Nikita Kukushkin: what is known about the mega-popular theater and film star and hipster icon

Nikita Kukushkin is a leading actor of the Gogol Center theater, a participant in many high-profile film and TV projects and just a star of hipster Moscow. He is very different from other colleagues in the shop and this does not bother him at all. What is known about this extraordinary person and why is his popularity growing every day?

Nikita Andreevich Kukushkin was born on November 14, 1990 in Moscow. He never saw his father, and the boy's mother was engaged in the upbringing of the boy. Nikita grew up as a very restless child, so after the first grade, his mother sent him to a specialized theater school, where the children had a great opportunity to direct their energy in a creative direction.

But it was not easy to cope with Kukushkin at the theater school either – he grew up independent, boldly denied established values and constantly joked and played the fool. It all ended with the fact that the boy was sent to home schooling and Nikita graduated from school as an external, immediately coming to the 11th grade of the Moscow secondary school.

After receiving the certificate, Kukushkin did not even think about anything else, except for the theater stage. Time after time, he unsuccessfully entered the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio, until on the third attempt he took this citadel of art. We are used to Nikita with a shaved head, but he came to the audition with long hair and charmed the admissions committee with a song by Radiohead.

An unusual guy attracted the attention of director Kirill Semyonovich Serebryakov. "This is a new type of actor," he said about Nikita and began to hone his talents with the firm hand of an experienced master. Soon Kukushkin became a member of the" Seventh Studio", which formed the basis of the now famous"Gogol Center".

Among Nikita's first successes in the theater, it is worth noting the performances "(M)the Disciple", which received a nomination for the Golden Mask award, "Brothers", "The Hunt for the Snork" and "Metamorphoses". Kukushkin is not afraid to experiment and shock-in the production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream", the actor went on stage completely naked. However, Nikita believes that what an actor looks like in a particular role does not matter at all – the main thing is how accurately he conveys the idea embedded in the image of the hero by the author.

Soon after the first successes in the theater, recognition came in films and on television. Kukushkin starred in the TV series "Cadetship" , in the mystical detective "Full Moon" and the films "Okolofutbola" and "Immersion", where he was entrusted with serious character roles.

The first major award in cinema, the prize of the Amur Autumn Festival, was brought to Kukushkin by the role of a young man in love with a wheelchair girl in the drama "Correction Class". The actor is also filmed in music videos, for example, he can be seen in commercials shot by the Cream Soda group, where his partners in the frame were Alexander Bashirov, Alexander Gudkov, Alyona Sviridova, Valentina Mazunina, Sergey Druzhko and Evgeny Ponasenkov.

Nikita Kukushkin's filmography is very extensive and diverse. There are also fantastic films in it, such as "Attraction" by Fyodor Bondarchuk, and classic ones – "Walking through Torments", based on the work of Alexey Tolstoy. In 2019, Nikita tried himself as a director and very successfully.

His production of " God " for the Gogol Center is a play about forest animals, filled with metaphors and veiled images. Among the heroes of the action, even a not too sophisticated viewer easily recognized the current president, the opposition, and various groups of ordinary people.

Kukushkin is generally not afraid of anything in this life – he boldly defended Pavel Ustinov, who was accused of attacking a Russian guardsman during the protests, and even recorded a video in support of him. Nikita does not like politics, but in such matters he is very principled and always goes straight to the truth.

In 2019, the actor made a bold comic New Year's address to the people, in the image of Nevladimir Neputin. The video, which aired on the Dozhd channel, was well received and it was viewed more than 80 thousand times. Another "stone in the garden" of the current government is a video about the president's doubles and the loss of the original, which was seen by 1.5 million netizens.

About his point of view on the world and on the events taking place around it, he says this:

In the summer of 2020, Nikita Kukushkin together with Alexander Pal started a new project: the comedy show "Morning Transmission". In it, the guys perform many different roles, masterfully reincarnating with the help of makeup, clothes and, of course, their talent.

Nikita does not like to talk about his personal life, but everyone knows that he is married to actress Anna Nazarova. Nikita has known his future wife since childhood, but he began to communicate when both were studying at theater universities. A comic story is connected with Kukushkin's marriage, which he told on his Instagram. After registering the marriage in the Griboyedov registry office, the groom accidentally mixed up the passports and took the bride's document.

Immediately from the registry office, Kukushkin went to the airport to fly to the shooting and found the error only when checking documents by border guards. He had to use all his gift of persuasion to get on board the liner, but everything ended well – he was allowed to pass with someone else's passport.

Nikita and Anna are raising a daughter, Sofia, who is basically called only by her full name. Nazarova claims that her husband is an ideal father, attentive, honest and very kind. It remains to add that Kukushkin is not only a kind father, but also a person who is not indifferent to someone else's misfortune. In 2019, Nikita presented an application that makes it possible to provide assistance with food, money and medicines to pensioners, and specifically, right at home.

Earlier we told about another wonderful actor-Anton Lapenko, who can easily play champagne or an ant on stage.