Alexandra Ursulyak is an actress, star of the Pushkin Theater, winner of prestigious theater awards. In cinema, she is best known for the role of Svetlana Leonova in the historical film "Time of the First", dedicated to the first manned spacewalk.
Biography: family and education
Ursulyak Alexandra Sergeevna was born into a cinematic family of director Sergei Ursulyak and actress Galina Nadirli. Her parents met while studying at the Shchukin Theater School. In this union, on February 4, 1983, the only daughter, Alexander, was born. Soon the marriage broke up due to the head of the family's hobby for actress Lika Nifontova, whom he married in 1986. On the paternal side, Alexandra Ursulyak has a half-sister, Daria (1989). She is also an actress, serves in the theater "Satyricon".
Director Sergei Ursulyak is known for his films Russian Ragtime (1993), Composition for Victory Day (1998), as well as the series Liquidation (2007), Isaev (2009), Quiet Don (2015).
Remembering her childhood, Alexandra admitted that at that time she dreamed of growing up as soon as possible. Her energetic and active nature wanted independence and freedom. She was active, even a problem child. In high school, she skipped school, and when she was expelled for this reason, she wanted to drop out altogether. It was difficult for her mild-tempered mother to cope with Alexandra. Therefore, in high school, she moved to her paternal grandmother. Ursulyak finished the eleventh grade under her supervision: her grandmother transferred her granddaughter to the school where she herself worked as a teacher.
Of the entire arsenal for the creative development of a child, Alexandra attended only a music school. The father did not want an acting career for his eldest daughter. On the contrary, he happily grabbed every opportunity to channel her ebullient energy into something more mundane, reliable. Ursulyak with a laugh recalled how her father praised her hairdressing talent when the girl awkwardly cut her sister's bangs.
But after school, Alexandra firmly decided to enter the theater. And she gave herself only one year to implement her plans. The grandmother called the family friend Pavel Lyubimtsev, who taught at the Shchukin school, and asked to help her granddaughter with the preparation. At the entrance exams, she read the poem "Grandmother" by Marina Tsvetaeva.
Ursulyak reached the main competition in two universities at once, but chose the Moscow Art Theater School. The actress explained her choice by the fact that teachers Dmitry Brusnikin, Roman Kozak, Alla Pokrovskaya immediately endeared her to themselves with a warm, human attitude. Alexandra's classmates were Daria Kalmykova, Sergei Lazarev, Alexander Matrosov, Daria Moroz, with many of them she is still very friendly. During her studies, the student began to play in the performances "The Misanthrope", "A few days in the life of Alyosha Karamazov", "Romeo and Juliet", which were staged by her teachers.
Creativity: acting career and other projects
Having received an acting diploma, in 2003 Ursulyak came to the Pushkin Theater. She was called by her beloved master and teacher, Roman Kozak, who recently became the head of this theater and selected a team of like-minded people. Alexandra has remained faithful to her first job for 15 years. She very quickly became one of the main stars of the Pushkin Theater. She performed her debut role in the production of "The Black Prince" based on the novel of the same name by Iris Murdoch, although in fact she was introduced into the play in her fourth year of study. For this work in 2003 Ursulyak received the “Idol” award in the “Hope of the Year” nomination.
This was followed by leading roles in the most diverse performances:
- Romeo and Juliet (2002);
- Gypsies (2002);
- Nights of Cabiria (2004);
- "Happy weekday!" (2004);
- "Borrow a tenor!" (2005-2017);
- Madame Bovary (2006);
- "Office" (2008).
In all her acting characters, Alexandra knows how to be organic, for which she receives rave reviews from critics and recognition from the audience. She considers her meteoric rise in the theater to be the result of a very warm, almost kinship relationship with the director Roman Kozak and his wife Alla Sigalova. They liked to work together: Ursulyak studied with eminent spouses, and they molded an experienced and strong personality out of the young actress.
After the death of Kozak in 2010, Alexandra spent some time without noticeable roles. Finally, in 2011, Evgeny Pisarev entrusted her to play Beatrice in the play Much Ado About Nothing. In 2013, the premiere of The Kind Man from Sesuan, based on the play by the German playwright Brecht, took place. The director was Yuri Butusov. Ursulyak played two roles at once - women Shen Te and her brother Shui Ta. The actress took German lessons in order to correctly perform zongs (a kind of ballad) in the play. Alexandra's performance in The Kind Man from Cezuan was recognized as truly masterpiece. For this work, she was awarded the most prestigious theater awards:
- Crystal Turandot (2013);
- Theater Star (2013);
- The Golden Mask (2014).
In 2013-2014, Ursulyak tried her hand at a new genre and played Velma Kelly in the Russian version of the musical "Chicago". Especially for the role, she did a lot of vocals and choreography. In 2018, the premiere of the play "Drums in the Night" took place - the second collaboration between the actress and director Butusov. Alexandra was again nominated for the Golden Mask award.
With cinema, Alexandra Sergeevna is not yet doing as well as she would like. Basically, she appears in serials and sitcoms in supporting roles, and made her debut in the TV series "Station" (2003). However, the actress is full of optimism and believes that she will still play in serious film projects. Just in 2017, she was invited to play the role of the wife of the cosmonaut Yevgeny Leonov in the highly publicized film "Time of the First". Perhaps Ursulyak has already taken the first step towards success in big cinema.
The actress did not stay away from popular television projects. In 2014, together with Roman Kostomarov, she performed on the Ice Age show. She also won the 10th season of the Dancing with the Stars project in 2016 with dancer Denis Tagintsev.
In almost every interview, the actress is asked why her father does not film her in his films. She says that the director Ursulyak has not yet picked up the role for her daughter that will perfectly match her inner world. But Alexandra does not lose hope of someday working with a talented father. But he will definitely not be ashamed of his daughter, given her success and colossal acting experience. Finally, in 2018, this dream came true in the TV series "Bad Weather".
Personal life
Ursulyak married early. Her chosen one was the actor Alexei Golubev, known for the TV series "Cadets", "Liquidation" and the films "Piranha Hunt", "Kandahar". The couple had two daughters - Anna (2006) and Alexandra (2008). The acting family union collapsed, according to rumors, due to Golubev's betrayal.
In August 2017, Alexandra gave birth to a son, Roman, from violinist Andrei Rosendent, with whom she is in an unofficial marriage.
