Gilvanova graduated from the Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music, and Cinematography named after N.K. Cherkasov (I.Gorbachev’s class) in 1991 and was accepted in the Alexandrinsky Theater company right after graduation. In the very first seasons at the theater, she played a series of diversified characters in the plays by A. Ostrovsky (Kapochka, “Pictures of Moscow Life”), I. Goncharov (Olga, “Romances with Oblomov”), A. Chekhov (Grekova, “Platonov”), W. Shakespeare (Germiona, “The Winter Fairy-Tale”), H. James (Ms. Prest, “The Heavenly Juliana”), and F. Sagan (Coralia Vernes, “When a Horse Looses Consciousness”). The actress performed poetry and art songs after the Silver Century poets’ poetry in concert programs. The role of Yefrosinya in F. Gorenshtein’s staging of “A Saga of the Tzar Peter and His Slain Son Alexey” became an important landmark in the creative career of Olga Gilvanova (1997).  Donna Elvira from Moliere’s “Don Juan” (2000) and Arkadina from the “Engagement” (2004) are among the most significant actress’s roles. A mono-performance “The Old Years in Plodomasovo Village” created after the essays of N. Leskov occupy a special place in Olga Gilvanova’s creativity. She plays in Valery Fokin’s “The Double” and performs the role of Karenina in his stage version of L. Tolstoy’s drama “The Living Corpse.” She is engaged in the group scenes of W.Shakespeare's Hamlet (Director Valery Fokin, 2010) 

Altogether, Olga Gilvanova has played more than 30 roles in the years of her work at the Alexandrinsky Theater.  A one-man show The Old Years in the Plodomasovo Settlement became a landmark in her career (Director G. Bryzgu, 2003). Since 2009, Olga Gilvanova plays The Old Years in the Plodomasovo Settlement as an independent theater project, as she does with the performance The Time Is Night after Lyudmila Petrushevskaya’s novel.  

Presently the roles of the Official’s Wife (The Double by F. Dostoyevsky, Director Valery Fokin, 2005) and Anna Karenina (The Living Corps by L. Tolstoy, Director Valery Fokin, 2006) are in the actress’s repertoire.