Vladimir Zelensky: a serious comedian or a funny politician?

10 min read
Vladimir Zelensky: a serious comedian or a funny politician?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
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Vladimir Zelensky – KVN man, actor, showman, producer, politician and just a charming person.

And this list is endless. An energetic man manages not only to engage in creative projects, but also to try his hand at a new field. In 2019, Zelensky is running for president of Ukraine!

Vladimir Zelensky’s family

How old is Zelensky? The future artist was born on January 25, 1978 in the city of Krivoy Rog. He is currently 41 years old. The nationality of Vladimir Zelensky is Ukrainian.

The boy grew up in an intelligent family. His father Alexander Semenovich worked as a teacher and had a doctorate in technical sciences, his mother Rimma Vladimirovna took care of the house and the child. Grandmother Olga Solomonovna helped raise the boy.

Vova spent his childhood and youth in the big city of Krivoy Rog. For 4 years, the Zelensky family went on a business trip to Mongolia, and then returned to Ukraine. Here the boy studied at the Kryvyi Rih gymnasium No. 95. During his school years, he enjoyed creative work: he played in performances, was a guitarist in an ensemble, danced, and participated in KVN school games. In addition, the energetic teenager managed to play volleyball and basketball.

An interesting fact about showman’s parameters. Vladimir Zelensky is 166 centimeters tall and weighs 70 kilograms.
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Zelensky, according to information on Wikipedia, studied well and graduated from school with only 2 fours. As a teenager, he dreamed of a career as a diplomat and was preparing to enter MGIMO, but eventually became a student at the Krivoy Rog Institute of Economics. Vladimir became a certified lawyer, but he never worked in his specialty.

KVN game

Even in his school years, the artistic Zelensky was fond of playing KVN. At the age of 17, together with his friend Denis Mandzhosov, he performed at the Homeless STEM, and then became a member of the Young Krivoy Rog team. Then the guy was noticed by more experienced cavalry officers from the Zaporozhye-Kryvyi Rih-Transit team. At first he took part in their choreographic numbers, and then became an active participant in productions.

Playing in KVN Vladimir Zelensky
Playing in KVN Vladimir Zelensky

A few years later, Zelensky, together with the young KVN players Denis Manzhosov, Sasha Pikalov and Yura Krapov, created their own team, the 95th Quarter. Vova became its captain, “face” and author of many productions.

“95th quarter” successfully performed in the Major League of KVN. From 1998 to 2003, KVN members actively toured and took part in most of the filming of the Club of the Cheerful and Resourceful. And in 2003, the comedian had a conflict with the leadership of KVN. He was offered a permanent job at AMiK, headed by Alexander Maslyakov, but without the 95th Quarter team. Zelensky decided to leave KVN forever.

Studio “95th Quarter”

Vladimir, having ceased to participate in KVN games, did not sit without work for a long time. At the end of 2003, the popular channels “1 + 1” and “STS” offered him and Zelensky’s team “95th quarter” to make a series of concerts, including their best KVN numbers.

Studio "95th Quarter" by Vladimir Zelensky
Studio “95th Quarter” by Vladimir Zelensky

Former members of the KVN team “95th quarter” “reincarnated” in the studio “Quarter-95”. Its owners were Vladimir Zelensky, humorous authors Sergey and Boris Shefiry and Andrey Yakovlev (former captain of the Voroshilov Strelkas KVN team). The studio has brought together different groups of authors that create television projects, series and films.

In 2005, the show “Evening Quarter” created by “Kvartal-95” was launched on the leading Ukrainian TV channel “Inter”. Zelensky became its “main” actor, leader, author and director. Soon the show took one of the leading places in the rating of popular TV shows in Ukraine. Gradually, within the framework of the program, the main politicians and high-profile events of the country began to be ridiculed more and more often. For example, in one of his last speeches, Zelensky joked about marriage and Tomos (granting autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the leadership of Petro Poroshenko).

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In addition to the Evening Quarter show, the studio created such popular TV programs as Evening Kyiv, Good Jokes, Ukrainian Quarter, Make the Comedian Laugh, Kraina U, Star Eggs and other projects.

Films with Zelensky

The showman finds time not only for television programs, but also to participate in filming. For the first time he starred in 2004 in the comedy Casanova involuntarily. Over the next few years, Vladimir Zelensky’s filmography included the films “Police Academy”, “A Very New Year’s Movie, or Night at the Museum” and the musical “Three Musketeers”.

Zelensky in the film "Rzhevsky against Napoleon"
Zelensky in the film “Rzhevsky against Napoleon”
Interesting fact: Zelensky has no acting education.

In 2009, the comedy “Love in the Big City” was released, which glorified the actor throughout the post-Soviet space. Then the list of films with Zelensky in the title role was replenished with the following films:

  • “Office romance. Our time” (Anatoly Efremovich Novoseltsev);
  • “Rzhevsky against Napoleon” (Napoleon);
  • “8 first dates” (Nikita);
  • “8 new dates”;
  • “Servant of the people” (Vasily Petrovich Goloborodko);
  • “8 best dates”;
  • “Servant of the people-2”;
  • “I, You, He, She” (Maxim).

Vladimir over the past 15 years has shown himself not only as a talented actor and showman, but also as a producer, director and screenwriter. Thanks to his creative and organizational efforts, the popular series “Matchmakers”, “Tales of Mityai”, “Fairytale Russia”, “Dads”, “Relatives” and other television projects appeared. In 2018, Vladimir Zelensky directed the film “I, You, He, She”, in which he was involved as an actor, director and producer.

Artist’s business

In January 2019, Zelensky, as a presidential candidate, provided information about his income for public access. According to the declaration for 2017, he received a salary of 1.5 million hryvnia, business income – 4.3 million hryvnia, royalties (interest on deposits) – 609 thousand hryvnia, insurance payments – 252 thousand hryvnia (1 hryvnia wound 2 46 rubles). About half a million dollars are kept in various accounts of the comedian.

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The lion’s share of Vladimir’s income comes from his studio Kvartal-95. It is a conglomeration of various companies that create humorous content, programs and films, the total turnover of which exceeds tens of millions of dollars. In addition, the organization has 17 business partners, including Boris and Sergey Shefiry (co-founders of the studio), director of 1 + 1 Media Alexander Tkachenko, clip maker Alan Badoev, Andrey Chivurin and other famous people of Ukraine. And they, in turn, have their own successful businesses. Vladimir has shares in the Kvartal-Concert agency, Kinokvartal production, Animation Studio 95 and other organizations.

Zelensky receives a decent income from films and series previously released by him, as well as the programs “Evening Quarter”, “League of Laughter” and other projects. In Ukraine, all the products he created for television are broadcast exclusively on the 1 + 1 channel. Some of Zelensky’s programs and series are sold to the neighboring countries of Kazakhstan and Belarus. In Russia, the popular series “Matchmakers” is still shown on some channels.

A popular artist also earns on concert activities. Kvartal-Concert organizes performances not only of Kvartal 95, but also of Tina Karol, Oleg Vinnik, Dzidzio, Jamala and other famous Ukrainian singers.

Showman’s personal life

Vladimir met his future wife Elena in his school years. They studied in parallel classes. According to Wikipedia, Vladimir Zelensky and Lena Kiyashko got married on September 6, 2003. They dated for 8 years before getting married. On July 15, 2004, the couple had a daughter, Sasha, on January 21, 2013, a son, Kirill.

Vladimir Zelensky and Lena Kiyashk
Vladimir Zelensky and Lena Kiyashk

Zelensky’s wife fully shares the interests and aspirations of the star husband. In those days when Vladimir played in KVN, she went to all his rehearsals and even helped create numbers. Creativity did not prevent a smart girl from getting a red diploma from Krivoy Rog Technical University. In her specialty, she did not work a single day, like her husband. After the creation of Kvartal 95, Elena became its full-fledged author. She still manages to combine household chores, raising children and work.

Elena often remains in the shadow of her husband. She is rarely seen at events and in photos with Zelensky. However, the showman himself admits that his wife is his best friend and the main person in his life. And any of his important decisions are made after his discussion with Lena.

Zelensky’s political activities and elections in Ukraine 2019

For a long time, the artist was only interested in creative projects and related business. As part of the Evening Quarter show, “political” numbers were shown, but without serious overtones.

Zelensky's political activities
Zelensky’s political activities

In 2013, Vladimir expressed his civil position and approved the Euromaidan. After the start of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Zelensky supported the actions of the Ukrainian army (including financially) and gave concerts to the military. Since then, the artist has become active in the political arena.

Candidate for President of Ukraine

In the summer of 2018, information appeared in the press that Zelensky would run for the presidency of Ukraine. Initially, the showman denied this fact. However, a few minutes before midnight on December 31, 2018, Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Kolomoisky’s 1+1 TV channel that he would be included in the list of candidates for the presidency of Ukraine. And he kept his promise.

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At the end of January 2019, the Servant of the People political party nominated Zelensky as a presidential candidate. This organization was established in 2016 and was originally called the Party for Resolute Change. Its leader was Eugene Yudviga. A year later, the party was headed by one of the leaders of Kvartal-95, Ivan Bakanov. At this point, the organization changed not only the leader, but also the name. Since 2017, the party that nominated Zelensky as a candidate has become known as the Servant of the People (as the TV series of the same name from the Kvartal-95 company).

The election campaign and program

In his 2019 election campaign, Zelensky said he wanted to see Ukraine as a peaceful country. In his opinion, the current situation in the Donbas cannot be solved by military means. Vladimir Zelensky believes that it is necessary to change the attitude towards Russia. It is important to start a dialogue with a neighbor and find a compromise that suits everyone. In relation to Ukraine and Russia, Zelensky is ready to sit down at the negotiating table with Vladimir Putin in the future and discuss the interaction between Russia and Ukraine.

The artist is also concerned about other important issues: migration, the welfare and health of the people, wages, corruption, and so on. All campaign promises of presidential candidate Zelensky are set out on his official website ze2019.com. In addition, here you can find the addresses of the offices of his party, ask questions of interest, register as a volunteer observer at the upcoming elections.

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The artist’s election program resonated with the electorate. Already in February 2019, Zelensky became the leader in the ranking of candidates for the presidency of Ukraine. According to opinion polls conducted in early March, 25% of voters will vote for the artist. His main competitors, Poroshenko and Tymoshenko, are supported by about 17% of the respondents. Based on these results, Zelensky has every chance of becoming the new president of Ukraine.

Who is behind Zelensky?

It is difficult for a person to find himself in big politics without serious material support. Vladimir cannot be called an exception. He is certainly a popular and wealthy artist, but his funds would not be enough for powerful campaigning and payment of election expenses. Zelensky is supported by Igor Kolomoisky, which Kolomoisky openly stated, as znaj.ua writes.

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The billionaire, after the nationalization of property in 2016, “held a grudge” against the current Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko. And Zelensky has become an ideal candidate to replace the current leader of the country. Vladimir is a man who needs no introduction, charismatic and sympathetic.

Zelensky has been accustomed since childhood to work actively and achieve his goals. Having no acting education, he became one of the most popular artists in the post-Soviet space. Yesterday’s kaveenshchik, finding himself out of work, built a successful profitable business. Therefore, it is highly likely that the talented and purposeful Zelensky will be able to lead the country and go down in history as the second Reagan.

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