Many television viewers love Russian comedies for their subtle humor, the ability to harmlessly but very accurately ridicule the shortcomings of modern man, identify problem areas and, through laughter, make a person think about pressing problems. This genre of cinema can not only relax a tired person, but also suggest a way out of some difficult situations.
Many TV viewers probably remember Russian comedies called “Radio Day”, “Election Day”, “What Men Talk About” and “What Else Men Talk About”. All these films were shot under the leadership of a humorous group called “Quartet I”. One of the participants in this project is actor Leonid Barats. His childhood and career development will be discussed in this article.
Childhood years: jazz as a passion
On July 18, 1971, Leonid Barats was born in a Ukrainian city called Odessa. The boy's biography begins its story in a Jewish family. Father - Grigory Isaakovich - worked as a journalist. Mom, Zoya Izrailevna, dedicated her life to teaching children in kindergarten. Leonid got his name in honor of his great-grandfather. Initially, the parents wanted to name their son Alexei. It so happened that neither the boy’s entourage nor his relatives used his real name. Everyone simply called the younger Barats Leshka.
The hero's grandmother worked as an accompanist at the opera house. Since childhood, she tried to instill in her grandson a love of art. Grandma took Leonid to the ballet, various theater performances and the opera. After some time, Leonid Barats entered a music school to study piano. Initially, all the lessons caused the restless boy only terrible boredom. Until one fine day the teacher revealed the world of jazz to him. Since then, music has become an integral part of the life of the future actor.
Early years, childhood and family of Leonid Barats
Our today's hero was born in one of the largest cities in Ukraine - Odessa. He was born and raised in a Jewish family. His father, Grigory Isaakovich, worked as a journalist. And my mother, Zoya Izrailevna, was an ordinary methodologist in kindergarten.
Leonid Barats's height is 165 sentiments
Oddly enough, from childhood, Leonid Barats’ parents wanted him to choose a creative specialty for himself. Among the main “favorites” were the professions of actor and journalist. And our today’s hero did not object to this development of events.
From an early age, he often visited his father’s work, studying the world of Soviet journalism from the inside, and at the same time attended amateur acting classes at his home school. Both of these activities - journalism and acting - were very popular with the young Odessa resident, and therefore for a long time the painful choice of profession was the main difficulty in his life.
Ultimately, the decisive factor was Leonid’s friendship with another Odessa schoolboy, Rostislav Khait. They knew each other since first grade. They attended acting classes together, and subsequently began to communicate closely outside of school. Some time later, the young actors began to make plans to conquer the Moscow theater stage. After waiting for graduation, two friends collected their simple belongings and went to enroll in GITIS. Surprisingly, the entrance exams turned out to be successful for both of them.
While studying at a theater university, Rostislav introduced Leonid to two other young actors - Kamil Larin and Alexander Demidov, who by that time already had good experience in theater and cinema. The friends began to spend a lot of time together, and subsequently decided to continue their cooperation in the future. Thus, at some point, the idea of creating a comedy theater - “Quartet I” appeared.
As part of this project, each of the participants acted not only as an actor, but also as a screenwriter and producer. All performances were created through joint efforts, and this approach very soon began to bear fruit. The first performance of the young team was directed and staged on the training stage of GITIS. However, subsequently “Quartet I” began to often perform outside the institute’s walls.
School. Friendship. Forever
At the age of seven, a boy goes to school. Rostislav Khait (also a member of Quartet I) was seated at the same desk with him. It was from that moment that a strong male friendship began. Despite strict parents and constant control, Leonid Barats became known at school as an inveterate hooligan and mischief-maker. His first and constant assistant in all mischievous matters was Slava Khait. In addition to pranks, this duo was also involved in organizational activities. Not a single party, not a single party, not a single event was complete without smart and talented schoolchildren. Both Leonid Barats and Rostislav Khait entertained the audience as best they could: there were skits, musical numbers, and jokes.
↑ Leonid Barats biography
Leonid Barats was born and raised in Odessa. This circumstance determined the vector of his life path. Odessa residents are wonderful people with a sparkling, playful sense of humor. Walk through the streets of Odessa at least once, and you will understand everything.
Lenya was the only child in the family. This left a certain imprint. Everyone dreamed of taking care of the boy and advising him something. Parents competed in displays of love.
The boy's parents wanted him to have a creative profession in the future. The father wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a journalist. Leni’s grandmother worked at the opera house, and often took her grandson to concerts that were held at her venue. She tried to instill in the boy a love of music and art.
Lenya was enrolled in a music school to play the piano. The boy did not like this idea at all. But one day, the teacher introduced his students to jazz. Our hero liked this genre so much that his love for music came naturally, and he didn’t have to instill anything else.
At school, he was friends with a future colleague, with a person with whom he would walk side by side all his life. Together with Rostislav Khait, they were the ringleaders at the school. They loved to play mischief, misbehave and joke around. Actively participated in all school events and amateur performances. Friends liked to perform in front of the public and act out skits and miniatures. Most of all, of course, the boys liked the applause of the audience.
Continuing the journey we started together
Ten years later, the friends left the stage of a friendly educational institution. They were faced with a choice: where to go. There was no talk of splitting up and studying at different institutes. In the end, the choice fell on GITIS (currently known as RATI). Having collected their bags and said goodbye to their relatives, the young men set off to conquer the capital. And, to the surprise of everyone, they did. It was 1991.
Within the walls of the educational institution, the friendship of two yesterday’s schoolchildren grew even stronger. It was here that the foundation was laid for the creation of a now popular creative association called “Quartet I”. In their last year of study, Leonid Barats and Rostislav Khait met Sergei Petreikov, Alexander Demidov and Kamil Larin. Later they became indispensable parts of the humorous project.
↑ Leonid Barats personal life
Love for Leonid came during his student years. The actor's girlfriend was Anna Kasatkina. The guys studied together at GITIS in the same group. Anna was cold towards the guy, but our hero showed persistence. In the third year, the young couple got married. We had a wedding in Odessa, in an old mansion. The actor's marriage gave birth to two daughters, Lisa and Eva. In 2020, the couple broke up. But the former spouses maintained friendly relations and are trying for the well-being of their children. Lisa studies in England, is engaged in creativity, writes poetry.
First scenario. First success
While working on the idea of creating their own theater, five friends decided to invite all students from their groups to participate in the project. Many of them zealously supported the initiatives of Barats, Khait, Larinov and Demidov. The first performance of the Comic Theater “Quartet I” took place in 1993. The project, titled “It's Just Stamps,” featured some of the work made by students in their course. However, the greatest popularity of this theater was brought by a production called “Radio Day”. In 2001, Leonid wrote the script for this performance. After some time, the production premiered. The Zuev Palace of Culture, where the first show of the play was held, was packed to capacity. The performance lasted more than two hours. However, even a long performance did not prevent the audience from fully enjoying the bright show and the talented performance of the cast. Some compositions of the musical group “Accident” were used as an arrangement. It is noteworthy that the guys performed on stage under their own names: Slava - Rostislav Khait, Sasha - Alexander Demidov, Kamil - Kamil Larinov, Lesha - Leonid Barats. The growing popularity of the production prompted the quartet to write a script for a new project.
Personal life of Leonid Barats
For many years now (since 1991), our today's hero has been married to actress Anna Kasatkina, with whom he once studied at GITIS. In particular, she can be seen in three films of “Quartet I” at once - in the films “Radio Day”, “What Men Talk About” and “What Else Men Talk About”. The happy couple have two children - Elizaveta (born 1994) and Eva (born 2003).
Leonid Barats and his wife Anna Kasatkina have two daughters.
In everyday life, Leonid Barats likes to play music (the actor plays the piano well) and also plays football. His political views are also well known. In particular, our today's hero has repeatedly taken part in protests against the Putin government, and also openly criticized some bills.
Continuing a successful start
In 2002, a continuation of the first part of the play, entitled “Election Day,” was published. This time Sergei Petreikov, Rostislav Khait and Leonid Barats worked on the script. The artists' filmography was soon also replenished with their first recordings. In 2007 and 2008, filmed comedies based on scripts already written for the theater, “Radio Day” and “Election Day,” were released. Talented actors performed already well-known roles in these films. They were joined by Nonna Grishaeva, Maxim Vitorgan, the Beavers group and some other famous artists.
After some time, Leonid Barats creates a script for a play called “Conversations of Middle-Aged Men.” The production, performed by the most talented guys from the Quartet I theater, is a wild success. In 2010, the film “What Men Talk About” was released, the script for which was the previous production. In addition to well-known actors, Nina Ruslanova, Oleg Menshikov, Andrei Makarevich, Zhanna Friske and others took part in the filming of the film.
Biography
Born into a Jewish family. Father - Grigory Isaakovich Barats, journalist. Mother - Zoya Izrailevna Barats, methodologist in kindergarten. In 1978, he studied at one of the Odessa schools together with Rostislav Khait, who became his colleague in Quartet I.
In 1993 he graduated from the variety department of GITIS, then the artistic director was V. Korovin. In the same year, Khait introduced him to Alexander Demidov, by that time an experienced actor, as well as Kamil Larin and director Sergei Petreikov. As a result, Quartet I was formed.
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Further activities
Lyosha (as his friends and employees used to call him) in 2001 tried himself as a screenwriter, writing the play “Radio Day”.
The performance lasted two and a half hours and the audience really liked it. In 2002, it was decided to write a continuation of the play - “Election Day”. This time the script was written by Leonid Barats, Rostislav Khait and Sergei Petreikov.
The main characters in “Election Day” were the same as in “Radio Day” - Lyosha (Barats), Slava (Hait), Kamil (Larin), Sasha (Demidov), Misha (Kozyrev), Max (Vitorgan) and Nonna (Grishaeva).
Film adaptations of these comedies were released in 2007 and 2008.
Family status
Since 1991, he has been married to actress Anna Kasatkina (plays Anya in the film “Radio Day”, the wife of a businessman in the film “What Men Talk About” and the wife of Pasha, the hero of Alexei Makarov, in the film “What Else Men Talk About”), has two daughters : the eldest is Elizaveta (born in 1994), the youngest is Eva (born in 2003). He met Anna Kasatkina while playing in one of the GITIS performances.
Political Views
He took part in protests against election fraud. In December of the same year, he spoke out against the “Dima Yakovlev Law” adopted in the Duma.
Last works
In 2011, another amazing comedy called “What Else Men Talk About” was released, which, as before, stars Leonid Barats. The filmography of the cast of the “Quartet I” theater is replenished with one more entry. This film has become even more popular than the previous part. The team is currently working on a continuation of the saga of four friends.
In 2010, the premiere of the play “Faster than Rabbits” took place on the stage of the theater. Like previous works, this production delighted its participants with resounding success. On January 1, 2014, a film based on this performance was released on big screens.
Star Trek by Leonid Barats, films and theater
Our today's hero began performing in Quartet I in 1993. During this period, Leonid Barats was able to feel like a popular theater actor for the first time. The public always came with pleasure to all the performances of the group. Famous critics also favored him.
Thus, in just a few years, the comedy project “Quartet I” became very popular in Moscow and beyond. In the mid-nineties, actors began to tour Russian cities for the first time. Some time later, tours of CIS cities were also added to this.
As for the work of Leonid Barats directly, in this context it is worth noting that it was he who made the most tangible contribution to the success of the team. Having written the script for the play “Radio Day,” he proved himself to be a talented playwright, thereby predetermining the overall success of “Quartet I.” Quartet I - Leonid Barats about Prokhorov and the elections The production for many years became the main hit in the repertoire of the comedy theater. Actually, it was with her that the triumphant ascent of the young group to the heights of the theater stage began. The glory of “Quartet I” was also strengthened by the play “Election Day”, which became a logical continuation of the first part. The author of the script for the new project is again Leonid Barats. Other actors took part only in some adjustments to the original text.
In 2008 and 2009, cinematic adaptations of both performances were also released. The films “Radio Day” and “Election Day” were a great success at the box office, and soon the fame of “Quartet I” became even more global. Such Russian stars as Sergei Shnurov, Leva and Shura Bi-2, Andrei Makarevich and others took part in the films.
Subsequently, Leonid Barats starred in two more films based on the previous performances of the Quartet - “What Men Talk About” and “What Else Men Talk About.” In addition, in the 2000s, our today’s hero appeared on screen in several music videos (for songs by Svetlana Roerich, the groups “Agatha Christie”, “Bravo” with Valery Syutkin and “Combination”).
Another “optional” job for the talented native of Ukraine was also the work on dubbing various American cartoons. So, in particular, Rhino from the cartoon “Volt” and Darwin from the animated film “Pirates” speak in the voice of Leonid. A bunch of losers." Concluding the topic of “animated” creativity, we note that Leonid Barats is also the author of the script for the cartoon “Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf.”
Personal life of the actor
In the first film of Quartet I, entitled “Radio Day,” the graceful Anna Kasatkina plays. She is the wife of Leonid Barats. They met at the institute in their first year and three years later they tied the knot. Anna Kasatkina took an active part in the creation and development of the Quartet I theater. It is noteworthy that the woman is several years older than her husband. However, this in no way affects the happy family life of the couple. The first daughter Elizaveta was born in 1994 - a year after the wedding of Anna and Leonid. She tried herself in journalism, but she did not like this field. Currently, Lisa is studying abroad at a private institution. In 2003, a second daughter, Eva, was born. Despite her young age, she has already made her debut in the film “Faster than Rabbits.” Leonid's wife is raising children and sometimes acts in films with her husband.
Family crisis and divorce
Not immediately, but success came to Barats and his friends, and prosperity appeared in the family. By that time, the actor’s second daughter, Eva (born in 2003), was born, but his relationship with his wife suddenly began to deteriorate. Anna and Leonid associated their family crises with their inability to express complaints to each other and discuss problems. Both were always closed and vulnerable by nature, accustomed to keeping everything to themselves. For Barats, an excellent solution was the scripts for his future plays and films, where the heroes of “Quartet I” talk a lot about gender relations. Through the lines of fictional characters, he spoke about family problems and raised sensitive topics that he could not discuss with his wife.
By the way, Anna also found roles in the Quartet I theater. She and Leonid were inseparable at work and at home for more than 20 years. We overcame family crises several times, but by 2020, the resources for restoring relationships had been exhausted. The couple made the difficult decision to divorce. The couple's children took this news very hard. The eldest daughter studied in England, and the youngest just entered adolescence. Their grievances and disappointment brought the actor a lot of mental anguish, but he tried to prove to the girls that parting with their mother would not affect the strength of their father’s love. Of course, not immediately, the children understood this and came to terms with the new circumstances.
With Daughter Lisa
Barats tries to maintain normal human relations with his ex-wife as they continue to work together in the theater. Although it can still be difficult at times to completely switch to a new format of relationships. The actor doesn’t even know how he will react if Anna has another man, although he himself has not been alone for long.
