Konstantin Khabenskiy

Date of Birth 11 January 1972, Leningrad, Soviet Union [now Saint-Peterburg, Russia]. Birth Name Konstantin Yurevich Khabenskiy

Konstantin Khabenskiy is a Russian actor known in the West for his work in the horror flicks Nochnoy dozor (2004) and Dnevnoy dozor (2006).

He was born Konstantin Yurevich Khabenskiy on January 11, 1972, in Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg, Russia). His father, Yuri Khabenskiy, and his mother, Tatiana Gennadievna (nee Nikulina), were hydrological engineers. Young Konstantin studied electronics at the Leningrad Technical School of Aviation Electronics and Automatics. He dropped out in the third year after deciding that electronics was not for him.

He then played guitar on Leningrad's famous main street, Nevsky Prospekt, as a struggling street musician, and was a stage technician at the Theater-Studio "Subbota". From 1990 to 1995 he studied acting at the St. Peterburg Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography, renamed in 1991 when the city of Leningrad was renamed St. Petersburg. There his classmates were Mikhail Porechenkov, Andrei Zibrov, and Mikhail Trukhin. In 1995, Konstantin graduated from the class of Veniamin Filshtinsky, as an actor. He had a five-month stint at the Raikin Theater of Satire in Moscow, but could not obtain any serious work there, so he returned to St. Petersburg.

Konstantin made his film debut in Na kogo Bog poschlet (1994). He shot to fame in Russia after co-starring in "Uboynaya sila" (2000), a popular series about crime in St. Petersburg, Russia. He ascended to international fame with the leading role as Anton Gorodetsky in the popular Russian vampire franchise, Nochnoy dozor (2004), and the second installment, Dnevnoy dozor (2006), both by director Timur Bekmambetov and based on the books by Sergei Lukyanenko.

From 1996 to 2003 Konstantin was a member of the troupe at the St. Petersburg Theater of Lensovet. There he worked together with his former classmates Mikhail Porechenkov, Mikhail Trukhin, and Andrei Zibrov, under the directorship of Yuri Butusov. In 2003 Khabenskiy and Porechenkov were invited by Oleg Tabakov to work with the world famous Moscow Arts Theater (MXAT). There Konstantin played the leading role in "White guard", a classic play by Mikhail A. Bulgakov. He also appeared as Claudius in a Russian adaptation of Shakespeare's "Hamlet", directed by Yuri Butusov. Konstantin also made appearances on stage at the St. Petersburg Theatre of Lensovet in the leading role in a contemporary play 'V ozhidanii Godo', and as Kaligula in a Russian adaptation of the play by Albert Camus.

Konstantin Khabenskiy was married to radio-journalist Anastasiya Khabenskaya from January 12, 2000, until her untimely death at age 35 from a brain tumor on December 3, 2008. He has one son by her, Ivan Konstantinovich, who was born in Moscow on September 25, 2007. He has homes in both Russian capitals: Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Moscow

Moscow is the capital of Russia. It is the main political, economic, educational and cultural centre of this country. Moscow is the seat of our Government. President of Russia lives and works there.

Moscow is situated on the Moskva river. The city was founded more than 800 years ago by Yury Dolgoruki.

There are many places of interest in our capital. The heart of Moscow is Red Square. The Moscow Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral are masterpieces of Russian architecture. For those who are fond of art the best place to visit is the Tretyakov Gallery or the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. The Gallery contains hundreds of masterpieces not only of Russian art but also of many other countries. Moscow is proud of the Bolshoi, Maly and Art theatres. Moscow is the scientific centre, too. The Academy of Sciences of Russia, the oldest university, many schools of higher education, colleges and scientific institutions are located there.

Moscow is a very beautyful city. It has a great number of green parks, large squares and wide streets. There are lots of museums and theatres, cinemas and exhibition in Moscow. Many concerts, shows, festivals, presentation take place every day in our capital.

Samara

Samara, formerly (1935–91) Kuybyshev also spelled Kujbyšev, or Kuibyshev, city and administrative centre, west-central Samara oblast (region), western Russia. It lies along the Volga River at the latter’s confluence with the Samara River. Founded in 1586 as a fortress protecting the Volga trade route, it soon became a major focus of trade and later was made a regional seat. In 1935 the city was renamed after Valerian Vladimirovich Kuybyshev (1888–1935), a prominent Bolshevik. The city’s growth was stimulated during World War II by its distance from the war zone and the evacuation there of numerous government functions when Moscow was threatened by German attack; the postwar development of the Volga-Urals oil field also helped. The city reverted to its old name in 1991.

Samara is now one of the largest industrial cities of Russia and the centre of a network of pipelines, with oil refining and petrochemicals the major industries, especially in the satellite town of Novokuybyshevsk. There are huge engineering factories making a wide range of products, including petroleum equipment, machinery, ball bearings, cables, and precision machine tools, and there are many building-materials and consumer-goods industries. Much of the city’s power comes from a hydroelectric-power plant completed in 1957 at Zhigulyovsk, a few miles upstream. A group of industrial and residential suburbs and satellite towns ring the city. Samara has excellent communications by ship along the Volga and along rail lines connecting it to European Russia, Siberia, and Central Asia. The city has cultural and research establishments and several institutions of higher education.

ANTON CHEKHOV

My favourite writer is Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. In my opinion, he is the greatest Russian dramatist and short-story writer. I'm never tired of reading and rereading his plays and humorous stories.

Chekhov was bom in 1860 in Taganrog. In 1879 he went to Moscow, where he studied medicine. Though he practised little as a doctor in his lifetime, he was prouder of his medical knowledge than of his writing talent.

While in college, Chekhov wrote humorous sketches for comic papers to support his family. He collected the best ones into a volume, Motley Stories, in 1886. The book attracted the attention of the publisher of the Novoje Vfemja, Russia's largest paper, and Chekhov was asked to contribute stories regularly.

Chekhov, as an established writer, was able to develop a style of his own.

Though he never gave up writing comic stories, he began working in a more serious vein. In 1887 Ivanov, his first play, established Chekhov as a dramatist.

From then on, he concentrated on writing plays, as well as short stories.

Chekhov was seriously ill. He had tuberculosis and knew what it meant.

By 1892 his health was so bad that he was afraid to spend another winter in Moscow. He bought a small estate near a village Melikhovo, 50 miles from Moscow. He spent 5 years there, and those were happy years in spite of the illness. He wrote some of his best stories there, including Ward No.6, several well-known one-act comedies and two of his serious dramatic masterpieces, The Seagull and Uncle Vanya.

The Seagull was first staged in the Alexandrinsky Theatre in Petersburg.

It was a complete failure because of the dull and clumsy production. It was a cruel blow to Chekhov. However, the play was successfully performed as the first production of the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. From then on, Chekhov was closely connected with this theatre and with its founder, K.S. Stanislavsky. In 1901 he married an Art Theatre actress, Olga Knipper, who acted in his play The Three Sisters the same year.

Chekhov's health went from bad to worse and he had to spend the remaining years in the Crimea and other health spas.

The Cherry Orchard, his last play, was produced in 1904. Soon after the first night Chekhov died. He was 44.

Chekhov had an immense influence on the 20th century drama. Besides, several generations of writers both in Russia and abroad studied and imitated Chekhov to perfect their own literary style.