Olga Barnet

Biography

Olga Barnet is a Russian actress of Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT). She was born Olga Borisovna Barnet on September 3, 1951, in the Soviet Union. Her father, Boris Barnet, was a legendary Soviet film actor and director, who was in his fourth marriage to Olga's mother, Alla Kazarnovskaya, an actress of Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. Her father committed suicide in 1965, when Olga was 14. From 1968 -1972 she studied acting under A. Borisov at Shchukin Theatrical School of Vakhtangov Theatre, graduating in 1972 as an actress. That same year she made her film debut as Mother in Solaris (1972) by director Andrei Tarkovsky. Since 1972 Olga Barnet has been a permanent member of the troupe at Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT). There her stage partners were such renown Russian actors as Anatoli Ktorov, Alla Tarasova, Olga Androvskaya, Angelina Stepanova, Mikhail Yanshin, Viktor Stanitsyn, Aleksei Gribov, Mark Prudkin, Anastasiya Georgiyevskaya, Vasili Toporkov, Mikhail Bolduman, Pavel Massalsky, and the next generation of MKhAT actors - Oleg Efremov, Tatyana Doronina, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Oleg Tabakov, Kristina Babushkina, Alla Pokrovskaya, Kira Golovko, Tatyana Lavrova, Iya Savvina, Nina Gulyaeva, Elena Panova, Darya Moroz, Olga Litvinova, Natalya Rogozhkina, Ekaterina Semenova, Olga Yakovleva, Raisa Maksimova, Irina Miroshnichenko, Evgeniya Dobrovolskaya, Anastasiya Voznesenskaya, Andrey Myagkov, Stanislav Lyubshin, Vladimir Kashpur, Vladlen Davydov, Viktor Sergachyov, Vyacheslav Nevinnyy, Evgeniy Kindinov, Vladimir Krasnov, Sergei Desnitsky, Dmitriy Nazarov, Sergey Sazontev, Avangard Leontev, Igor Vasilev, Igor Vernik, Sergei Sosnovsky, Mikhail Porechenkov, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Valeri Khlevinsky, Aleksei Agapov, Valeriy Troshin, Mikhail Trukhin, Eduard Chekmazov, Aleksey Kravchenko, and Evgeniy Mironov among others. In the 1970s - 1990s Barnet made her best known stage appearances in Anton Chekhov's classic plays as Olga in 'Tri Sestry' (aka.. The Three Sisters), and in 'Vishnevy sad' (aka.. The Cherry Orchard). She also made acclaimed performances as Fiery in 'Sinyaya ptitsa' (aka.. The Blue Bird) by Maurice Maeterlinck, and as Countess-daughter in Aleksandr Griboyedov's 'Gore ot Uma' (aka.. Woe From Wit). Olga Barnet was designated People's Actress of Russia, and received numerous awards from the Soviet and Russian governments. Besides her work at Moscow Art Theatre, Barnet made stage appearances at Moscow Theatre of Oleg Tabakov. Outside of her acting profession Barnet has been involved in humanitarian causes, such as pet rescue missions. Olga Barnet is living in Moscow, Russia.