Natalya Negoda: “I’m tired of being compared to Fanny Ardant and Isabelle Adjani!”

Brief information

Natalya Negoda, who became a Soviet sex symbol of the last century, burst into cinema with a bright heroine in the cult film “Little Vera”, but soon disappeared from domestic movie screens. How did her creative destiny develop after?

Natalya Igorevna Negoda was born in 1963 in Moscow. The girl's father was a theater artist, and her mother was a director of children's television programs.

The main milestones in the life of a film actress:

• receiving an actress diploma after graduating from the Moscow Art Theater in 1986;
• work at the Theater for Young Spectators from 1986 to 1988;
• debut in a full-length feature film in 1987;
• recognition as the best actress of the year in 1988;
• emigration and contract work in the USA from 1992 to 2007;
• return from the United States to Russia in 2007

Natalya Negoda is a symbol of perestroika. What is she doing now?

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Natalya Negoda starred in only a few films, but at the same time became a symbol of the era of perestroika.

The future actress was born in 1963 in Moscow. She graduated from the Moscow Art Theater School in 1986, after which she got a job at the Moscow Youth Theater. However, the repertoire of the children's theater did not include bright roles and Natalya soon left it. The first role in a big movie was a schoolgirl in the film “Tomorrow There Was War” based on the story by B. Vasiliev.

film “Tomorrow there was a war”

The film, although low-budget, received recognition both at home and abroad. However, Negoda did not become too famous after this film.

Little Vera

But the next film, “Little Vera,” is a phenomenon not only of Soviet cinema, but of the entire culture as a whole. Filmed in the genre of social drama, or simply put, “chernukha,” the film became a kind of classic of this trend in “perestroika” cinema.

film “Little Vera”

The heroine of Negoda showed off her naked body with all her might. Well, the audience experienced a real culture shock when they saw a scene of sexual intercourse in a Soviet film. Critics also appreciated Natalya Negoda’s acting: with “Little Vera” she won the “Best Actress” category of the year.

Later, viewers saw the young actress in a couple more films, but they were not very successful.

Natalya Negoda in the USA

Around the same time, Natalya took part in a photo shoot for Playboy magazine, becoming the first Soviet girl to appear in this magazine.

Cover of Playboy magazine

In the wake of interest, the actress moved to the USA. But she failed to make a career in Hollywood: there Negoda managed to appear only in a few low-budget films.

Return

After living in the USA for more than 10 years, Negoda returned to Moscow.

Almost immediately after her return, the actress received the main role in the film “Tambourine, Drum”. The film collected many festival awards, there was a lot of talk about it, but in general it turned out to be controversial.

For a long time after this, Negoda did not act, living modestly in a Moscow apartment. Only at the end of 2020 should a film with her participation “Van Gogh” be released.

Natalya Negoda: personal life

During her student days, the actress had a relationship with Mikhail Efremov, the son of the course director. After Natalya’s first success in “Little Vera,” the young people separated. Contrary to rumors, Negoda did not have any extra-work relationships with Andrei Sokolov, her partner in the legendary film. After moving to the USA, she married her Moscow acquaintance, who moved in with her. A few years later, the marriage broke up; currently the actress lives alone and has no children.

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Study and theater

As a child, Natasha wanted to be a ballerina, but was unable to enroll in ballet courses: school teachers considered her not slim enough. Realizing that she would never become a ballerina, the girl began to dream of film roles. The parents were against their daughter’s admission to the theater school, but Natasha, with her wayward character, could not be convinced.

The first time she failed to win over the admissions committee of the theater university. Then Natalya got a job as a tour guide at a theater museum.

In interviews with journalists, Natalya often said that working at the museum was one of the most interesting periods of her life.

Natalya Negoda began to better understand the nature of art, having gained experience from senior colleagues. Perhaps this helped her pass the entrance exams at the Moscow Moscow Art Theater School the following year.

Negoda’s creative director was the eminent director O.N. Efremov. During the course, Natasha fell in love with the son of Oleg Nikolaevich, her classmate Mikhail Efremov. The couple began a passionate but difficult relationship, which would finally end after Natalya’s resounding success in the cult film Little Vera.

The years of study flew by for Natalya unnoticed. After defending her diploma, she could not find a job for a long time. All her classmates quickly got jobs in Moscow theaters, but Negoda received refusals everywhere.

Therefore, when she was accepted into the Youth Theater troupe, she was happy. Here the girl worked for two years, playing monotonous characters in productions for children. Soon Natalya felt that she could not reveal herself as an actress. Then she decides to say goodbye to theatrical work and plunges into cinema.

Childhood and adolescence

Natalya is a native Muscovite, born into a creative, intelligent family. Father, Igor Aleksandrovich Negoda, is a theater actor. Mother, Tamara Petrovna Pavlyuchenko, is a screenwriter and director.

Child photo of Natasha Negoda Constantly busy parents did not have enough time to raise their daughter, so they were forced to first send her to a nursery, and then to a kindergarten for five days. The lack of parental attention led to Natasha growing up as an independent, but rather withdrawn child, immersed in the world of her own fantasies.

Natalya Negoda and her mother Tamara Petrovna Pavlyuchenko The girl dreamed of becoming a ballerina, but here she was severely disappointed: the selection committee at the ballet studio considered Natasha not slender and flexible enough and rejected her.

Natalya Negoda during her school years She was not interested in studying at school; the actress considers her years of study to be the most terrible time of her life. The restless creative nature made itself felt and demanded an outlet, so the girl decided to become an actress.

Despite the protests of her parents, she took the documents to the theater school, but did not pass the competition. This failure only provoked the ambitious Natalya, and she got a job as a tour guide at the Theater Museum. This work revealed the magical world of art to her in a new way and gave her unforgettable meetings with interesting creative personalities who willingly shared their knowledge and experience with the inquisitive girl.

Oleg Efremov was Natalya Negoda's mentor. A year later, Natalya successfully entered the Moscow Art Theater School and took a course with the famous Oleg Efremov. His son Mikhail also studied there, with whom Negoda soon began a stormy but short-lived affair.

The happy student years flew by quickly, and in 1986, after graduating from university, the question of finding a job arose. Of all the capital's theaters, only the Youth Theater was interested in the young actress and invited her to its troupe. But two years later, Natalya got tired of roles in children's plays, and she decided to try her hand at cinema and left the Youth Theater “for nothing.”

Acting

The first cinematic success for Natalya Negoda was in 1987, when moviegoers saw the young actress in the role of schoolgirl Zina Kovalenko in the feature film Tomorrow There Was War directed by Yuri Kara. The bright, impulsive girl was noticed by Soviet film critics and film directors, and Natasha began to receive invitations to auditions.

Unsurpassed success for the film actress came in 1988, when Vasily Pichul’s social drama “Little Vera” was released in Soviet theaters. Initially, the role of a young provincial girl from a resort town was offered to Irina Apeksimova, and then to Yana Poplavskaya, but both actresses refused the director’s offer, considering the script boring.

After the film was released in Soviet cinemas, Natalya Negoda unexpectedly woke up famous. Pichul's topical drama, which showed the truth about the life of a Soviet family, had a stunning effect on the viewer, collecting unimaginable sums at the Soviet film box office.

For her role as a provincial girl, Vera, who has just graduated from school and is faced with the difficulties of adult life, Natalya received the Nika Award, becoming the best actress of 1988.

At the same time, another film with Negoda’s participation was released - Vyacheslav Krishtofovich’s film “Self-Portrait of an Unknown”, where Natalya starred together with Alexander Zbruev. But against the backdrop of the resounding success of “Little Vera,” the film went unnoticed. In 1989, the actress starred with Vasily Pichul for the second time. This was the role of the young student Lena in the film “Dark Nights in Sochi.” The tape did not have the desired effect on viewers.

And then the 90s came, she was not offered good roles, and the woman did not agree to low-grade roles in TV series. Soon she had the opportunity to go to the USA, where she continued her career.

In exile, her filmography was replenished with four roles in films:

• Back in the USSR;
• The Comrades of Summer;
• Law & Order;
• Every Minute Is Goodbye.

"Tomorrow there was a war"

This film was released in 1987. Natalya Negoda played Zina Kovalenko, one of the main character’s friends. This film work did not bring fame to the aspiring actress, but played a decisive role in her career.

When Vasily Pichul was looking for an actress for his film “Little Vera,” he drew attention to the heroine Negoda in the film “Tomorrow there was a war.” The director didn’t particularly like Natalya’s performance, but he decided that she had the right type. As you know, Pichul was not mistaken.

Filmography of the artist

Today, actress Natalya Negoda has only 11 feature films in her collection. According to critics, there could have been many more roles in her biography if Natalya had not remained hostage to her starring role in the film “Little Vera.”

Movies

Natalya Negoda made her feature film debut in 1985 in one of the episodes of the science fiction series “This Fantastic World.” Then came a family drama based on Boris Vasiliev’s novel “Tomorrow There Was War” and a duet with Alexander Zbruev in the melodrama “Self-Portrait of an Unknown”.

Natalya Negoda in the film “Self-Portrait of an Unknown”

Natalya got into her most famous film, “Little Vera,” almost by accident. Initially, Irina Apeksimova was supposed to play the main role in this social film, then actress Yana Poplavskaya auditioned. Negoda didn’t really like the script either, so during the auditions she didn’t try to please the director, and it was this circumstance that turned out to be decisive - the girl’s natural aloofness was exactly what was required for the role of a provincial girl confused in her life.

The film “Little Vera”, for the first time in Soviet cinema, touched upon social problems that had previously been hushed up, and created the effect of a bomb exploding. “Little Vera” became the first film on the Soviet screen in which the characters have sex. Before this, censorship did not allow erotic scenes into films produced in the USSR and cut them out from foreign ones.

Natalya Negoda in the film “Little Vera”

The film was watched by 55 million viewers, while Little Vera initially received sharply negative ratings from viewers. People ran out from the premiere of the film shouting “Shame!” after a scandalous intimate scene appeared on the screens. Nevertheless, the conservative part of the audience could neither ban the film nor reduce the popularity of Little Vera.

The film was awarded dozens of awards at various international film festivals, and Natalya Negoda not only became a sex symbol of the Soviet Union, but also turned out to be the first Soviet actress to appear on the cover of the American erotic magazine Playboy.

Natalya Negoda in the film “Tambourine, Drum”

It would seem that now the path to any film set in the country is open for Negoda. But in the end, she only took part once, together with Alexei Zharkov, in the comedy film “Dark Nights in Sochi,” after which her career in domestic cinema stalled for a long time.

In the 90s, the actress starred exclusively in American films. Her credits include the musical drama Back to the USSR, the detective series Law and Order, the baseball comedy Summer Buddies, and the melodrama Every Minute is a Goodbye. In 2009, Natalya again appeared on Russian screens, playing the main role of a librarian from a small provincial town in the drama “Tambourine, Drum.” Thanks to this work, Negoda became the winner of the Golden Eagle and White Elephant film awards, but since then the actress’s cinematic biography has not been supplemented with new filming.

Facts from personal life

Negoda became the first Soviet actress to appear on the cover of the American glossy Playboy magazine in 1989. The publication dedicated a large article to the actress.

By coincidence, the actress’s photo shoot in America’s main erotic publication became an advertisement for “Little Vera.”

The film was a great success in US cinemas, grossing $1,262,598 at the American box office, and Natalya gained fame in American film circles.

Soon, American director D. Sarafyan offered the actress a role in the film Back in the USSR. Having signed a contract with an American film studio, she left Russia. Negoda lived in exile for 19 years. There she married a Russian emigrant, a programmer from Moscow. The union lasted 13 years, no children were born in this marriage.

In 2007, Natalya returned to her homeland. After a long break from acting, Natalya received an offer from Russian director Alexei Mizgirev. In his film “Tambourine-Drum” Natalya Negoda played the main role - the librarian Ekaterina Artemovna. The film was received by the general public and received international recognition.

Personal life of Natalia Negoda

Contrary to frequently encountered information, Natalya Negoda did not leave for the States because of her feelings for an American citizen. Her chosen one was her compatriot, who moved to Natalya after her emigration. The marriage lasted 13 years. The couple had no children together.

Natalya Negoda in her youth and now Now Natalya lives in two countries, leads a rather secluded lifestyle, preferring modest gatherings in the company of close friends to noisy social events.

Personal life

In the early nineties, the actress married a certain economist, whose name is known only to her relatives. Then she left for the USA, and a little later her husband followed her. Later, information appeared in the press that Natalya Negoda married a Native American in order to obtain citizenship, which is not true.

Five years later, the marriage broke up. Negoda spent 15 years abroad. She never married again and has no children.

Now the actress lives in Moscow. He gives interviews extremely rarely.

Until 2009, the actress was associated exclusively with the main character of the film “Little Vera”. It is not surprising, because in her filmography there were only two domestic films. Thanks to the film “Tambourine, Drum,” Negoda managed to prove that she is not a Soviet sex symbol, long gone into history, but a talented actress.

By the way, as for Andrei Sokolov, who played the main role in “Little Vera”. His career, unlike Negoda’s, was more than successful. The actor has more than a dozen film roles to his credit. True, even thirty years after the premiere of the film “Little Vera,” he remains for many viewers the hero of the scandalous film of the eighties.

Career

All of Natalia’s attempts were not crowned with successful admission to theater universities.
A year later, the girl submitted to the Moscow Art Theater School. Negoda’s teacher was Oleg Efremov. With a diploma in hand, Natalya is trying to get into the cast of several capital theaters. During the show of the graduation performance, none of the directors saw in the girl the type their troupe needed. The Moscow Youth Theater received the young specialist with greater joy than all other theaters. Here she worked for two years. When the actress left the theater, Natalya decided that she would not return there. Natalya Negoda set out to conquer cinema, and she succeeded. The first was a series in the fantasy genre, then it was replaced by a family drama, an excellent continuation was a melodrama in which Alexander Zbruev became her partner. Natalya Negoda’s most important film, which brought fame, was “Little Vera”. At first, completely different actresses were planned for the main role, but Natalya was also invited to audition. It was she who liked the director, although she did not strive for this at all. Not only was an actress with adventures chosen for the main role.

Negoda's partner in the film was Andrei Sokolov. His career was much more successful, but the epithet “actor of the most scandalous cinema of the eighties” was firmly attached to him. Another actor who got into “Little Vera” after much persuasion was Yuri Nazarov.

According to the script, this famous man was supposed to play Vera’s father in the movie. The actor resisted for a long time, but, having agreed, he got a taste for it during the filming process. He even began to improvise in many scenes. The filmmakers liked his obscene language so much that they did not cut anything out.

This role did not prevent the People's Artist of the Russian Federation from creating his own filmography of more than 250 films. This film brought explicit scenes, which were always prohibited in Soviet times. The film was not banned because it had already been shown to millions of viewers and became incredibly popular.

After the sensational premiere, Natalya was invited to a photo shoot for the men's magazine Playboy. After such success, the actress was predicted to have a great future, but there was no further development in her cinematic biography in Soviet films. Negoda was in demand in American cinema. Already in the 2000s, they remembered Natalia and invited her to star in a drama film. This work brought two significant awards (“Golden Eagle” and “White Elephant”).