He began his political career in 2019 and ran in the 2019 presidential elections in Ukraine. Based on
the voting results, he was elected President of Ukraine .Vladimir Oleksandrovich
Zelensky is a Ukrainian state and
political figure . President of Ukraine since May 20, 2019 . Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine . Before
being elected president, he was widely known as a showman , actor , comedian , director , producer .and screenwriter . He
was a co-owner and artistic director of the Kvartal-95 Studio (2003-2019) and the
general producer of the Inter TV channel (2010-2012).
He began his career path with participation in KVN in the teams " Zaporozhye - Krivoy Rog - Transit ", "Team of Krivoy Rog" and " 95th quarter " , in the latter of which Vladimir Zelensky was the captain, actor and author of most of the numbers.
In 2003, after leaving KVN, the Zelensky team "95th quarter" began to give concerts on television. Already as "Studio Kvartal-95" in 2005, the team creates the show " Evening Quarter ", in which Vladimir Zelensky appears as an ideologist, author, director and leading actor.
In 2010-2011 he worked as the general producer of the Inter TV channel. Throughout his career, he has acted in numerous television projects, most notably as an actor (“Evening Quarter”), presenter (“ Evening Kiev ”, “ League of Laughter ”) and a judge (“ Make the Comedian Laugh” ) .
Vladimir Zelensky took part in the production of over two dozen films and television series as an actor (“ Love in the City ”, “ 8 First Dates ”, “ Me, You, He, She ” and others), producer (“ Matchmakers ” , " I'll be there ", " Love in the City 3 " and others), screenwriter ("Matchmakers"), and was also a dubbing actor (" Horton ", " Paddington Adventures " and others) .
During 2015-2018, Volodymyr Zelenskyy played the role of Vasily Goloborodko, a history teacher who is elected President of Ukraine, in the TV series Servant of the People . The television series was repeatedly accused of political advertising , and the first three episodes of the third season of the series were released immediately before the first round of the presidential elections in Ukraine in 2019, in which Vladimir Zelensky took part as a nominee of the Servant of the People party of the same name as the television series and received the most votes. After winning the second round of elections, he was elected to the post of President of Ukraine .
Zelensky began to actively study the Ukrainian language in 2017,
having previously used Russian in communication .
Volodymyr Zelensky has been repeatedly criticized by the public . Among other
things, he is accused of having links with Igor Kolomoisky . Zelensky has been
the subject of several stories related to offshore companies and the concealment of an
undeclared mansion in Italy .
Childhood and youth
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelensky was born on January 25, 1978 in
the city of Krivoy
Rog (Ukrainian SSR) into a Ukrainian - Jewish family . Speaks Ukrainian , Russian and English .
Grandfather - Semyon Ivanovich Zelensky (1924, Krivoy Rog -?), Ukrainian , participant in the Great Patriotic War . During
the war years - the commander of a mortar platoon, then - the commander of a
rifle company of the 174th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 57th Guards Rifle Division . In 1944 he
was awarded two orders of the Red Star , he finished the war
with the rank of lieutenant
of the guard .
Father - Alexander Semyonovich Zelensky (born December 23,
1947), mathematician, programmer , doctor of technical sciences , professor ,
head of the department of computer science - teacher at the same university where Vladimir studied . My father lived
and worked in Mongolia for
20 years , building a mining and processing plant in the city of Erdenet .
Mother - Rimma Vladimirovna Zelenskaya (born September 16,
1950), has an engineering education, 40 years of work experience, is currently retired .
As a child, he lived with his parents for four years in Mongolia ,
where his father worked. He graduated from the first class there, after
which Vladimir and his mother returned to Krivoy Rog . He studied at
school number 95 with in-depth study of the English language. During his
school years he was engaged in Greco-Roman wrestling , weightlifting,
collecting stamps, playing the piano, ballroom dancing, playing basketball and
volleyball. He took part in school amateur performances, was a guitarist
in the school ensemble . At the age of 16
he received a grant for
free education in Israel ,
but his father was against it .
Graduated from school in 1995. At school, he dreamed of
becoming a diplomat and
was even preparing to enter MGIMO ,
but he entered the Kryvyi Rih Economic Institute of the Kiev National Economic
University , from which he graduated
in 2000. He never worked according to his specialty .
Creative career
KVN
In the 11th grade, he organized a team of graduates and played
in KVN with a team of teachers, the students won . After school, he
played in the KVN team "Young Krivoy Rog" , then he was invited to
the KVN team " Zaporozhye - Krivoy Rog - Transit " to
stage dance numbers; Gradually, Zelensky's role in the team expanded, and
he began to participate in numbers as well. Simultaneously with Zelensky, the future actors of the
Kvartal-95 studio came to Zaporozhye - Krivoy Rog - Transit :
Denis Manzhosov, Yuri Krapov , Alexander Pikalov . It was them after the 1997 season, in which "Zaporozhye - Krivoy
Rog - Transit" became the champion, created a new team, which was called
" 95th quarter ". Vladimir Zelensky
became in it not only an actor and captain, but also one of the leading
authors.
From 1998 to 2003, the 95th quarter performed in the Higher League of KVN , the team members
practically lived in Moscow and
constantly toured the cities of the CIS . As part of the "95th
quarter" Zelensky in 2002 reached the semi-finals of the Major League
of KVN and twice (in 2000 and 2001) became the owner of "KiViN in the
light" - the second prize of the music festival of KVN "Voicing
KiviN".
Studio
"Kvartal-95"
At the end of 2003, the Ukrainian TV channel " 1 + 1 " offered the "95th
quarter" to make a series of concerts, consisting of the best numbers of
the team.
In 2004, the team began to prepare a project, while
simultaneously working on various television programs. Vladimir led the
culinary show "Mr. Cook". All income was invested in a common
project, and in 2005, the TV show " Evening Quarter " began on the Inter TV channel , the ideologist, author,
director and leading actor of which is Vladimir Zelensky. The show quickly gained popularity and soon overtook KVN and Comedy Club in
ratings among the Ukrainian audience . Critics attribute the
"Evening Quarter" to a political cabaret.
In addition, the 95th Quarter team has grown into the Kvartal-95
studio, owned by Vladimir Zelensky, Boris and Sergey Shefiry, and Andrey Yakovlev .
The studio released several TV projects (“Evening Quarter”,
“Fight Club”, “Ukraine, get up”), wrote scripts for TV shows (“Song of the
Year”, “Polundra”), musicals (“Chasing Two Hares”, “Three Musketeers”, "A
very New Year's movie or a night at the museum"), films , corporate parties.
In the periods from December 2010 to August 2011 and from
November 2011 to September 2012, Vladimir Zelensky was the general producer of
the Inter channel, a number of senior positions on the channel were held by
members of his team . Financing was
concentrated mainly on the production of projects by the Kvartal-95 studio .
In 2012, as part of the TV show " Evening Kiev " , aired on the Ukrainian channel " 1 + 1 ", he staged and read the text from the author in the animated series " Fairytale Russia " .
TV projects
- 2004 - "Mr. Cook" (host)
- 2005-2019 - " Evening Quarter " (actor, author)
- "Fight Club" (host)
- " Song of the Year in Ukraine" (presenter)
- 2006 and 2018 - " Dancing with the Stars ", participant paired with Alena Shoptenko and winner in 2006, in 2018 - member of the jury of the last broadcast
- 2008 - Office Romance (host)
- 2010 - “Destroyed in Ukraine” (host with Valery Zhidkov )
- "Pure NEWS" (host)
- 2011 - " Millionaire - Hot Seat " (host)
- 2011-2018 - " Make the Comedian Laugh " - Ukrainian version (jury member with Evgeny Koshev , formerly with Mikhail Galustyan )
- International Music Festival in Yalta "Crimea Music Fest" (presenter together with Masha Efrosinina and Maxim Galkin )
- 2011-2013 - "Sunday with the Quarter" (idea and producer)
- 2012-2017 - " Evening Kiev " (host with Valery Zhidkov)
- 2012 - "Chervone abo chorne" (host)
- 2013 - “ I want V VIA Gro ” (host with Vera Brezhneva )
- 2014 - "I want to Meladze" (author of the idea)
- 2015 - "Guess the box" (author of the idea)
- 2015-2018 - " League of Laughter " (host)
- TV projects in Russia
- 2006, 2010-2012 - television concerts of the "Evening Quarter" ( TV Center , STS , " Russia-1 ")
- 2010 — New Wave 2010 . Prime Minister's Day "(" Russia-1 ") - one of the leading
- 2011 - Factor A. Season 1 ”(“ Russia-1 ”) - presenter with Philip Kirkorov
- 2011 - " New wave 2011 . Day of the world hit ”(“ Russia-1 ”) - one of the leading
- 2011 - “Magic” (“Russia-1”) - presenter with Tatyana Lazareva (three episodes aired in May 2019 on NTV , a previously re-edited version of the footage of the 1st episode was released on July 9, 2012 on "1 + 1" with Yuri Gorbunov)
- 2011 - "New Year's Parade of Stars-2012" ("Russia-1") - presenter with Maxim Galkin
- 2012 - Make the comedian laugh . Russian version ”(“ Russia-1 ”) - jury member with Maxim Galkin. In February 2014, castings were planned for the relaunch of the Russian version on the STS channel, but they were subsequently canceled
- 2012 - " New wave 2012 . Day of the world hit ”(“ Russia-1 ”) - one of the leading
- 2012 - "New Year's Parade of Stars-2013" ("Russia-1") - guest of the program
- 2013, 2014 - "First / Second New Year's Eve" ("Russia-1") - co-host with Maxim Galkin.
- 2013 - " New wave 2013 . Day of the world hit ”(“ Russia-1 ”) - one of the leading
- 2013 - "New Year's Parade of Stars-2014" ("Russia-1") - guest of the program
- 2014 - " Blue Light -2014" ("Russia-1") - guest of the program
Cinema
In 2008, he starred as dentist Igor in the feature film "Love in the Big City", filmed according to the script of the same "Studio Kvartal-95".
In 2010, a sequel was released called Love in the Big City 2. On January 25, the premiere of the film " Rzhevsky against Napoleon " took place, where Zelensky played one of the main roles - Napoleon Bonaparte . On March 17, 2011, the premiere of the film Office Romance. Our time ", where he played Anatoly Novoseltsev. On March 8, 2012, the film " 8 First Dates " was released, where he played the main role. On January 1, 2014, the comedy Love in the Big City 3 was released in cinemas, where Vladimir again played the role of Igor the dentist. On January 1, 2015, the film "8 New Dates" also starring him is released.
On April 24, 2019, the director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Artem Sytnik said that NABU suspects the Kinokvartal company, founded by Volodymyr Zelensky, of embezzling public funds. An investigation has been launched against the company. Sytnyk said that in April NABU received an application from the Union of Volunteers organization. According to her, Goskino of Ukraine financed 49% of the budget of the film " I, you, he, she ", released by "Kinokvartal". The company undertook to create a film entirely in Ukrainian or Crimean Tatar, but did not fulfill this condition, according to the Union of Volunteers.
Filmography
Actor
- 2004 - Casanova reluctantly
- 2004 - Three Musketeers - d'Artagnan
- 2006 - Police Academy - Minaev
- 2007 - Very New Year's movie, or Night at the Museum - Vasya Vasilkov
- 2009 - Love in the big city - Igor
- 2009 - Like Cossacks ... - Ostap / Fandorin
- 2010 - Love in the big city 2 - Igor
- 2011 - Office romance. Our time - Anatoly Efremovich Novoseltsev
- 2012 - Rzhevsky against Napoleon - Napoleon
- 2012 - 8 first dates - Nikita Andreevich Sokolov
- 2013 - Love in the big city 3 - Igor
- 2014 - 8 new dates - Nikita Andreevich Sokolov
- 2015 - Servant of the people (TV series) - Vasily Petrovich Goloborodko, history teacher in high school / President of Ukraine
- 2016 - 8 best dates - Nikita Andreevich Sokolov
- 2016 - Servant of the People 2 - Vasily Petrovich Goloborodko, high school history teacher / President of Ukraine
- 2017 - Servant of the people (TV series) - Vasily Petrovich Goloborodko, President of Ukraine, candidate for President of Ukraine
- 2018 - I, you, he, she - Maxim
- 2019 - Servant of the people (TV series) - Vasily Petrovich Goloborodko, President of Ukraine
Screenwriter
- 2003 - For two hares
- 2005 - Three Musketeers
- 2005 - Food is served!
- 2008 - Matchmakers
- 2009 - Matchmakers 2
- 2009 - Matchmakers 3
- 2010 - Matchmakers 4
- 2010 - Love in the big city 2
- 2010 - New Year's matchmakers
- 2011 - Office romance. Nowadays
- 2011 - Matchmakers 5
- 2012 - Rzhevsky against Napoleon
- 2012 - 8 first dates
- 2013 - Love in the big city 3
- 2014 - 8 new dates
Producer
- 2008 - Matchmakers
- 2009 - Matchmakers 2
- 2009 - Matchmakers 3
- 2009 - Miracle
- 2009 - Like the Cossacks ...
- 2010 - New Year's matchmakers
- 2010 - Matchmakers 4
- 2011 - Maiden Hunt
- 2011 - Matchmakers 5
- 2011 - Champions from the backyard
- 2012 - Rzhevsky against Napoleon
- 2012 - 8 first dates
- 2012 - I'll be there
- 2012 - Dads
- 2012 - Moms 2
- 2012 - Matchmakers 6
- 2013 - Love in the big city 3
- 2014 - 8 new dates
- 2015 - Servant of the people
- 2016 - Servant of the people 2
- 2016 - Boys
- 2017 - Servant of the people: From love to impeachment
Producer
- 2018 - I, you, he, she (together with David Dodson)
Dubbing into Ukrainian
- 2008 - Horton - Mayor of Khtovsk
- 2014 - The Adventures of Paddington - Paddington
- 2016 - Angry Birds Movie - Red
- 2017 - Paddington Adventures 2 - Paddington
Art awards and prizes
- Honorary diploma of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine ( June 23, 2003 ) - for a significant personal contribution to the implementation of state youth policy, support for the social formation and development of youth and on the occasion of Youth Day.
- In the creative asset has 10 full-length feature films. Winner of more than 30 awards of the National Television Award of Ukraine "Teletriumf". He is also the winner of awards and laureate of many international film, television festivals and media forums.
Political career
Social and political activity
Supported Euromaidan. During the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, Zelensky supported the actions of the Ukrainian army and volunteer battalions , gave concerts to Ukrainian military personnel who took part in the hostilities in the Donbass , together with other participants of the “95th quarter" donated one million hryvnia for the needs of volunteer battalions .
In his speeches, he began to ridicule Russian politicians and residents of Russia , the self-proclaimed republics: the DPR and the LPR. At the same time, Zelensky had difficulties in Russia. In particular, the show “Evening Quarter” was canceled on Russian television, and in February 2015, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation , at the request of the deputy of the Moscow municipal district Yakimanka Dmitry Zakharov, began checking information on funding by Zelensky, as well as other Ukrainian cultural figures of the actions of the Ukrainian security forces .
Work was also frozen on the
seventh season of the popular and commercially successful Russian-Ukrainian
television series Matchmakers ; some media reported that
political differences between Zelensky and Russian actors were the cause .
At the
same time, Zelensky opposed the ban on the entry of Russian cultural figures to
Ukraine and spoke negatively about the proposal to ban the TV series
“Matchmakers” on the territory of Ukraine .
As the
president of Ukraine, he promised $1 million to the creator of the
coronavirus vaccine .
Presidential Campaign
(2019)
In
December 2018, in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Dmitry
Gordon , Volodymyr Zelensky announced the intention of his Servant of
the People party to participate in future parliamentary
elections .
On
December 31, 2018, a few minutes before the New Year, Volodymyr Zelensky
addressed the Ukrainians on the 1 + 1 TV channel , where he announced
that he would participate in the presidential elections in Ukraine ,
moreover, for this, the time was moved to a later time the traditional
congratulations of the President of Ukraine Petro
Poroshenko (Zelensky's subsequent statements about a technical error were
refuted by the press service of 1 + 1, which positioned the incident as a
conscious step of the channel ).
On
January 21, 2019, the Servant of the People party nominated Volodymyr Zelensky
as a candidate for the presidency of Ukraine .
At the
end of January, Zelensky came out on top in pre-election polls for the first
time . By February, Zelensky's rating rose to 25-30% ,
and in mid-March - up to 34% .
On March
31, the first round of the presidential elections took place, in which the
largest number of votes (30.24%) was won by Vladimir Zelensky - almost twice as
many as the incumbent President Petro Poroshenko .
In the
second round of elections, which Zelensky entered together with Petro
Poroshenko, he won, according to the final results of the CEC of
Ukraine , 73.22% of the vote (13.5 million votes) .
On May 3,
information about the winner of the presidential election was published in the
publication of the Verkhovna Rada in the newspaper " Voice of
Ukraine " and the newspaper of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
" Government Courier " .
President of Ukraine
On August
29, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the IX
convocation approved the candidacy of Oleksiy Honcharuk for the
post of Prime Minister and approved the new composition of the
government . The Rada also approved, on the proposal of Volodymyr
Zelensky, Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko , Defense
Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk , Prosecutor General Ruslan
Ryaboshapka , and SBU head Ivan Bakanov .The inauguration of
Vladimir Zelensky took place on May 20, 2019. He called the ceasefire in
the east of the country and the return of " Ukrainian Crimea and
Donbas " the priorities of his team . In his
inaugural speech, Zelensky announced the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada and
called on members of the government to " vacate their seats for
those who will think about the next generations, not the next elections ."
On May
21, 2019, President Zelensky dissolved the current Verkhovna Rada of
Ukraine and called snap parliamentary elections. As Zelensky said at
a meeting with the leaders of parliamentary factions, "the main
argument for the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada is the very low confidence of
Ukrainian citizens in this organization - 4% " .
On July
21, 2019, snap parliamentary elections were held . The
pro-presidential Servant of the People party won 43.16% of the vote
and won 124 seats. In addition, the candidates supported by this party won
in 130 single-member constituencies. Thanks to this, the party won a
majority in parliament and formed a one-party government coalition.
President
of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky considers the USSR , like Nazi
Germany , to be guilty of the outbreak of World War II and
the Holocaust .
Property and Income
Vladimir
Zelensky declared for 2018 income in the amount of 9.7 million hryvnias (24
million rubles), his wife - 4.9 million hryvnias (12 million rubles). The
declaration of income is posted on the website of the National Agency for the
Prevention of Corruption. The Zelensky family has savings in accounts and
cash totaling more than 950 thousand dollars (65 million rubles) .
Vladimir
Zelensky is the owner of a house (353 m²), an apartment (131 m²), a land plot
(1200 m²) and two parking spaces in Kyiv. He also has three apartments
(132 m², 255 m² and 200 m²) jointly owned with his wife, a house in Italy (413
m²) and an apartment in the UK (92 m²), an apartment in Yalta (130 m²), as well
as ten hotel rooms. numbers in Georgia .
Zelensky
declared Rolex , Breguet , Bovet , Piaget , Tag
Heuer watches as valuable property , and his wife declared Breguet
watches, Graff earrings and a diamond ring. The Zelensky family owns Range
Rover (2016) and Mercedes-Benz S500 4 Matic (2014) .
According
to the declaration, the Zelenskys are the ultimate beneficiaries in
the following companies: Kinokvartal LLC, Kvartal-95 Studio LLC, Zelari Fish
LLC, Aldorante Limited (Cyprus), Vilhar Holdings Limited, Film Heritage inc
(Belize), San Tommaso SRL (Italy). In addition, Vladimir Zelensky has
shares in the following companies: Producer Center League of Laughter LLC,
Animation Studio 95 LLC, Kvartal TV LLC, Fish House LLC, Gaudi Studio LLC, Kvartal
-concert" .
According
to the Kommersant newspaper, during the presidential term, Vladimir Zelensky
got rid of all business assets, transferring the bulk of the business to
brothers Sergei and Boris Shefiram .
According
to the Pandora Archive , published in 2021 by the International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists , since 2012, Zelensky and his
partners in the Kvartal-95 studio have received $40 million from
oligarch Igor Kolomoisky through several offshore firms . Part
of the funds was invested in luxury real estate
in London . Details of part of the property were made public
ahead of the 2019 presidential election , when Zelensky handed over a
quarter of the offshore shares to Serhiy Shefir , who became
Zelensky's first aide as president. According to the
investigation, Elena Zelenskaya, Zelensky's wife, as of 2021 profits from
offshore assets .
Family
Wife
(since September 6, 2003) - Elena Vladimirovna Zelenskaya (girl
Kiyashko, born February 6, 1978). An architect by education, she graduated
from the Krivoy Rog Technical
University with honors . The beneficiary of Studio
Kvartal - 95 LLC (owns 0.01% of the company, the remaining
99.99% belongs to the spouse), owns 25% of Zelari Fish LLC, which
processes and preserves fish . Screenwriter and author of
Studio Quarter 95. Vladimir and Elena have known each other since school,
where they studied in parallel classes .
Vladimir
and Elena have two children: daughter Alexandra (born July 15, 2004) and son
Kirill (born January 21, 2013) . In 2014, Alexandra starred in
the film "8 New Dates" as Sasha, the daughter of the
protagonist ; in 2016 she participated in the show “Make the
comedian laugh. Children” and won 50,000 hryvnias ; her
godfather is Sergei Kravets, husband of Elena Kravets .
Father-in -law - Vladimir Timofeevich Kiyashko (born August 15, 1951) works as an assistant to deputy Oleg Bondarenko from the Servant of the People party on a voluntary basis, deals with the topic of cleaning Ukraine from industrial waste, candidate of technical sciences, associate professor of the department of building structures and structures of the Kiev Institute of Railway Transport, teaches the discipline "Building structures and structures in transport" .
