BIOGRAPHY
Olga Zueva was born in Vladivostok. At the age of 15, she successfully passed the casting for a modeling agency, after which she went to work in Tokyo for three and a half months. Returning home, the girl entered the Far Eastern Federal University at the Faculty of Tourism. “I studied there for three months and realized that this lifestyle was not for me. I dropped out of university and went to work in Europe. I traveled and worked as a model in Paris, Milan and London. After five years of “galloping around Europe,” she finally decided to move to New York. This city has always seemed to me a distant and fabulous place where dreams come true. I remember when the plane was landing at Kennedy Airport, I looked out the window and saw all this beauty... At that moment I realized that this was my city,” Olga recalls.
Olga Zueva: biography
Olga was born in 1987 in the Far East. All her childhood and teenage years were spent in Vladivostok. The girl was born into an ordinary family in which they never thought about modeling or cinematography. However, one day in her hometown there was a casting for a popular modeling agency. Olga decided to try her hand and successfully took part in the selection.
A little later, the girl moved to the USA and began acting for glossy magazines, as well as in advertising. Olga was noticed at one of the filmings and was invited to participate in an advertisement for the popular American shoe brand Pour la Victoire, produced by Cameron Diaz.
MOVIE
Despite a successful career in the modeling business, Olga did not want to stop there. She enrolled in acting classes to realize her long-time dream of acting in films. “And then I decided to film myself. This is how my first short film was born (“The answer print” - editor’s note). At that moment I realized that being an actress is good, but being a director is much cooler,” admits Olga. In New York, she entered The New School, where she graduated from the Faculty of Humanities with a degree in screenwriting. And in Moscow she continued her education at the Nikita Mikhalkov Summer Film Academy.
The aspiring actress’s first work was a cameo role in the film “Salt” by American director Phillip Noyce. The film follows CIA officer Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie), who is accused of spying for the Russians. Using all her skills and years of experience as an operative, Salt must evade capture and protect herself and her husband, otherwise the powers that be will simply erase all traces of her existence.
Olga continued to work overseas, and in 2013 she starred in the series “Orange is the New Black,” which tells about the everyday life of a women’s prison in the United States.
“Such a mood, Bach’s adagio and a small fragment from the life of the girl Lena”
In 2014, Olga played the main role in Anna Melikyan’s short film “Such a Mood, Bach’s Adagio and a Small Fragment from the Life of the Girl Lena.” The plot centers on the story of a young girl, Lena, who is trying to organize her life and understand all the thoughts and feelings that overwhelm her. Olga recalls: “I was always and everywhere perceived as a girl with a bright appearance, and Anya offered me the role of a modest one. I didn't understand her choice. We talked and she told me: “Listen, I don’t want it to be obvious. There are many people on the planet - beautiful, successful, but they feel absolutely unnecessary and unloved. And being a loser is not some external status, not a shell, but an internal state.”
The film received positive reviews from viewers and critics, and filmmakers discovered the young and talented actress Olga Zueva.
"Trainer"
In 2020, the film “Coach”, the directorial debut of Danila Kozlovsky, premiered on Russian screens. He also played the main role in the film - the national team's scorer Yuri Stoleshnikov, who at the decisive moment misses a penalty. After a fatal mistake, Stoleshnikov leaves the national team, ends his playing career and becomes the coach of the small provincial team “Meteor”. It is with this club that Stoleshnikov will have to perform a miracle and believe in himself again.
Olga Zueva played the role of rehabilitation doctor Varya in the film. According to the director, Olga took the longest to be approved for this role. The decision was made only after the girl rewrote the role, making the heroine strong and slightly eccentric. Danila liked the new version of the role and Olga’s audition, and the girl was approved for one of the main roles in the film.
The film also starred: Vladimir Ilyin, Andrei Smolyakov, Irina Gorbacheva, Maria Lobanova, Pavel Vorozhtsov and others.
"In the area"
Olga’s directorial debut, the film “On the Block,” is also preparing to be released across the country. The film tells the story of two friends, Vova (Ilya Malanin) and Kisa (Danila Kozlovsky), who live in Vladivostok and work for a local crime boss. The longer the guys are engaged in their criminal activities, the more they think about the future. Vova decides to break out of the criminal world, while Kisa begins to find more and more advantages in her work. One day, Vova refuses to complete his next task, which jeopardizes not only his relationship with his friend, but also his own life.
According to Olga, when working on the material, she was largely inspired by the stories of her native Vladivostok. “The script was written with a very boyish, masculine drive. The fact that the author is a girl gives all this boyish material a special intonation, which makes this story absolutely unique for me,” notes Danila Kozlovsky.
“It’s immediately obvious who’s in charge”: subscribers discuss photos of Danila Kozlovsky and his lover
Danila Kozlovsky is a sought-after actor, as well as a successful producer and director. In mid-May, the 34-year-old artist began filming the film “When the Storks Fell.” It is reported that the plot of the film is related to the disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The project involves Ravshana Kurkova, Oksana Akinshina and Arthur Beschastny.
Danila spends rare breaks between filming with his beloved - producer, director and model Olga Zueva.
Last weekend, Olga published a joint photo with Kozlovsky on Instagram. The couple is captured at a table in an empty evening restaurant. In the photo, Olga put her bare feet on the table in front of Danila, showing off her bright red nail polish. “Date night,” Zueva succinctly captioned the frame.
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A post shared by Film Director/ Muse (@_olyazueva) on May 25, 2019 at 12:24pm PDT
Danila Kozlovsky and Olga Zueva
Netizens were impressed by the informal photo, demonstrating the special closeness of the lovers. “A very beautiful and alien couple”, “Love is like a dream, the crystal chimes of hearts”, “Danya, as always, is wonderful”, “It’s immediately clear who’s in charge”, “How cool you are”, “This is from the series, how The color of my nails matches the color of wine. The guys are funny”, “Long legs”, “Beautiful couple” (the authors’ spelling and punctuation have been preserved. - Ed.). Some subscribers reproached Olga for her unethical behavior, but other fans drew their attention to the fact that the restaurant is empty and the lovers are not bothering anyone.
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A post shared by Film Director/ Muse (@_olyazueva) on Jul 4, 2018 at 1:37am PDT
Danila Kozlovsky and Olga Zueva
Danila Kozlovsky grew up in a large family. After the death of her stepfather, the mother had to raise her sons alone in the hungry nineties. Only moving to St. Petersburg and entering the Kronstadt Cadet Corps, according to the artist, saved him from a criminal future.
Subsequently, Kozlovsky entered the St. Petersburg Theater Academy, having passed a competition of over 200 people for one place.
The artist starred in more than 40 films and became a producer of five films. Danila Kozlovsky supports various charitable foundations and also encourages adopting cats and dogs from shelters. The actor himself adopted a stray dog a year and a half ago, calling him Pear.
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A post shared by Danila Kozlovsky (@danilakozlovsky) on May 24, 2019 at 12:05pm PDT
Danila Kozlovsky with Grusha
On this topic: Danila Kozlovsky spoke about the beginning of his relationship with Olga Zueva
Photo: Persona Stars; @danilakozlovsky; @_olyazueva
INTERVIEW
About Me
“I am a person with a Russian heart and an American view of cinema.”
About the actors with whom I would like to work as a director
“I would like to film Oleg Menshikov, Yura Kolokolnikov, Dasha Lyatetskaya. From the Americans - Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kevin Spacey. In general, these actors are versatile, they can play any role, and it’s probably a pleasure to work with them.”
About the modeling business
“Modeling is a means of making money, I have no other interest in it, and continuing my career as an actress and model is a side effect of what I did before and who I communicate with now. Recently, I have been invited to appear in various projects quite often, but I am not an actress or model who is constantly looking for work, and whose life passes from casting to casting.”
Based on materials from the sites ru.hellomagazine.com, spletnik.ru, vokrug.tv, eg.ru, sobranie.vl.ru, kino-teatr.ru, kinopoisk.ru, wday.ru.
Personal life of Olga Zueva
The actress’s favorite man was actor Danila Kozlovsky. The first time they were seen together was at a ballet performance at the Bolshoi Theater. Since then, Olga and Danila came to social events together. They traveled a lot and posted common photos on social networks, but did not talk about the details of the relationship. Olga mentioned that they had known each other for a long time, but met for the first time at a party with mutual friends in America.
In 2020, Zueva and Kozlovsky stopped hiding their feelings in public. For Olga's sake, Danila moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow. They settled in a rented apartment not far from the Kremlin, and sometimes flew to America. Then the couple had a joint creative project - the film “On the Block”.
Unusual beauty
Olga Zueva achieved success in the fashion world even without having a standard appearance, like all one-day models. No one will even dare to reproach her that her appearance is not natural and she resorted to the services of plastic surgeons. The girl learned to love herself and her appearance with all the flaws and shortcomings, although during her school years she was very complex because of her thinness.
Before meeting Danila Kozlovsky, she was known only to a limited number of fans. The relationship with the first handsome man of Russian cinema changed her life in many ways. Their couple is constantly followed by both fans and journalists. This doesn't bother young people. They often appear together at various events and are willingly photographed for various publications.
Olga was born in distant Vladivostok. Studying was difficult for the girl. She said that she doesn’t even try to remember things that don’t interest her. When she turned 15, she decided to try her hand at modeling. Moreover, the figure allowed it.
Olga caught an advertisement about a casting for young models to work in Japan. She went there without hesitation and within a few days received an invitation to work with agencies in Japan. The girl packed her things and went to a distant country. She settled in there without any problems, as she had been learning Japanese since early childhood.
After working as a model for some time, Olga returned to her hometown. She had to think about what she would do in life. At that time, the girl decided to become a student at a local university. However, after three months of training, Olga realized that she had made a mistake with her choice and was not at all interested.
Interesting notes: Film career
Olga understood that the life of a model is not long. She tried to find something she liked, something that would be interesting to her. Her choice fell on cinema. The girl entered an acting school in New York and successfully completed her studies there. Olga made a video as her thesis. During its creation, she acted as a director, screenwriter, author and actress. Her work was appreciated and then the girl realized that this was not the limit of her achievements.
Olga continued to improve her skills at the university. After graduation, she received a bachelor's degree in directing. Then the girl began to receive offers to star in small roles in American films. One of the most famous was the film “Salt”, where Zueva played the mother of the main character.
But the girl was not going to stop there. From America she returned to Russia, where she entered the summer acting academy , founded by Nikita Mikhalkov. Studying there brought changes not only to Olga’s creative life, but also to her personal life.
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People see themselves in movies
“I will not undertake to judge what Russian cinema lacks. But there is a tendency that Russian people criticize Russian cinema. In such cases, I always want to remind you that in the cinema we see ourselves. And if Americans love their movies, they apparently like to watch themselves,” says Zueva.
“If people who live in Russia don’t like Russian cinema, maybe they don’t really like the heroes, they probably recognize themselves somewhere, similar situations. But I don’t think that filmmakers in Russia can’t make a movie,” she is sure. “If we become something different, then maybe the movie will become about some other people, and maybe they will look at it differently.”
