Childhood and family of Natalia Shchukina
Natalya Shchukina was born in the city of Barnaul, but at an early age she moved with her parents to Moscow. Her father and mother broke up when Natasha was still a child, and therefore the future actress spent her entire childhood with her mother.
Natalya Shchukina and Dmitry Maryanov in the film Mirage
The experienced woman supported her daughter in everything, and therefore she was always grateful to her for this. Natasha did not limit herself in anything and at an early age she studied in several different sections at once. She loved dancing, gymnastics, and then with all her soul she fell in love with acting.
The first roles of Natalia Shchukina
Since childhood, Natalya studied in the theater studio of Vyacheslav Spesivtsev.
Acting classes were held immediately after school, and therefore Natasha always managed to combine her studies at school with her favorite hobby. During that period, our today's heroine played many wonderful roles in various semi-amateur productions. Recalling that time, the actress notes that theater school taught her not only many of the intricacies of acting, but also instilled in her a sense of duty and discipline. It was thanks to these qualities that in 1985 Natasha received her first film role. This was the role of Olya Kostina in the film “A Photograph for Memory”. It is very noteworthy that for this role the young actress was given a special outfit that hid... her breasts. The thing is that at the age of fifteen the girl already had very impressive figures, and therefore she had to act on the set in a special slimming corset.
Natalya Shchukina, Stories in detail After this there were some other film roles. Thus, even before graduating from school, our today’s heroine managed to play in several famous films. Among these, the films “Dear Elena Sergeevna”, “Splashes of Champagne” and some others stand out. Thanks to these roles, Natalya Shchukina was able to get acquainted with the peculiarities of the acting craft, which later helped her greatly when entering the Shchukin Theater School.
Natalya Shchukina was born in Moscow on September 12, 1970. Her parents were in no way connected with theater or cinema.
From an early age, Natasha’s parents separated, and only one mother was involved in raising her daughter. Natalya is very grateful to her mother, who, according to her, had a very democratic attitude towards all her daughter’s hobbies: personal and non-personal, and never limited her in anything.
Mom contributed in every possible way to her daughter’s development. Little Natasha did dancing and gymnastics. One day, artists came to school to recruit children to Vyacheslav Spesivtsev’s theater-studio on Krasnaya Presnya. Ten-year-old Natasha went to an audition with a friend. Back then she didn’t even think that she would ever become a real actress.
Natalya Shchukina recalls: “We decided to make our Spesivtsev class experimental, that is, there were regular classes, and our “B” became the first, who, instead of after-school classes, when everyone was walking, went to the ballet barre and studied acting. We did very interesting children's performances. It was a great school for me, first of all a school of discipline.”
It was thanks to classes at the studio theater that Natasha made her film debut. In 1985, she starred in the leading role in the children's film directed by Ruben Muradyan, “A Photograph for Memory.” The actress says about that work: “By the age of fifteen I was already big-breasted, but the director believed that a Soviet girl couldn’t have big breasts. Therefore, no matter how they pulled me away... The result was an absolutely incomprehensible figure under these soviet-style floral sundresses. The chest was spread across the belly - and it looked terrible..."
“Dear Elena Sergeevna”
It is not surprising that after graduating from school, Natalya did not dream of any other profession other than acting. But before entering the theater, the girl starred in one more film - in Eldar Ryazanov’s drama “Dear Elena Sergeevna.” Yesterday's schoolgirl got into the film of the famous director thanks to Dmitry Maryanov, who played with her in Spesivtsev's studio. At that time, the young actor was popular thanks to the film “Above the Rainbow.” The director's assistant drew attention to Dima, then brought Ryazanov himself to the performance, and several guys were selected for auditions, including Natalya.
Film with Ryazanov himself! One could only dream about this. Natalya Shchukina says: “It was a huge shock for me! Ryazanov at that moment was voicing “Forgotten Melody for Flute”. We are sitting in his office, and suddenly he, Filatov, Neelova and Kupchenko come in. I could have survived Eldar Alexandrovich alone, but when so many stars entered, I stood up and thought about how not to fall, how not to lose consciousness!”
Like all films made on the topic of the day, today “Dear Elena Sergeevna” looks naive, but for that time it was a real scandal. An ugly story told about how several students come to the teacher to beg, and if that doesn’t work, then to take away by force the key to the office where the works are stored in order to make the necessary corrections...
Natalya Shchukina recalls that filming: “It was very difficult for me to film, but it turned out to be a good school. I had a terrible complex. It always seemed to me that Ryazanov was dissatisfied with me. And he regrets taking me. There is one shot in the film that only I know about. I’m hiding behind my partners there because I’m terribly crying. Ryazanov is a hot-tempered person, he can say a lot of offensive words... Now I’m used to it, and I’ve never heard anything like that. But then... I wanted to fall through the ground.”
Shchukin School
After graduating from school, Natalya decided to enter the Shchukin School. “I didn’t see and didn’t realize the difference between the Moscow Art Theater school, the Vakhtangov school or the small theater school. I wanted to go to “Pike”, I was eager to go there, I didn’t want anywhere else,” says the actress.
The first attempt was unsuccessful... “I had complete confidence that I would get in, but I didn’t get in. I was terribly worried and thought that that was probably all, nothing else was possible for me.”
A year later, Natalya submitted documents to almost all theater universities in the capital. She recalls: “At the Shchepkinsky school
I was asked to lift my skirt and show my knees, which, in general, decided the fate of my existence in this school. At the Moscow Art Theater I was “stopped” by senior students who came up and began to say that this is not so with me, and this is not so. It was all very emotional! And something happened at GITIS too. Apparently, it was “Pike” that was waiting for me.”
At the entrance exams, the girl read Yesenin’s poems, Krylov’s fable “The Pike,” and from prose she chose an excerpt from “The Master and Margarita” by M.A. Bulgakov. She read the same passage a year ago. It seemed to her that this time she read it worse, but to her surprise, she was accepted. Natalya was enrolled in the course of Yu. I. Avsharov.
Unyielding character
In parallel with her studies, Natalya Shchukina continued to actively act in films. Thanks to her successful work in “Dear Elena Sergeevna,” she was invited to another scandalous film for that time - Pyotr Todorovsky’s melodrama “Intergirl.” By the way, the actress was recommended by the same acting assistant who worked for Ryazanov.
In this film, Natalya played a young, pretty prostitute who tells the police about her father, an “Africanist.” By the way, during filming, the aspiring actress was not afraid to argue with Pyotr Todorovsky himself. “I didn’t like the text,” says Natalya. “I just couldn’t pronounce it.” But even now, when I watch this film, I think that I was right. This text is a little out of the vocabulary of prostitutes. “My dad is an Africanist...” In general, I argued with him endlessly. When the shooting was finished, Pyotr Efimovich told me: “Everything about you is good, but your character is too heavy.” Which, in general, I never noticed about myself.”
Does Natalya Shchukina have a complex character? Rather, the point here is different - it’s just that the actress always had her own vision of the role, and if she didn’t agree with something, she wasn’t afraid to argue about it even with seasoned directors. And what kind of directors filmed it! Pyotr Todorovsky, Stanislav Govorukhin (in 1989 in the psychological thriller “Splash of Champagne”), Eldar Ryazanov. In subsequent years, she worked with Georgy Danelia, Valery Todorovsky, Oleg Yankovsky, Nikolai Lebedev, but more on that later, but for now let’s go back to the early 90s.
In 1991, Shchukin was again invited to his film by Eldar Ryazanov. In his famous tragicomedy “Promised Heaven,” Natalya got a small role, but how she was played! The audience especially remembered the scene with eating condensed milk.
“Yes, a significant scene...” recalls Natalya Shchukina. “My main concerns were not about the appearance, but about the amount of condensed milk that I had to consume during the shooting. In total, I ate two cans. Then, realizing that the body would not tolerate such execution, she immediately sent the condensed milk she had eaten to the right place. Two fingers in the mouth, and freedom..."
On the set of this film, Natalya again demonstrated her unyielding character. She managed to convince Eldar Ryazanov to exclude the erotic scene from the film. Here's what she says: “Eldar Alexandrovich wanted to shoot an erotic scene with a photographer. ... when my heroine goes upstairs with him to the room, and he asks her: “What, should I take it off?” - “No need, I’ll take it myself.” And pounces on him. And then she comes out disheveled. That is, it is clear to everyone what happened there. Eldar Aleksandrovich wanted to do something like “Little Vera”. You can't see anything, but it's clear what they're doing. That day I came to the shoot, and the make-up artist whispered to me in a conspiratorial tone: “Ryazanov has such an idea...”. I recalled Eldar Aleksandrovich and asked him not to film this. To which he told me: “Natasha, you know me. Everything will be decent, nothing will be visible.” But I stood my ground: “You seem to be filming a comedy, but such a scene will look quite strange in it.” In general, I won. To my happiness."
Natalya Shchukina continued to actively act in films until the mid-90s. In 1993, she played a small but very colorful role as a saleswoman with a black eye in Georgy Danelia’s comedy “Nastya.” This was followed by work in the drama “Moscow Evenings” by Valery Todorovsky and “The Ghost of My House” by Pavel Lyubimov.
In the second half of the 90s, when our cinema was in crisis, Natalia focused on working in the theater.
Theater
Natalya Shchukina played her first roles in the theater while studying in her fourth year. Yuri Avsharov invited her to Alexander Kalyagin’s theater “Et-cetera” for the role of Sonya in the play “Uncle Vanya”. Natalya speaks of this role with great warmth, especially since she generally loves Chekhov’s dramaturgy.
At the same time, she made her debut in Lenkom - in the role of a cat in the children's play “The Bremen Town Musicians”. Natalya Shchukina got into Lenkom thanks to her classmate, now popular actor Dmitry Maryanov. By the way, it took him a lot of effort to persuade Natalya. Numerous works in cinema turned her head a little, as the actress herself admits, at that time it seemed to her that “all the theaters would now fall at my feet...”
The head of Lenkom, Mark Anatolyevich Zakharov, liked the young actress, and he invited her to stay in the theater after graduating from college. Thus, in 1992, Natalya Shchukina was enrolled in the troupe and immediately began rehearsals for the play “Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro.” Moreover, they immediately took her to the role of Suzanne. The play premiered in January 1993.
A year later, Natalya, who by that time was married (Natalya’s husband is her classmate at school, although today he does not work by profession), gave birth to a daughter, Sashenka. For some period, Marina Ilyinskaya replaced Shchukina in the play. Then Natalya returned to the stage again.
Latest works in cinema
Viewers saw Natalya Shchukina's next film work in 2000. Her Dinka from Oleg Yankovsky’s melodrama “Come See Me” simply captivated everyone with her sincerity and spontaneity.
Currently, Natalya Shchukina appears in films very rarely. The last time she starred with Eldar Ryazanov was in his retro comedy “The Bedroom Key.” The master of cinema has always been distinguished by his passion for the so-called “his” actors. One can rightfully include Natalya Shchukina in the circle of “Ryazanov’s” actresses. This time she played a very specific lady Sophia. Natalya notes that she really enjoyed working with Eldar Alexandrovich again. It was also a great pleasure to act in costume scenes: “Of course, it’s hard, because I was wearing a wig, a hat, all this in 30-degree heat. The corset is something. On the first day I felt like my ribs were broken. But this is so cool! These skirts, bows, shoes.”
The actress has not yet received any more serious offers: “Either I don’t like the role or the script,” and she had to refuse filming in several TV series due to work in the theater.
1988 Dear Elena Sergeevna 1988 Defender Sedov 1989 Splashes of champagne 1989 Intergirl 1990 Sex and perestroika 1991 Promised Heaven 1993 Nastya 1994 Moscow Evenings 1994 The Ghost of My House 1999 Admirer 2000 Come See Me 2003 Key to the Bedroom and 2006 Andersen. Fantasy on a theme (in production)
Actors section
Star Trek actress Natalya Shchukina, filmography
Having become a student, the actress continued acting in films and already in 1989 she appeared in the famous film “Intergirl”.
This film also starred Elena Yakovleva, Anastasia Nemolyaeva, Lyubov Polishchuk, Ingeborga Dapkunaite and others. After that there were the paintings “Promised Heaven”, “Nastya” and some others. In these films, the actress performed, although minor, quite striking roles. While studying in her fourth year, the young actress also made her debut on the theater stage - performing one of the roles in the production of “Uncle Vanya” by the Et-cetera theater. In 1992, our today's heroine graduated from the Boris Shchukin Higher Theater School and got a job at the Lenin Komsomol Theater, which later became literally a second home for her.
Natalya Shchukina, The Great Illusion On the local stage, Natalya Shchukina played many bright and original roles. She remains one of the actresses of the local troupe today.
Study, theater
The film “Dear Elena Sergeevna” gave the aspiring actress her first fans, but she did not refuse to receive a specialized education. Natalya made an attempt to enter the Shchukin School, which, to her great surprise, failed. For some time the girl fell into depression, but quickly came to her senses and decided not to give up.
Natalya managed to enroll at Shchuka the following year. She was enrolled in a course taught by Yuri Avsharov. While still a student, the actress began collaborating with the Et-cetera theater. Her debut was the production of “Uncle Vanya”, in which Shchukina embodied the image of Sonya. The movie star still hasn’t forgotten her first performance, which is also due to her sincere love for Chekhov’s work.
Then Natalya made her debut on the stage of the Lenkom Theater, where Dmitry Maryanov brought her. First, she played a cat in The Musicians of Bremen, then played the role of Susanna in the production of Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro. The actress still collaborates with Lenkom and has taken part in many famous productions, for example, “Prince”, “All-In”, “Clinical Case”.
New films with Natalya Shchukina
In 1999, our today's heroine again began to often play in films.
In the late nineties and early 2000s, she played several prominent roles in Russian films. Among the works of this period, it is worth highlighting the lyrical comedy “Come See Me”, the melodrama “The Bedroom Key”, as well as some other works. In the 2000s, the actress acted quite often, and therefore constantly remained in sight of viewers and directors. In addition, in 2008, Natalya Shchukina also tried herself as a voice actress, lending her voice to the cartoon characters “The Adventures of Alyonushka and Yerema”, as well as “The New Adventures of Alyonushka and Yerema”.
Interesting roles
It is difficult to list all the wonderful films in which Natalya Shchukina played, a photo of which can be seen in this article. For example, one cannot fail to note the tragicomedy “Promised Heaven,” presented to the audience in 1991. Critics considered the episode in which the actress eats condensed milk one of the most successful scenes in Eldar Ryazanov’s film. Interestingly, while this episode was being filmed, Natalya had to eat about two cans of treats.
“Nastya” is a painting by Georgy Danelia, which was released in 1993. In this film, Shchukina embodied the image of a colorful saleswoman with a black eye. Her heroines in the dramas “The Ghost of My House” and “Moscow Evenings” turned out to be just as bright. Filming in the comedy “The Bedroom Key” turned out to be a difficult task for the star, since the work was carried out in 30-degree heat, and the actress was forced to wear a wig and a hat.
Natalya Shchukina currently
As for new screen roles, there were also many of them in the actress’s filmography. In the late 2000s, our today's heroine began to often appear in Russian television series. So, in particular, Natalya Shchukina performed roles in such television projects as “Garages”, “Varenka. Test of Love”, “Everything is for the Better”, and also played in individual episodes of the series “Truckers-3” and “City Lights”.
Actress Natalya Shchukina rarely appears in films now
However, despite the abundance of screen work, Natalya Shchukina has repeatedly admitted that she is not satisfied with her acting career. In the last few years, she has acted quite rarely, noting that most of the roles offered to her are gray and superficial. That is why the actress currently pays much more attention to her theatrical works. She plays on the stage of the Lenkom Theater, collecting prestigious awards one after another. So, to date, the actress’s personal collection already has a Triumph Award, as well as two Yevgeny Leonov Awards. In addition, since 2002, our today’s heroine has been an Honored Artist of Russia.
However, one should not assume that Natalya Shchukina has finally slammed the door to the world of Russian cinema behind her. In 2013, she starred in two films, playing roles in the mini-series “Flowers of Evil” and in the comedy “All Inclusive-2.” Nothing is known yet about Natalya Shchukina’s new screen works.
