Olesya Zheleznyak


Olesya Vladimirovna Zheleznyak is a Russian theater and film actress, TV presenter. Winner of the All-Russian Theater Prize in 2002.

Biography

Olesya Zheleznyak was born on November 11, 1974, in Moscow. Her mother worked as a seamstress, and her father a loader. She has an older sister Lyudmila. The family has Ukrainian ancestry, and in a 2023 interview she claimed she was Ukrainian.
In childhood, she studied at a choreographic studio. In 1999 she graduated from the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts and was accepted into the troupe of the Lenkom Theatre. Her first performance was The Barbarian and the Heretic.
Zheleznyak became popular after a successful film debut in the film Silver Lily of the Valley by Tigran Keosayan. In 2015, she dubbed Sadness in the animated film Inside Out in Russian. She appeared in the second season of ice show contest Ice Age.

Political views

Zheleznyak is an avid supporter of the presidency of Vladimir Putin. She has repeatedly visited Russian-occupied Crimea and has publicly supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine, claiming in 2023 that Volodymyr Zelenskyy "brings evil" and wants to "kill my children".

Selected filmography

Silver Lily of the Valley as Zoya MisochkinaBalakirev the Buffoon as Dunya BurykinaMy Fair Nanny as Galya KopylovaLove in the Big City as PelageyaSvaty as Larisa8 First Dates as Zinaida IvanovnaAnd Here's What's Happening to Me as NastyaMilk as woman in the parkPapy as Elena MishinaPoyekhavshaya as Katerina

Personal life

Olesya is married to actor Spartak Sumchenko. They have four children.