Distinguished Artist of Russia

Born in 1959

Volkov graduated from the B. Shchukin Theater College in Moscow in 1986. He worked at the Youth Theater in Byelorussia (in Minsk), the Moscow Puppet Theater, Ivanovo Regional Drama Theater, theaters of Sverdlovsk and St. Petersburg. Since 1992, he is actor of the Alexandrinsky Theater. His most prominent jobs here included Horatio and Iago (Hamlet and Otello by W. Shakespeare), Count Albafiorito (The Mistress of the Inn, C. Goldoni), Krogstaad (Nora, H. Ibsen); Tryletsky (Platonov), Vershinin (The Three Sisters), and Yepikhodov (The Cherry Orchard) in A. Chekhov’s plays; Repetilov (Woes of Wits by A. Griboyedov), Lyubim Tortsov (Poverty is no Vice by A. Ostrovsky).

After the company had returned to the newly renovated building of the Alexandrinsky Theater, the new season was started with the first night of Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus Rex directed by the famous Greek Director Theodoros Terzopoulos (15.09.2006). Igor Volkov played the role of Creon, brother of Regina Iocasta, who inherits authority after Oedipus.  In L.Tolstoy’s drama The Living Corps he played Alexandrov, Fedya Protasov’s queerish friend, who had imagined himself a genius (Director Valery Fokin, 2006). In The Ivans after N. Gogol’s novel The Story How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich and other Gogol’s writings (Director Andrey Moguchy, 2007); Igor Volkov played a Mirgorod invalid mayor Pyotr Fyodorovich, who tried to reconcile the quarreling friends.  The actor’s repertoire also includes: Dorn (The Seagull by A. Chekhov, Director Khrystian Lupa, 2007); Uriah Shelly (Man Equals Man by B. Brecht, Director Yury Butusov, 2008); Ivan Podkolesin (The Marriage by N. Gogol, Director Valery Fokin, 2008).  In Valery Fokin’s Inspector General he played Khlopov, inspector of charitable institutions. The character of Creont, created in Theodoros Terzopoulos’ performance of Oedipus Rex, and the role of the Governor in Andrey Moguchy’s performance The Ivans after N. Gogol’s writings are also among the most recent jobs of the actor.

 The actor was nominated for the Golden Soffit, the top St. Petersburg Theater Award, for the role of Podkolesin.   In Valery Fokin’s performance Ksenia. The History of Love by V. Levanov, Igor Volkov plays two roles: the self-confident Father Paisiy and the pauper invalid beggar who had lost his legs in the war with Turkey (2009).  Igor Volkov also plays the role of Doctor Astrov (Director Andrey Serban, 2009) in the performance Uncle Vanya by A. Chekhov. He plays the role of the First Grave Digger in Valery Fokin's Hamlet (2010).