Oksana Shvets


Oksana Oleksandrivna Shvets was a Ukrainian actress. She worked for the Kyiv National Academic Molodyy Theatre from its foundation in 1980 until her death, and was awarded the title Merited Artist of Ukraine, one of the highest Ukrainian honours for performing artists, in 1996. She also appeared on stage at the Ternopil Music and Drama Theatre and the Kyiv Theatre of Satire. She played in film and on television, such as in the 2013 Russian-Ukrainian series House with Lilies.

Biography

Born in Kyiv, Shvets was a graduate of the theatre studio at the Ivan Franko Theatre in 1975 and of the faculty of theatre studies of the I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre in 1986. Shvets worked at the, and the Kyiv Theatre of Satire. She worked as an ensemble member of the Kyiv National Academic Molodyy Theatre from its foundation in 1980 until her death. The company lists many of her roles and plays. She played in the 2013 production of Гоголь-могол by Nikolai Erdman.
She appeared as Natasha in Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters, directed by O. Uteganov. She performed as Hannah in a 2015 production of Зачарований, based on the play by. It was directed by Andriy Bilous, the theatre's intendant. Theatre critic praised her performance, finding complexities in the mother-in-law's character, not just bad temper. In a 2016 production of Поступися місцем! by Viña Delmar, she played the role of Nemi. The play, filmed as Make Way for Tomorrow, and described as a sad comedy, was directed by Dmytro Veselsky.
In 1996, her long-time engagement and "outstanding achievement in the performing arts" was honoured with the title Merited Artist of Ukraine, one of the highest Ukrainian awards for performing artists.
While best known for her work on the stage, she played in several films and television series. She appeared in the film Завтра буде завтра. Her first television series was Nasledniki in 1976, playing a minor role. In 2003, she appeared in an episode of Повернення Мухтара, an action-adventure series in Russian running for almost 20 years. She starred in all eight episodes of the Ukrainian series Таємниця Святого Патріка in 2006. In 2013, she appeared in Russian-Ukrainian Дім з ліліями, a TV series about fictional war hero Michail Govorov and his family from World War II to 2013, as the director of an orphanage.

Death

On 17 March 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Shvets died in a shelling attack by Russian troops on a Kyiv residential building where she lived.