Criucicova Svetlana

About

Svetlana Criucicova, born on June 22, 1950, in Chisinau, into the family of a military officer, is a remarkable theater and film actress, and a pedagogue, recognized as an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1991) and a two-time "Nika" award winner. Her film career boasts over 70 films, debuting in 1972 at Moldova-film in "Reserve Officer," followed by memorable roles such as Nelly Ledneva in "The Big Break" ("Большая перемена"), Mademoiselle Cucu in "The Star Without a Name," Eliza Barrymore in the epic "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson," Catherine II in "The Tsar's Hunt," or Aunt Pesya in the series "Liquidation." Her success is due to her versatility, transitioning from comedies to historical dramas, and she has been awarded prizes such as the "Nika" for best actress in "Bury Me Behind the Plinth" (2010) and other distinctions at international festivals. After graduating from the MHAT School-Studio in Moscow in 1973, under the guidance of Professor V.P. Markov, she initially worked at the Moscow Art Theatre, debuting in Bulgakov's "The Last Days" alongside Anatoli Ktorov and Victor Stanitsyn. Since 1976, she has been a permanent actress at the Gorky Academic Theatre in Leningrad (today the Tovstonogov Drama Theatre in St. Petersburg), personally invited by the great director Georgi Tovstonogov, where she performed classic roles such as Kupavina in Ostrovsky's "Wolki i ovțî" or Kostyleva in Gorky's "The Lower Depths," collaborating with legendary actors like Oleg Basilashvili, Kirill Lavrov, and Zinaida Sharko. She taught acting masterclasses at the St. Petersburg Trade Union University (1998-2002), founding her own Theatre-Studio in 2003, where she directed productions such as Aristophanes' "Lysistrata." Besides the stage and screen, Svetlana Kriucicova was the host of the TV show "La tablă!" on Channel 5 in Saint Petersburg (2003-2010) and recites Russian poetry – from Pushkin and Akhmatova to Brodsky and Tsvetaeva – at sold-out concerts. She has lived in Saint Petersburg for over 40 years, nostalgically recalling the Chișinău of her childhood, a city "known to tears." She has been married three times, has two sons; her first husband, operator Yuri Veksler, with whom she had her first child, and her third husband, Aleksandr Molodsov, 12 years her junior, supports her career, although she assumes the role of the family's "pillar."