Biography
Smekhova Alika Veniaminovna is a famous Russian actress, as well as a singer and TV presenter.
Since 2008 she has been an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. Alika was born in Moscow into a creative family. The girl's father was the well-known and popular artist Veniamin Borisovich Smekhov (born in 1940). In the Soviet Union, he became a favorite actor among audiences thanks to his role as Athos in the film “D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers.” Alika's mother, Alla Alexandrovna (born in 1940), studied at two universities.
Childhood and youth
First, she graduated from the Institute of Food Industry, and later, on the advice of Evgeniy Leonov’s wife, she entered GITIS at the Faculty of Theater Studies. She was the administrator of the Film Actor's Theater, and also worked as a radio commentator and television journalist. In addition to Alika, the family also raised an older sister, whose name was Lena.
From an early age, the girl dreamed of becoming a pop singer. Various creative personalities were frequent guests in their family: Liliya Brik, Yuri Senkevich and others. The girl grew up as a mischievous child. She loved to climb trees, ride a bicycle and fight with her peers. Mostly her friends were boys.
Alika went to a simple metropolitan secondary school No. 31, where she studied well. This educational institution offered in-depth study of the English language. The girl also attended classes at the music school and theater studio of Vyacheslav Spesivtsev on Krasnaya Presnya. In addition, she studied in a ceramics group. I was interested in writing poems. At the age of nine, Alika starred in the popular magazine “Yeralash,” which served as an invaluable experience for her. And also in the program “Alarm Clock” with his father.
When the girl was 14 years old, her parents divorced. For Alika, this news came as a shock. The girl's mother limited her communication with her father. After graduating from secondary school, Alika entered the Academy of Theater Arts, majoring in musical theater actor. At the same time, the girl began recording vocal compositions. In 1991, Alika graduated from GITIS and became a certified actress.
Alika Smekhova
Alika (full name Alla) Smekhova was born on March 27, 1968 in Moscow. Her father is the famous actor Veniamin Smekhov, and her mother, Alla Alexandrovna, is a journalist, worked as a radio editor and commentator in a literary and dramatic editorial office, and currently works as the head of the literary department at the Romen Theater.
Despite the family's fame, the girls (Alika has an older sister, Elena) had an almost completely unstarred childhood - and now they remember those happy times with gratitude and warmth. “Like all children, I went to a labor camp, weeded beets and then earned money to buy jeans. She hosted programs for high school students on the radio and received a fee of five rubles. I had my own pocket money, and didn’t ask my parents. Yes, they wouldn’t have given them to me - they weren’t that rich.”
The only thing that distinguished her from ordinary children was attending a good school where the children of famous people studied - Alika studied at school No. 31 (now Gymnasium No. 1520 named after the Kaptsovs) with in-depth study of the English language. Along with this, the girl studied in music and dance clubs, went to the Vyacheslav Spesivtsev Theater-Studio on Krasnaya Presnya (now the Moscow Youth Theater on Krasnaya Presnya), studied in a ceramics club and wrote poetry.
However, the father’s occupation could not but affect the life of his family. “I have always been in the company of amazing people about whom books are now being written. Lilya Brik, Vadim Sidur, Yuri Senkevich, Yuri Vizbor...". With the families of Oleg Tabakov and Mikhail Kozakov, the Smekhov family rested in creative houses. This influence turned out to be beneficial - Alika not only satisfied her curiosity by communicating with extraordinary personalities, but also developed in many ways, especially honing her skills in verbal elegance, because among her parents they always spoke only excellent Russian.
The choice of a future profession was most likely influenced by the genes of both her father and mother - it was not without reason that the girl’s hobbies from childhood were of a creative nature.
Alika Smekhova once often repeated that her main vocation was singing: having graduated from the Russian Academy of Theater Arts (GITIS) in 1991 with a degree in musical theater actor, she always dreamed of working in the musical genre, however, as life shows, all of her aspirations were subordinated to the main goal - the desire to be on stage, and no matter in what role, singer or actress.
Alika’s debut role on the silver screen was the role of a director’s assistant in the lyrical comedy “Insurance Agent” by Alexander Mayorov, a story about one day in the life of insurance agent Vissarion Bulkin. In this film, the actress played together with such famous actors as Alexander Abdulov and Semyon Farada.
Having played episodic roles in Karen Shakhnazarov's film "Courier" and the joint Soviet-Japanese film "Step", as well as the role of a gypsy from Filimon's gang in the film "Accelerator", Alika Smekhova played in a number of melodramas, such as "Woman of the Day", "Love" with privileges”, “Woman with flowers and champagne”, “Tango on Palace Square”, “My Prince” (in this film the actress played the main role); Alika also, when choosing roles, gave preference to comedy and dramatic films - “Have Mercy and Forgiveness”, “Villa of Discord, or Dance of the Sun”, etc.
The actress’s bright appearance allowed her to appear in the role of a “femme fatale” - for example, in O. Zhukov’s drama “Merry Christmas in Paris!”; in the role of Zhanna Aguzarova, an eccentric bohemian girl in the 1991 film by S. Livnev “Kix”. In addition, viewers remembered the actress’s grotesque roles in Todorovsky’s drama “Hearse,” released in 1990, and the 1993 comedy “Dreams of an Idiot” by V. Pichul. Currently, the actress is actively involved in the filming of several films - “An Alias for a Hero”, “All the Beauty of Love”, “The Happiness Club”, “The Love of Hope”.
After the series “Balzac's age, or All men are their own...” Alika gained great popularity. Many, as often happens, began to identify the actress’s heroine with herself, and all of Sonya’s judgments and actions were projected onto Alika, to which she herself resolutely answered: “..My heroine has nothing to do with me. This is just the character that I played and embodied on the screen. We are similar only in that both she and I are women.” Alika Smekhova sometimes sees her friends from the series Yulia Menshova, Lada Dance and Zhanna Epple and periodically calls each other, but in real life they are not friends. To the journalist’s tricky question whether all men are really “theirs...”, Alika answered in tone with the question: “I just don’t express myself that way. But it seems to me that the question already has an answer. Why talk about this anymore?
Our heroine was incredibly lucky in life, because within her real reach she always had such a maestro as her father Veniamin Smekhov, who with his successes in cinema and theater set an example for many, and in particular for Alika. Father and daughter worked together on the Kultura channel, where they made a teleplay based on Moliere “The Reluctant Doctor.” They played together on stage, and Veniamin Smekhov also acted as a director. In addition, they starred in the series “Balzac’s Age, or All Men Are Theirs...”, where they had a small scene together - Veniamin Smekhov played the role of the boyfriend of Sonya, the heroine of his daughter. While giving an interview, Alika said that they had plans for a joint program, the project of which they were just thinking about.
A couple of years after graduating from university, having starred in several little-known films, Alika remembered her old hobby - music and vocals. Having tried to make a career on the stage, in fairness it should be noted that Alika Smekhova achieved considerable success, recording four solo albums from 1996 to 2002 and being one of the most famous performers in Russian show business in the second half of the 90s (Alika’s most famous song was the composition “Don’t interrupt me!” recorded in a duet with Alexander Buinov).
But still Alika did not feel entirely comfortable, despite noticeable successes in this field. “Having found myself in a pop party, I found myself, as they say, among strangers. In the West there are wonderful artists who both play and sing. But we believe that if an artist sings, he is a singing actor. And not just a singer,” Alika says with some regret.
And recently, Alika Smekhova, following the example of her father, wrote a book, but not another stellar “culinary encyclopedia” or “success story,” but a real novel called “A and B were sitting on a pipe” - about beautiful love, passionate hatred, painful suffering and simple female happiness. The book is sincere and real, because Alika knows about all this first-hand - she has experienced everything herself.
Despite the fact that our heroine has a bright appearance and is a well-rounded personality and an interesting person to talk to, Smekhova’s personal life can hardly be called cloudless. Of course, even now she never stops seeing fans, but somehow the creation of a strong real family did not work out. From the press we know about two registered marriages of Alika, the first of which was a typical “student” marriage, and the second turned out to be fleeting, lasting only a couple of months. In addition, two so-called civil marriages are also known, and, nevertheless, Alika Smekhova is currently free. But, if we think differently, a woman’s real happiness is her children, and Alika Smekhova has two of them – 10-year-old Artyom and 3-year-old Makar. They are the main source of Alika’s pride.
One day, a famous film director told Alika that with such a nose she would hardly be able to act in domestic films. Hearing this, she even consulted with surgeons, but, thank God, she refrained from taking a stupid step in time. Now the actress is quite confident in herself and lives in harmony with her appearance. “I may not have the smallest nose. But this is my individuality,” Alika proudly declares.
Among the roles that the actress refuses on principle are roles in erotic and pornographic stories. “There is an opinion that actresses do everything through bed. No one has ever offered me one in my life! I always thought: if they offer you something like this, it means you have positioned yourself this way!” In addition, Alika is also fundamentally opposed to the roles of killers. “I always refuse roles where there is aggression, death, something dark or nasty. I absolutely don’t want to play this! As a believer, I am against aggression, so I cannot play something that is against my morality. Art should bring light to people, not darkness.”
Some time ago, the actress rediscovered Orthodoxy and, having said the words of prayer, she realized that this was the only way to isolate herself from the dangers of the outside world. “I’ve always been kind of a believer - but that’s exactly what it’s like.” And now I read religious literature, the Gospel with pleasure, with ecstasy, and find peace and answers to some questions that torment me.”
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Professional activity
Alika became a famous singer in the 90s. In 1996, the girl signed a contract with Zeko Records. In the same year, her debut solo album “I’m Really Waiting for You” was released. Among these compositions was the song “Night Taxi,” which the girl wrote at the age of 15. The only hit among the audience was the song “Come and Take Me, I Pray.”
In 1997, Alika’s duet with Alexander Buinov “Don’t interrupt me” became popular. In the late 90s, the girl created her own recording studio, Alika Smekhova. In 2002, the artist ended her singing career with the studio album “For You” and began acting.
The young actress made her first film appearance in 1985 in the comedy “The Insurance Agent,” where she played the role of director Rai’s assistant. After this project, film directors began to actively invite the girl to their films.
Alika’s filmography today includes more than 70 films and TV series. Among the famous film works of the actress are:
- “Balzac’s age, or all men are the same...”;
- "Courier";
- "Life Line";
- “The Diary of Doctor Zaitseva”;
- "Women's Day";
- “Letters on glass. Fate".
In parallel to filming films, the actress worked on television as a presenter of various projects, among them: “Lonely Hearts Agency”, “Before everyone else”, “Women do not forgive”, “Women’s Life” and others. She took part in the project “Dancing with the Stars” on the Rossiya channel.
In 2020, a detective melodrama with the participation of the actress “Presumed Innocence” was released. In the same year, Alika voiced her role in the animated film “Three Heroes and the Heir to the Throne,” and also dubbed Bonnie Hunt in the animated comedy “Cars.”
Today the actress is passionate about her musical and poetic program “Romance with Romance”. Alika performs with virtuoso guitarist Roman Zorkin, and she herself performs Russian and gypsy romances, and also reads Anna Akhmatova’s favorite poems.
With her father, the actress participates in the musical and poetic performance “Old-Fashioned Confession,” where romances and poems are performed. Alika also tours a lot throughout Russia and abroad. In 2020, the release of the comedy “Diplomat” directed by Yuri Kuzmenko is expected, where you can also see the actress.
Movies
Smekhova’s film debut took place in childhood, when little Alika took part in the filming of the popular TV magazine “Yeralash,” which revealed many young talents to the world. At that time, the girl was only 9 years old, and for her it became an invaluable experience.
Alika received her first “adult” role in 1985. The actress played the director’s young assistant Raya in the lyrical comedy “Insurance Agent.” This picture opened the young and talented actress to directors, who increasingly began to feature her in their films. A year later, Smekhova took part in the filming of the film “Courier”, slowly and surely gaining her place in the world of cinema.
Alika Smekhova in the film "Courier"
Thanks to her very bright appearance, the actress began to play girls with a bitchy character. The pinnacle of this image was the character of Smekhova from the film “Life Line,” which was released in 1996, where Alika appeared in the role of a “moth.” After this film, the actress completely focused on music and returned to cinema only 3 years later in the role of singer Angela Rudina in the film “A Thin Thing.”
Since 2001, the genre of the series has been actively developing in Russia, and actors capable of filming a lot and often were in great demand among directors. Alika was no exception and also tried her hand at cinema, taking part in the filming of Maroseyka 12.
Alika Smekhova in the series “Balzac's age, or all men are ..”
A landmark project in the artist’s career was the serial film “Balzac’s Age or All Men Are Folk..”, released in 2004. She got the role of Sofia Babitskaya, whose name in the film is simply Sonya, without casting; she was invited by the general director of the NTV channel, with whom the girl once studied at the same school. The series was an incredible success among television viewers, who watched with bated breath the lives of the 4 main characters. The picture finally cemented Alika’s image as a “fatal and bitchy woman.” At the same time, the artist repeated many times that in real life she is not at all like Sonya Babitskaya.
Alika Smekhova in the series “The Diary of Doctor Zaitseva”
Although Smekhova prefers to act in feature films, she has better luck with large serial projects. In 2011, an equally successful project with her participation, “The Diary of Doctor Zaitseva,” was released, and two years later the continuation of “Balzac’s Age...” arrived.
Personal life
Today Alika is divorced; you can read more about the artist’s personal life here. The actress got married for the first time at the age of 18. Her husband was fellow student Livnev Sergei Davidovich. He subsequently became a director. Their marriage lasted six years (1986-1992). The reason for the separation was Sergei’s reluctance to have children. At that moment, Alika really wanted them, and more than one.
The artist’s second husband was Georgy Ivanovich Bedzhamov, who was a co-owner of Vneshprombank. His nationality was Assyrian. Alika considers this relationship her mistake. The husband wanted Alika, like any other Eastern woman, to sit at home and not be creative. In this marriage, the actress lost a child from constant stress.
For a short period, Alika’s third husband was her lover, whose name was Nikolai (businessman). Having learned about the pregnancy, they got married. In 2000, the couple had a son, Artyom (born in 2000).
Alika hides the name of the man from whom the actress gave birth to her second son, Makar (born in 2007). Having learned about her situation, he cowardly ran away. The actress no longer plans to have children, believing that she has completed her motherhood program.
Both sons of the actress bear the name of their grandfather - Smekhov. Artyom is studying at the Plekhanov Institute, majoring in world economics. He also performs as a rap artist and comes up with music and lyrics. His godmother is Olga Kabo. The youngest son, Makar, attends school, attends classes in Brazilian wrestling and jiu-jitsu, and also plays the piano. The actress successfully manages to combine work and motherhood.
Personal life of Alika Smekhova
Bright appearance, a wide range of interests, and many talents probably cannot be a guarantee of a happy personal life. So for Alika, not everything is going as well as we would like in this regard. She always had enough fans, and even now there is no end to them. But it has not yet been possible to create a strong family. It is known that Smekhova had two official marriages. One of them is typically student. Alika Smekhova’s first husband is director S. Livnev. And the second marriage turned out to be too fleeting - it lasted only two months. Two more civil marriages are known, but currently the heroine of our article is single. But let’s hope that Alika Smekhova’s personal life will improve soon. She really dreams of a big and friendly family.
Interesting Facts
- The artist is an active user of social networks. Her pages can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and also has an account on Instagram.
- Alika's height is 167 cm, weight is 58 kg.
- The actress's real name, given to her at birth, is Anna. She doesn't like to celebrate her birthday. Her sister Elena is currently a writer.
- The artist is actively involved in her appearance. It has its own nutrition system and a certain daily routine. He does swimming and yoga. He brags about his good genes. Also, the actress is greatly helped by a certain lifestyle that she has been leading for the last ten years, which helps her to be healthy and attractive.
