There are people who seem to be not very “stellar” in life, but other stars would not have been able to ignite without them.
These words can be fully attributed to Yekaterina Voronina, the wife and muse of director Sergei Nikonenko.
Ekaterina was born in 1946 in Moscow. Nothing is known about her childhood. Journalists know that Voronina never gives frank interviews, does not talk about her past and personal life. She has a firm position on this matter: everything that the press needs to know about her life can be told by her husband. And she has nothing to add.
Apparently, the acting couple fears that the presentation of information by modern media can be used as black PR, and not as facts. Probably for this reason, little is known about Catherine's student years: she entered the VGIK at the acting department, graduated from it in 1970. Having received the specialty "theater and film actress", Voronina goes to work at the film studio. Gorky.
Film career
Ekaterina Voronina, a member of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia and a member of the Guild of Cinema Actors of Russia, has a poor track record in the film industry: only 30 roles, most of which are of the second plan.
However, many viewers are sure that the potential of the actress is not fully revealed, and if there was such an opportunity, then Catherine could play more major and larger roles, create many unique images.
In the meantime, viewers saw her only in episodes in the film "Office Romance" (1977) as an employee of the statistical department, in the film "Do not part with your loved ones" (1979) as Shumilova, which the audience did not really remember, despite the noisy success of these films …
However, there are two pictures in which viewers could observe Voronina's subtle, ironic and touching play. This is the film "Fir-trees-sticks" (1988) directed by Nikonenko, where he and his wife played together: he is a failed philosopher, she is the dressmaker Luba, who is in love with him. Catherine so accurately portrayed the experiences of a woman who is not noticed by her beloved man, that looking at her, more than one woman wept over her bitter fate. At the same time, there was so much humor in the role of Lyuba that it is a pleasure to watch this film.
The second film, where Voronina's task was even more difficult, was the film I Want Your Husband (1992), in which she starred with Mikhail Zadornov: he is a husband, she is a wife. And a very young girl came to take Zadornov away from her - naive and very beautiful. She directly asked to give her husband, to which the wise woman agreed. But at the same time she gave him such a characteristic …
The grace of depicting the experiences of a deceived wife, who at the same time plans to deceive both her husband and his mistress, is beyond praise.
Together with Sergei Nikonenko, Ekaterina also played in the film "I don’t want to marry" and others. She mainly starred in her husband's films after he switched from the acting profession to the director's craft.
Yeseninsky center
Her husband Sergei Nikonenko and everyone who knows her call Ekaterina Alekseevna "a man of a huge soul." The facts confirm this definition: in 1996, Voronina and Nikonenko, at their own expense, opened the Sergey Yesenin Cultural Center on the Arbat.
It so happened that Nikonenko's apartment was located not far from the former apartment of the poet Yesenin. When the couple arrived there, they were amazed at the rout that reigned there. And then the decision came to create a memorial place dedicated to Yesenin in this apartment. Moreover, in his youth, Sergei Nikonenko brilliantly played his role in the film "Sing a song, poet …" (1971). We can say that Catherine invested in the creation of the center a particle of her love for her husband and his work.
For a year and a half they pounded the doorsteps of officials, seeking to transfer an apartment from a residential to a non-residential fund. And when it finally happened, they made repairs at their own expense, and the Yesenin Center began to work. Ekaterina Voronina became the executive director here and remains so now, despite her advanced age.
Personal life
Ekaterina Voronina is the third and last wife of Sergei Nikonenko. The director jokes that he is also the most valuable, because it was too difficult for him to get. And he compares courtship with Catherine with the storming of the Bastille - it was on this memorable date that Voronina married him.
Catherine was then 25 years old, and she was a rather unapproachable girl. However, in 1972 Nikonenko and Voronina got married and have not parted since then. Of course, not counting the work of her husband when he was on the set. However, they were often together on the set as well.
They had a son, Nikanor, and after that Catherine began to devote more time to her child and husband, and her career was in the background. The son grew up and followed in his father's footsteps: he became a director.
A tragedy once happened in their life: the wife of their son died, and the grandson Petya remained in the care of the grandmother and grandfather. Then Nikanor married another woman, and the grandson remained with Nikonenko.
On the eve of the sapphire wedding Nikonenko and Voronin took part in the TV show "Tonight". Three of them came: grandfather, grandmother and grandson. It was not difficult to notice how much mutual attention, warmth and love there is in this family. But the spouses have lived together for more than 45 years.
Sergei Nikonenko still claims that his wife, Yekaterina Voronina, was, is and will be the inspirer and a kind of "fulcrum" in their family.
