People’s Artist of Russia, Laureate of the State Award of the USSR

Nina Urgant remains one of the most popular actresses of the Russian theater and cinema.

Nina Urgant graduated from the Leningrad State Theater Institute named after A. Ostrovsky in 1953. For one season, she had played in the Yaroslavl Academy Drama Theater named after F. Volkov and became the leading lyrical heroine there. She firmed up in this line of roles at the Leningrad Leninsky Komsomol Theater, where Nina Urgant moved to after Yaroslavl. Among her roles of that period were Galya (“Good Luck” by V. Rozov, 1955), Natasha (“The Insulted and Injured” by F. Dostoyevsky, 1956),   Lelya Korneva (“A City at the Dawn” by A. Arbuzov, 1957), Lushka (“The Virgin Soils Upturned” by M.Sholokhov, 1957), Sanya Vetkina (“A Little Student” by A. Volodin, 1958), Tamara (“Two Colors” by A. Zak and I. Kuznetsov, 1959),   Nina (“Farewell to White Nights” by V. Panova, 1961), Zhenka Shulzhenko (“A Factory Girl” by A. Volodin, 1961), Klava (“One Year” by Yu. German), etc. The tragic theme later inherent to many characters created by Nina Urgant revealed itself in the performance “Nobody” after E. De Filippo’s play (1958); the actress played there the role of a sincere and self-sacrificing girl Ninucchi.

The talented actress got the leading position in the troupe of the e Leningrad Academy Drama Theater named after A. Pushkin, where she had moved to in 1962 by invitation of the theater directors. Nina Urgant played the role of Inken Peters in the legendary H. Hauptman’s performance “Before the Sunset” (1963), where she made a worthy partner to Nikolay Simoov. Quite a few critical articles were written about this great duet of an outstanding master of the stage and a young actress. In Nina Urgant’s impersonation Inken appeared as a pure, na?ve, fragile, and vulnerable person, but with astonishing internal force, firmness, importance and ability to withstand the ruthlessness of the surrounding world.

In the 1960s-1970s, roles of modern heroines maid a big part of Nina Urgant’s repertoire; among those were Varvara (“A Cause You Serve To” by Yu. German, 1967), Liza (“Artem” by B. Khazin, 1970), Valeria (“Alone, without Angels” by L. Zhukhovitsky, 1971), Anna Georgievna (“From the Life of a Business Woman” by A. Grebnev, 1973), Fenya Ugryumova (“A Non-Weeping Willow” by V. Alekseyeva, 1977), and many others. With the obvious drawbacks of this kind of drama, the actress managed to create interesting and impressive characters. Nina Urgant played the role of her favorite Chekhov’s character Lyubov Ranevskaya in the banned Rostislav Goryaev’s performance “The Cherry Orchard” (1972). 
 
In the long years of work on the Alexandrinsky stage, Nina Urgant created a whole gallery of unforgettably bright female images in both modern and classic repertoires. There were absolutely different types of women’s characters among her heroines: from clearly comedian roles to purely lyrical. Beatrice in W. Shakespeare’s comedy “Much Ado about Nothing” (1968),   Nika (“From Lopatin’s Notes” by K. Simonov, 1975), Ksantippa (“Discussions with Socrates” by E. Radzinsky, 1976), Woman in Green (“Per Gyunt” by G. Ibsen, 1979), Lukia from M. Garayev’s play of the same name (1982), Empress (“The Captain’s Daughter” by A. Pushkin, 1984),   Moskaleva   (“Uncle’s Dream” by F. Dostoyevsky, 1987), Prostakova (“Ignoramus” by D. Fonvisin, 1990), Queen Gertrude (“Hamlet” by W. Shakespeare, 1992), Krasavina (“Pictures of Moscow Life” after A. Ostrovsky, 1993), Queen Elizabeth (“Elizabeth of England” by F. Brukner, 1995). “There is no notorious fight between a woman and a Queen in Urgant’s Elizabeth: both of them live perfectly well together in this Elizabeth. She is equal for the great power and great suffering. She plays with the fates of states with the same lightness and royal negligence as she does with human fates and hearts.” Tatyana from the melodrama “A Comedy of Our Life” by N. Ptushkina” (1997) became one of the favorite roles of the actress.

Nina Urgant played a great number of roles in the cinema and television. The actress got outstanding recognition and great success after the feature film “The Belorussian Train Station,” in which Nina Urgant played the role of a military nurse Raya. Up until now, spectators keep asking her to sing the song from that movie: this song turned into a mark of the war generation.

In 2006, Nina Urgant was recognized with a high state award: she was awarded with the third degree order “For Distinguished Service to the Motherland” (Verdict of the President of Russia N 392 as of April 17, 2006).