Irina Petrovna Kupchenko (Russian: Ирина Петровна Купченко; born 1 March 1948 in Vienna) is a Soviet and Russian stage and film actress. She rose to prominence after acting in Andrei Konchalovsky's 1969 movie adaptation of A Nest of Gentry.[1] She has performed in more than forty films since 1969.

Irina Kupchenko
Irina Kupchenko in 2017
Born
Irina Petrovna Kupchenko

(1948-03-01) March 1, 1948 (age 76)
NationalityRussian
OccupationActress
Years active1969–present

Her performance in Lonely Woman Seeks Life Companion won her a Best Actress award at the Montreal World Film Festival.[2][3]

She also played Alexandre in The Last Night of the Last Tsar, a play that was based on the book The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II by Edvard Radzinsky.[4]

Biography

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She was born in Vienna in a military family that, after the withdrawal of the Soviet Army in Austria (1955), moved to Kyiv. In childhood, Irina showed an interest in ballet. After high school, she initially studied foreign languages at the University of Kyiv, but after her debut in the role of Liza in A Nest of Gentlefolk, she decided to pursue a career in acting. She graduated from the Shchukin Theatre Institute in Moscow (1970) and began working in the Moscow Vakhtangov Theatre (1971).

Personal life

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She was married to actor Vasily Lanovoy until his death in 2021.[5]

Honors and awards

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Selected filmography

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Fil
Year Title Role Notes
2010 The Devil's Flower Polina's mother
2004 Moscow Saga Mayka's mother
2004 The Night is Bright[6] Zinaida Antonovna
2001 Come Look at Me Tatyana
2000 Old Hags[7] Anna[8]
1991 The Inner Circle[9] Directress
1990 Nikolai Vavilov (Николай Вавилов)[10] Lena
1988 Forgotten Melody for a Flute[11] Yelena
1987 A Lonely Woman Looking for a Companion[1] Klavdia
1983 Without Witness[12] She
1981 The Hound of the Baskervilles Beryl Stapleton
1979 September Vacation Galina
1978 An Ordinary Miracle Wizard's wife
1977 A Strange Woman[13] Yevgeniya Mihaylovna
1975 The Captivating Star of Happiness Trubetskaya
1974 A Lover's Romance Lyuda
1971 Uncle Vanya (Дядя Ваня)[14] Sonya[15]
1969 A Nest of Gentry Liza[16]

References

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  1. ^ a b Bert Cardullo (9 August 2012). European Directors and Their Films: Essays on Cinema. Scarecrow Press. p. 278. ISBN 978-0-8108-8527-1.
  2. ^ Nicholas Galichenko (6 December 2013). Glasnost—Soviet Cinema Responds. University of Texas Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-292-73439-5.
  3. ^ Soviet Film. Sovexportfilm. 1988.
  4. ^ John Freedman (28 June 2005). Moscow Performances II: The 1996-1997 Season. Routledge. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-135-29325-3.
  5. ^ Peter Rollberg (7 November 2008). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. Scarecrow Press. p. 394. ISBN 978-0-8108-6268-5.
  6. ^ Smorodinskaya (28 October 2013). Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Russian. Routledge. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-136-78786-7.
  7. ^ David MacFadyen (2003). The Sad Comedy of El_dar Riazanov: An Introduction to Russia's Most Popular Filmmaker. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. p. 278. ISBN 978-0-7735-2636-5.
  8. ^ Anna M. Lawton (2004). Imaging Russia 2000: Film and Facts. New Academia Publishing, LLC. p. 251. ISBN 978-0-9744934-3-5.
  9. ^ Jeff Milne (20 July 2009). Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: The Complete Guide to the Movie Trivia Game. Jeff Milne. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-615-28521-4.
  10. ^ Николай Вавилов (мини-сериал)
  11. ^ Michael Brashinsky; Andrew Horton (30 September 1994). Russian Critics on the Cinema of Glasnost. Cambridge University Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-521-44475-0.
  12. ^ New York Media, LLC (22 October 1984). "New York Magazine". Newyorkmetro.com. New York Media, LLC: 175. ISSN 0028-7369.
  13. ^ Jane Sloan (26 March 2007). Reel Women: An International Directory of Contemporary Feature Films about Women. Scarecrow Press. p. 277. ISBN 978-1-4616-7082-7.
  14. ^ Birgit Beumers (2011). Directory of World Cinema: Russia. Intellect Books. p. 184. ISBN 978-1-84150-372-1.
  15. ^ Robert Blumenfeld (2006). Tools and Techniques for Character Interpretation: A Handbook of Psychology for Actors, Writers, and Directors. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 280. ISBN 978-0-87910-326-2.
  16. ^ Focus on Film. Tantivy Press. 1973.
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