, known for the films “The Ballad of the Bomber” and “Moving Up”.

In 2011, the couple had a son, Ivan, who became a half-brother to Vika’s children from her first marriage, Varvara and Fedor.

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A post shared by Alexey Agranovich (@alexey_agranovich) on Feb 3, 2020 at 11:00am PST

Victoria Tolstoganova and Alexey Agranovich
Alexey loves noisy companies and invites about a hundred friends to his own birthday. At the same time, in the process of work, he renounces his personal life and society and plunges headlong into creativity.

In an interview with Atmosphere magazine, the director of Kinotavr admitted that he loves his family very much and dreams of growing old in their company in the lap of nature in the mountains of Georgia.

Alexey Agranovich now

Agranovich returned to the acting profession. On March 1, 2020, the premiere of the film “The Comedian” took place, where Alexey played the role of the popular Soviet comedian Boris Arkadyev.

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Alexey Agranovich and Fyodor Bondarchuk in 2020
Proud of his own work, the artist of the Quartet I theater published a number of promotional photos on Instagram and other social networks and, together with director Mikhail Idov, was present on the air of the Evening Urgant program.

In addition, Oksana Karas’ melodrama “Above the Sky” is being prepared for release, where Agranovich and Tolstoganova played a married couple caught in the center of criminal events.