early years
Lika was born on March 5, 1963 in Kazan into an acting family, where her parents worked at that time. His father, Honored Artist of the RSFSR Alexey Efimovich Simkovich, played in many theaters for young spectators in the Soviet Union. Mom usually worked in the same troupes, only in the pedagogical departments, since she had a teacher’s education. Her father named her Liana, but from birth everyone, including himself, began to call her Lika. Alexey Efimovich even advised changing the name in the passport, but she did not do it. As the actress herself says, she tries to avoid change whenever possible. Because there were plenty of them in the biography of Lika Nifontova as a child.
My father was in constant creative search, often changing his job along with his place of residence. The family wandered after him throughout the large Soviet homeland. After Kuibyshev, they moved to Volgograd, then to Tbilisi, where Lika studied a little at a choreographic school. Lika graduated from high school in Rostov-on-Don.
Getting to know the profession
The first role in the biography of Lika Nifontova happened when she was only three years old; she no longer remembers who she portrayed. At that time, my parents worked at the Samara Youth Theater, my father was an actor and director, my mother was an employee of the pedagogical department. Therefore, little Lika was given one of the roles at the New Year's party, and it was then that she first became acquainted with the stage. The girl was in high school when she told her parents that she decided to become an actress. The father was not particularly happy about this, but he did not create any obstacles. As Lika Nifontova later recalled in her biography, she lived behind the scenes since childhood and never thought about another profession. With such a life, all roads led to the theater.
After graduating from school, Lika entered the theater school named after. B.V. Shchukin, where she studied in the workshop of A. Burov. In 1984, she successfully graduated from the university, having played in the graduation performances “Man from the Star”, “School of Scandal”, “Forever Living” and “Barbarians”.
The talent and character of the actress
Critics wrote that Rufina Nifontova has unbridled talent. Beautiful, stately, with a bewitching look of emerald eyes and a cello voice. Many claimed that she had a complex character, daring. She was not afraid to tell the truth even to the almighty Tsarev.
The main occupation of her life was the theater, although she starred in more than 40 films. Surprisingly, even in supporting roles, she was memorable. The actress was especially amazing when she paused in the frame. She conveyed a person’s emotions only with her gaze: appraising or slightly mocking.
Rufina Nifontova endured creative downtime as hard as a terrible disease. Not only the lack of demand depressed her, but also the very fact that she had to receive unearned wages. It was a hard blow.
One theater forever
The first and only theater in Lika Nifontova’s biography is Satyricon, where she came immediately after theater school and is still working. She was probably lucky here too; she met her director, Konstantin Raikin. He believed in the aspiring actress, giving first supporting roles, and then main ones. This was a difficult period in the biography of Lika Nifontova, a time of improvement in acting. It came during the period of formation of a new repertoire, when the Satyricon troupe gave performances on different stages for 4 years. Because the theater building was under reconstruction.
The audience warmly welcomed the appearance of actress Lika Nifontova in the productions of “Hercules and the Augean Stables” (in the role of Defnir), “The London Show” (Miss Higgins) and “The Imaginary Invalid” (Toinette). She contributed a piece of her talent to the success of these performances. Critics noted the amazing naturalness and subtle understanding of the psychology of the images created. The unforgettable characters of Mirandolina from the play “The Hostess of the Inn,” Mrs. Baker from “Such Free Butterflies” and Kukushkina from “A Profitable Place” were warmly received by the audience.
Several performances in the theatrical biography of Lika Nifontova were performed together with Konstantin Raikin. These were “What is our life?”, where she played the Actress and “Signor Todero - the Master”, in the role of Fortunata. Critics wrote especially in excellent terms about the last performance. The bright production of Goldoni's comedy was remembered by the public not only for Raikin in the role of Todero, but also for the impressive performance of Nifontova.
Lika Nifontova's work in the theater
Immediately after graduating from Shchuka, the young actress began working at the Satyricon Theater. She was very lucky; Konstantin Raikin, who at that time was just forming Satyricon, believed in the aspiring artist, and he invited her to join the troupe. During her service in this theater, she played many roles, both main and supporting roles. The peculiarity of the actress is that, regardless of the role, she always plays with talent and from the heart.
Nifontova took part in work on such productions as “The Imaginary Invalid”, “What is Our Life?”, “Hercules and the Augean Stables”. In the play “The Naked King” the actress played the first lady of the court, and in “The Landlady of the Inn” she played Mandolin. She played Mrs. Baker in Such Free Butterflies and Gertrude in Hamlet.
Everyone who works with Nifontova speaks of her as an actress who has the ability to surprisingly truthfully play the main roles, minor roles, and extras.
Lika Nifontova played not only in films, but also in the theater. Konstantin Raikin considers Nifontova an actress of a wide range, with a bright dramatic talent. Even when appearing as an extra, she knows how to be the best. Nifontova was Arkady Raikin’s partner in such performances as “Faces”, “What is our life?”, “Signor Todero the Master”.
Currently, the actress plays in productions of the current repertoire of her native theater. She appears on stage in “Profitable Place” in the role of Kukushkina, in the play “Money” in the role of Fetinya Mironovna, and in “The Seagull” Nifontova plays Polina Andreevna.
Family tandem
The best film roles in Lika Nifontova’s biography were in the films of her husband Sergei Ursulyak. In his diploma work “Russian Ragtime” she received a small role as the Stranger. For both of them, this was their first work in cinema. Then there were supporting roles in his next films “Summer People” based on Gorky’s play “Summer Residents” and “Essay for Victory Day”.
She became famous in 2007 after starring in a detective series about post-war Odessa. Lika Nifontova in “Liquidation” received the role of Nora, the girlfriend of the main character, brilliantly played by Vladimir Mashkov. The film became a real bestseller; colorful dialogues and statements quickly became “popular” quotes.
Actress Lika Nifontova invariably got work in Ursulyak’s subsequent films - from small roles, as in the TV series “Quiet Don” and “Isaev”, to the wife of the main character in the film “Life and Fate”.
With other directors
In the relatively small filmography of Lika Nifontova, there are two films where she starred with other directors. In Dmitry Iosifov’s film “Departing Nature” in 2014, she received one of the main roles - Natalia. The film about a classic love triangle was well received by viewers, who noted its unusual sincerity and warmth.
In Tatyana Yankevich's film Akme, she plays Galina, the harried, often irritated wife of the main character. With a small budget, the film managed to reliably show complex human relationships. I especially liked Lika Nifontova’s performance; her heroine, despite life’s difficulties, retained her young soul and thirst for happiness.
Present tense
The theatrical biography of Lika Nifontova is at its peak; in 2017, the premiere of the play “Vanya and Sonya, and Masha and the Nail,” staged by Konstantin Raikin based on the play by Christopher Durang, took place. In the production she played the role of Masha, one of the main ones. Last year, she received one of the roles at the Modern Theater, where the premiere of the production of “Matryoshkas on the Roundness of the Earth” based on the work of Yuri Grymov took place.
In the near future, actress Lika Alekseevna Nifontova has plans to work in the second season of “Liquidation.” The script is now being finalized and the shooting location is being determined.
Lika Nifontova now
In 2020, Lika Nifontova received the main role in the new play of her native Satyricon. The actress plays Masha in the play based on the play by American playwright Christopher Durang “Vanya and Sonya and Masha and the Nail,” which was staged by the theater’s artistic director Konstantin Raikin. The play tells the story of Americans whose literary parents named them after Chekhov's heroes.
Actress Lika Nifontova
In the summer of 2020, the question arose about filming the second season of the series “Liquidation,” where the actress played the role of the partner of the main character Gotsman. The film's general producer Ruben Dishdishyan confirmed the film crew's intention to work on a sequel to the popular detective story.
It was planned to continue filming in Odessa, but it turned out that Vladimir Mashkov was included in the Ukrainian “black” lists and became prohibited from entering the territory of Ukraine. After the producer wrote about this on social networks, proposals began to come in to move the filming. The President of the International Motivational Film Festival in Rostov, actor and director Oleg Taktarov proposed filming the second season of “Liquidation” in Rostov and promised his own help and support.
Today, the second season is only at the stage of working on the script, and the exact filming location has not yet been officially determined.
Lika Nifontova in the play “Matryoshkas on the Roundness of the Earth”
In November 2020, the premiere of “Matryoshkas on the Roundness of the Earth” by Yuri Grymov took place at the Modern Theater. The plot of the play is filled with drama and a non-trivial view of life, fate and death. The production is filled with some darkness and anguish, but at the same time it is dedicated to bright and noble human feelings.
The production is based on the storylines of three desperate women, tired of life, each of whom, for one reason or another, decided to go to the next world. At the same time, women are not driven by the fear of life or the desire to escape from problems - not by an independent desire to die. The main characters want to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of those whom they loved and love: one for the sake of her son, the other for the sake of her husband, the third for the sake of her beloved.
The title roles in the production were performed by People's Artist of Russia Lika Nifontova, as well as Maria Orlova and Nadezhda Menshova.
Lika Nifontova
The men in this production played more pedestrian roles. But the performance of Honored Artists of Russia Leonid Tregub and Vladimir Levashev, Alexander Gorelov, Denis Ignatov, Viktor Potapeshkin, Alexey Bagdasarov and Shamil Mukhamedov also received a positive assessment from the audience.
Theatergoers appreciated the philosophical meaning of the production, the elaborate costumes and scenery, and the authentic images, and the final monologue made a number of spectators in the audience cry.
Personal life of Lika Nifontova
She got married for the first time when she was still studying at the theater institute. At the same time she became Nifontova, taking the surname of her husband, actor Yuri Nifontov. They worked together with Sergei Ursulyak at the Satyricon Theater (at that time he was still an actor). He was married to an actress from the same theater, Galina Nadirli, and a little daughter, Alexandra, was growing up in the family. Yuri, Sergei and Galina studied in the same course at the Shchukin School. An office romance that broke out destroyed two families.
Since 1986, Lika Nifontova has been Ursulyak’s wife; at first they lived in a civil marriage. Then, without unnecessary fuss, they signed in one of the Moscow registry offices. Having left comfortable housing, they wandered around rented apartments for a long time. For some time they even lived with Mikhail Shirvindt, with whom they maintained friendly relations. Then, thanks to the efforts of the theater director Konstantin Raikin, we got a room in a dormitory.
Despite her difficult work schedule, due to the fact that she is busy with many performances and filming, Lika strives to do household chores herself. Lika is a good cook and often manages to clean the house. When she has rehearsals in the theater and filming, Lika, according to her, gets very nervous. Because she thinks that due to her busy schedule, she doesn’t spend enough time with her family.
Rufina Nifontova died after being boiled alive in boiling water
This stunning actress has always amazed me with her unique beauty. Now the names of the films in which she starred will no longer say anything, but her face will remain in the memory of viewers for a long time. But few would have thought that she would end her life so horribly. In general, Nifontova had two disadvantages - her quarrelsome character and the constant feeling that some kind of disaster would happen...
In her youth, the rare name Rufina was complemented by the surname Pitade, which she changed upon marriage. Since school age, this red-haired girl stood out among everyone with her character. She had a boyish look. And in the area she was famous as a real hooligan, more than once expelled from school and having been taken to the police. At school, she was reinstated every time for her acting talent. She was the first star in the school drama club. True, even there one had to keep one’s ears open with her. Once she played Romeo and in a fit of “passion” she almost ran over the girl who played Juliet. Her grip was strong. All these children's fun was cut short by the war, to which the brothers went. One of them went missing, the other died. Only the third, twin brother Slava, was spared by the war due to his age. Rufina always had a very close relationship with him, a strong karmic connection, they felt each other at a distance... “Rufina always wanted to be an actress, but she entered VGIK thanks to the pity of one teacher,” recalled her friend Rimma Suloeva. “Having failed the exams, she cried in the corridor, he came up to her and listened to her trouble. By the way, it was Boris Bibikov, who in the film “Come Tomorrow” similarly pitied Frosya Burlakova, who was late for her exams...
Already at the institute there were monstrous rumors about Rufina. For example, that she is a supporter of same-sex love. True, her friend claims that she was just friends with passion, too, and not everyone understood this... Be that as it may, in her second year at the institute, Rufina married director Gleb Nifontov, who was ten years older than her. He became her first and only husband. True, according to colleagues, this marriage was based on understanding on his part. The actress was always in love with someone and had affairs. But they all quickly ended, and she continued to live with the family.
After graduation, Rufina was accepted to work at the Maly Theater. There she came to court and was somehow immediately given many significant roles. That's just the character...
“I took it, for example, and sprinkled dust on the administrator’s suit!” – theater colleagues recall. - They held a friendly trial. Like, why did she do this? And she says: “Don’t you know what dust is for? To destroy parasites...” So she made enemies for herself.
Everyone knew that Nifontova had no problem speaking the truth in the face of her presumptuous colleague or calling the director an obscene word. She could even go as far as assault. Some people understood this spontaneity, while others plotted to get it out of the theater. And in the end it was a success. The main director Maly was convinced that a self-respecting theater could not work with this crazy woman. And Nifontova was relegated to minor roles...
Thus began a bad period in her life, which never ended... Her relatives, to be honest, did not support her. The husband was already so accustomed to his wife’s mood swings that he didn’t take anything seriously. Daughter Olga graduated from VGIK and followed in her father’s footsteps. But she chose an unworthy man to play the role of husband - he drank and treated his wife extremely rudely. The parents first broke off relations with their daughter, then, when their grandson Misha was born, they were forced to accept such a son-in-law into the family... Then Rufina Dmitrievna lost two close people at once. First, her niece (the daughter of her twin brother) was brutally killed, and Rufina was afraid that something would happen to Slava himself; her heart would not stand it. And so it happened. He died in the bathroom - he had a heart attack. Only two days later they missed him and broke down the door... Seeing the terrible picture, Rufina said doomedly: “I, too, will die in the bathroom...”
“She always had a presentiment of her tragic fate,” says her friend. “And this knowledge that the end would be bad poisoned her life for many years.”
After the death of her brother, with whom some part of her soul left, Nifontova began to drink. And this despite the fact that she was actually intolerant to alcohol. The actress was “blown away” after one hundred grams, and she didn’t understand what she was doing. Nevertheless, she drank again and again to numb the pain... As if in a dream, she experienced the death of her husband, who died in a car accident. He was returning from his daughter’s, where he had a big row with his son-in-law. He went on another binge and was rude to his father-in-law. On the way, Gleb Ivanovich became ill with his heart, and he drove under the wheels of a MAZ. A few days after the funeral, the actress fell at home, hit her temple, and had to call an ambulance.
“I’m going to die soon anyway, it’s useless to do anything,” she told the doctors doomedly in the presence of her friend.
And indeed, that same fall, in November 1994, the actress died. Arriving from the dacha to the city apartment, she felt that she was chilled to the bone. She turned on the hot water in the bathroom, and boiling water poured from the tap... Feeling weak while the bath was running, the actress lay down on the bed and... lost consciousness. Several hours passed before boiling water flooded the bathroom, the corridor, and then the bedroom, the water rose... Who knows if the actress came to her senses at the last moment? Be that as it may, she, as she had foreseen, died from the water. Only, unlike her brother, death was even more terrible - she was literally boiled in boiling water! A day passed, and the water kept pouring and pouring... Boiling water began to drip from the neighbors’ ceiling. When the door was broken down, people were scalded - boiling water poured into the stairwell in a powerful stream... They buried the actress in an open coffin, but they threw lace over her face - the same one in which she once played the main role in the play “Summer Residents”.
Maria Dmitrieva.
Family dynasty
In 1989, Lika Alekseevna Nifontova gave birth to a daughter, Daria, who is now friends with her half-sister Alexandra Ursulyak. The family does not discriminate between the girls; according to Leakey, they are both full members of a close-knit family, and the father supports both daughters. Alexandra immediately decided on her choice of profession; now she is a famous theater and film actress.
Daria, whose choice of profession her parents tried not to influence, after graduating from school she entered the Faculty of History and Philology of the Russian State University for the Humanities. After studying for four years, the girl told her parents that she also wanted to try to become an actress. She submitted documents to all theater institutes in Moscow, and passed the competition in all of them. Daria chose the Shchukin School, where her parents studied. While still a student, she began acting in performances at the Theatre. Vakhtangov and at Satyricon, where he currently works. Like her mother, she managed to star in several films by Ursulyak.
