The theater and film actress Elena Prudnikova is the heiress of the French revolutionary who got lost in the vastness of Russia during the time of Herzen and the Don Cossacks-Old Believers.
She was born in Rostov-on-Don in 1949, where she spent her childhood. There were repressed, revolutionary-minded and prosperous people in her family. One of the great-grandfathers is a horse breeder, the other is a French nihilist. And the fate of all ancestors was very difficult.
Elena was also born at a time when the country was just recovering from a terrible war, life was not easy. However, from early childhood, Lena knew that she would become an actress.
When she was 10 years old, she began to study in the theater studio of the House of Pioneers. At various times such celebrities as the director A. Vasiliev, the actress E. Glushchenko, the actor and director A. Kaidanovsky were engaged there.
Elena really liked her classes, especially since she was entrusted with the main roles in performances, and was also instructed to read poetry at big city holidays, because she has a very clear voice.
Actor career
Inspired by success, Prudnikova went to Moscow, and entered the Moscow Art Theater School, which she graduated with success. Then, as was customary in Soviet times, she was assigned to the theaters of the country, and Elena again finds herself in her native Rostov, where she is admitted to the local theater. She played several roles here, but the dream of Moscow still lived in her heart.
Once Prudnikova decided: she went to audition at the Taganka Theater and was accepted into the troupe by Yuri Lyubimov. Here she was entrusted with an important role: Katerina in Ostrovsky's "The Thunderstorm" and other performances. Then there was the Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, working with famous directors. And along the way - work in the cinema.
Debut in cinema for Elena happened with the film "Gypsy" in 1967, when she was still a student. It was an episode, but in the early 70s she already had two films at once: "Two Sisters" and the comedy "Shores".
Elena's first significant role was in the melodrama "Acting" - especially since Freundlich, Kozakov, Bykov, Bronevoy were filmed here on the same stage - a star cast.
However, the actress's calling card is Katya Tatarinova in the film Two Captains. Critics assure that until now no one has been able to play Katya the way Prudnikova did, as if she entered the image of a girl.
In the 2000s, Elena Prudnikova starred in serials with her husband, and then tried her hand at producing: she became one of the producers of the drama "Once upon a time there was one woman," which caused a great resonance.
Personal life
Elena's first marriage happened in Rostov: she married a guy who was waiting for her while she studied to be an actress. They left for Moscow together, but soon realized that they had a different attitude to family life, and divorced.
Prudnikova's second husband is actor Andrei Smirnov. They met when both were not free, Andrei had two children. But the wedding still took place, and soon a daughter, Aglaya, appeared in the family, and after a while, a son, Alexei. Now Aglaya works as an editor on television, and Alexey is a director.
This marriage turned out to be strong - now Elena Iosifovna already has a granddaughter, and now the actress takes care of her family, and also supports her husband, who continues to engage in screenwriting and acting.
