Olga Filimonova: “I stopped devoting myself entirely to art!”

Wikipedia has articles about other people with the surname Filimonov.

Olga Olegovna Filimonova

(nee
Smirnova
; born October 4, 1983, Sverdlovsk, RSFSR, USSR) - Russian theater and film actress.

Childhood and youth

Olga Filimonova (maiden name Smirnova) was born on October 4, 1983 in Sverdlovsk (today Yekaterinburg). In her youth, Olga was the star of the school: she studied ballroom and modern dancing, acrobatics, and studied at the theater studio at the musical theater.

Olga Smirnova (Filimonova) studied at GITIS with Oleg Lvovich Kudryashov

Smirnova’s main dream was to open her own dance school. But then “something lit up inside her,” and the girl went to Moscow to enroll in a theater institute. So Olga ended up at GITIS and became a student of the honored artist Oleg Lvovich Kudryashov.

Film roles

Olga first appeared on the set in 2007, receiving a small role in Vardan Akopyan’s youth film “Plato”. However, they began to recognize the actress only after her second role in the acclaimed musical film “Hipsters” (2008) by Valery Todorovsky.

Still from the musical film “Hipsters”

In this colorful musical film, Filimonova played the role of a representative of the youth subculture of the same name in the 1950s, the beauty Sherry, the girlfriend of Bob, a medical student from a quiet Jewish family (Igor Voinarovsky). And although Olga’s role is not the main one (the central characters were played by Anton Shagin and Oksana Akinshina), the viewer was able to appreciate her comic talent and excellent appearance.

Olga Filimonova and Evgeny Mironov in the series “Dostoevsky”

In 2010, Filimonova again surprised fans: in Vladimir Khotinenko’s series “Dostoevsky,” the young actress played Apollinaria Suslova, the beloved of the famous Russian writer. Dostoevsky was played by Yevgeny Mironov, whose forehead was shaved for greater similarity. Olga's performance caused very controversial assessments. Someone wrote that the actress managed to accurately convey the character and image of the heroine; others believed that Apollinaria turned out to be “too depraved.”

In 2011, Olga did not leave television screens. Among her works of that time are the mystical thriller “The Dark World”, the series about the struggle for primacy in space exploration “Cedar Pierces the Sky”, and the military story “Summer of Wolves”. But the role in the detective saga “Diamond Hunters” attracted the most attention. In it, the girl played the wife of a French diplomat, Veronica Pardeo, who became a participant in the famous robbery of the apartment of the widow of writer Alexei Tolstoy in the 1980s.

Olga Filimonova in the film “Diamond Hunters”

One of Filimonova’s most striking works in 2012 was her role in the detective series “Odessa-Mama” (Russia-1). The series takes place in the summer of 1969 in a seaside town, where ordinary people are drawn into the abyss of criminal passions - including the beautiful Oksana, played by Olga.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTYg_Epgzcm

Filimonova revealed her comedic talent in Karen Oganesyan’s film “What Girls Are Silent About” (2013). In it, Olga got the role of a married businesswoman, Catherine, who suffers from the “everyday life” that has dragged her down. It seems to her that her dream is to go on holiday to Spain with her best friends, but in reality it is to quickly end up with her husband on the sofa in front of the TV. Olga's heroine's friends were played by Olesya Sudzilovskaya, Taisiya Vilkova and Yulia Peresild - by the way, Filimonova's classmate.

Olga Filimonova and Olesya Sudzilovskaya in the film “What Girls Are Silent About”

For her role in Anton Rosenberg’s thriller “Sliding” in 2013, the actress boldly cut her hair “like a boy” - I must say, the new haircut did not make her any less feminine. And in 2014, Olga starred in two projects directed by Sergei Keshishev: in the mini-series “Pretty Women” she appeared as an elite prostitute, and in “The Lost Groom” she appeared as a girl whose both suitors mysteriously disappear.

Olga Filimonova in the film “Sliding”

In 2020, the actress got one of the main roles in the drama “Icebreaker,” based on real events. In the film about a ship trapped in Antarctic ice, Olga played journalist Lyudmila Petrova, who rushes to the aid of her husband, the captain of the icebreaker (Pyotr Fedorov).

In the same year, Filimonova could be seen on the Russia-1 TV channel in the detective series “Investigator Tikhonov” based on the works of Soviet writers Arkady and Georgy Vayner. The series gained great popularity among viewers and was nominated for the Golden Eagle film award. Olga’s colleagues on the set were such famous actors as Mikhail Efremov, Sergei Shakurov, Victoria Tolstoganova, Yuri Itskov, Aglaya Tarasova, Yulia Aug and others.

Olga Smirnova - the youngest prima of the Bolshoi Theater

Karenin is leading an election campaign, Vronsky plays lacrosse, Levin drives a tractor. Socialite Anna changes outfits: an almost masculine red jacket for a meeting with voters, underneath a dress with an asymmetrical hem for a rendezvous, a black dress with a cutout for a ball and a shirt in a mental hospital. At the end of March, the Bolshoi Theater, with the support of Cartier, hosted the premiere of Anna Karenina, directed by the literary-centric Hamburg classic John Neumeier. The title role is danced by the Bolshoi's youngest and most sought-after prima, 26-year-old Olga Smirnova.

On a windy day, Olga and I run through the puddles to one of the coffee shops in the Teatralnaya Square area. In a blue coat that emphasizes the snow-white skin, in a hat with a pompom, and with a fur backpack on her back, she looks like a schoolgirl.

SMIRNOVA - COMPRESSED SPRING. TOTAL CONTROL AND PERFECTIONISM IS HER CREDO. SHE WILL NOT EVEN ALLOW A TUTOR TO HER

In fact, Smirnova is a compressed spring. Total control and perfectionism are her credo. She is never late. Extremely correct in conversation. He doesn’t chat with his girlfriends in the Bolshoi Theater buffet, where he pops in for just a minute. And even her tutor Marina Kondratyeva - and ballerinas usually have a relationship with their personal teacher like mothers and daughters - says that Olya does not allow her to approach her.

Peering into the pool of Karenina’s soul, Olga cannot pronounce a verdict on her heroine: “I wouldn’t be able to surrender to my passion like that. And condemn her too. Anna is a strong person and is not afraid to experience feelings. Trying to be happy, she found herself in a hopeless situation. I don’t know how my life would have turned out if I had been in her place, but I understand and sympathize with her.”

The middle of three children of a St. Petersburg engineer and electrician, Smirnova was not just an excellent student at the Vaganova Academy. She found herself in the spotlight three years before graduation - she received the Grand Prix of the Mikhailovsky Theater at the All-Russian Competition for Ballet School Students, and rumors about the phenomenal student reached the capital.

Olga recalls: the director of the Moscow ballet, Sergei Filin, amazed her by showing up at the school with a plan for her debuts. The prince's peer in Swan Lake, the Lady of the Dryads in Don Quixote, Myrta in Giselle - a dozen roles in which the skill of the academic ballerina is minted. For the sake of Olga, the Bolshoi Theater violated the rules of the hierarchy, inviting the graduate directly to the position of soloist, and she, an exemplary representative of the strict St. Petersburg school, chose Moscow. “The Bolshoi’s Historical Stage was supposed to open after reconstruction, and two stages meant more opportunities to dance. The revival of classics, productions by modern choreographers - I believe that no other theater will provide the artist with such a variety of choreographic languages.”

And Smirnova teaches them without getting tired. As soon as she arrived at the theater, she became the first performer in Russia as Tatyana in John Cranko’s ballet “Onegin”, Pierre Lacotte saw her as the Marchioness of Sampietri in “Marco Spada”, and Yuri Possokhov appointed Bela to dance in the first cast of “A Hero of Our Time”.

The head of the Monte Carlo Ballet, Jean-Christophe Maillot, taught her to treat choreography as a living text, and not a dead form, when he called her to The Taming of the Shrew. He forced Olga to open up. She does not open up on stage, but lures her partner and the viewer into her closeness. This winter, Smirnova danced Carmen, in which, after Plisetskaya, everyone fails. Olya did without swaying her hips. But if she raised her shoulder, it was an electric shock. Without taking her eyes off Jose and Torero, she hypnotized them, swallowed them and spat them out.

CARMEN IS A ROLE IN WHICH AFTER MAYA PLISETSKAYA EVERYONE FAILS. SMIRNOVA DID WITHOUT SWINGING HIPS, BUT EVERY LOOK WAS LIKE AN ELECTRIC SHOCK

If this continues, Olga will reach a level unattainable for others, as Sylvie Guillem did at the end of the twentieth century. At the same time, next to her financier husband, she seems like a shy girl: “He is a person interested in art. I trust his opinion. He is my advisor in both life and theater matters.” They love to vacation in Italy and Spain, where they combine beach and educational tourism. Her husband supports Olya’s love for classical style - from literature and music to clothing.

But everything, including the rented apartment on Petrovsky Boulevard, in Olga’s life is dictated by her profession: “When you love what you do, it becomes natural to do what others would consider a sacrifice.” Neumeier is due to arrive one of these days to personally breathe life into the ballet, which his assistants first learned with the artists. This will be Olga's second meeting with the master. The first was the production of “Ladies of the Camellias”: “He gathered us in the hall and began to tell the story of Marguerite Gautier from scene to scene. He explained how his characters felt so simply and heartfelt that at the end we all cried, he himself cried. Now I'm waiting for a miracle again. John makes you believe that everything that happens on stage is real. It charges for a long time ahead. And in the theater it is very important not to give up in the search for perfection, to run to rehearsals with the desire to try, search, and learn new things.” Flawless on the outside, glowing on the inside - that’s what Anna Karenina needs.

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Photo: Danil Golovkin

Personal life of Olga Filimonova

Olga’s husband is actor Alexey Filimonov (born 1981), known for his role as Izy Mayorchik from the TV series “The Life and Adventures of Mishka Yaponchik” (2011). Olga met Alexei at GITIS - the young people studied in the same course. After the wedding, the actress decided to take her husband's last name.

The couple are raising a daughter, Vasilisa (born 2010). According to Olga, she would not want her daughter to become an actress. And although the girl is very artistic, her parents prefer to channel her energy into sports and music.

Creation

Theater roles

Diploma performances:

• “Viy”, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (dir. Svetlana Zemlyakova), main role - Pannochka
• “The Trojan Women”, Euripides (dir. Svetlana Zemlyakova), main role - Athena
• “As I like”, dance performance (dir. Oleg Glushkov)
• “Carmina Burana”, Carl Orff, stage cantata (dir. Oleg Kudryashov)
• “The Nose”, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (dir. Andrei Nedelkin), all female roles
• “Bluebeard - the hope of women”, D. Loehr (dir. Ekaterina Granitova), role - Judith, joint production of the School of Modern Play, the Kislorod movement and the Alem Art public foundation (Kazakhstan):
• “Explain” (dir. Ivan Vyrypaev)

Filmography[3]

- the main role.

Olga Filimonova now

In March 2020, the film “Amun” was released, the first full-length film by Russian director Anar Abbasov. The roles in the family tragedy about the search for healing in the heart of the Judean Desert were played by the Filimonovs, Yuri Nazarov and Israeli actor George Iskandar.

Olga Filimonova in the film "Amun"

Olga also worked on the new comedy series “Grand,” the directorial debut of the famous cameraman Dmitry Gribanov. The central character of the series is a student at a provincial university of tourism and recreation (Mila Sivatskaya), who endures all sorts of difficulties in her first job at a Moscow hotel. Filimonova plays the bitchiest employee of the hotel: her heroine knows how to manipulate people and achieve her goals. The series takes place in the same “universe” as the TV series “Kitchen” and “Hotel Eleon”.

The actress also starred in Amet Magomedov’s comedy film-musical “Dancing on Heights” about the adventures of a Dagestan hip-hopper. Also in 2020, Filimonova was approved for one of the main roles in the biographical drama by Hollywood director Matthew Mishori “Mosolov's Suitcase” about the Soviet avant-garde composer Alexander Mosolov.